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Urban growth has transformed many mid-sized cities into metropolitan areas. One of the effects of this growth is a change in urban growth patterns, which are directly linked with household income. Hence, this paper aims to assess the effect of different economic variables that trigger urban built-up patterns, using economic indicators such as city administrative taxes, a socio-economic survey of living standards, household income and satellite data. The regression model was used and adapted, and a case study is presented for the mid-sized city of Uyo in southeastern Nigeria. The result shows sparse built-up growth patterns with numerous adverse effects. Although, there is awareness of the impact of unregulated sparse built-up growth patterns in the literature, little attention has been given to this growth pattern in Africa. The results also show that increases in federal allocation (27%), investment tax (22%), direct tax (52%) and indirect tax (26%) have led to urban expansion into vegetative land and have a causal correlation with different built-up areas. Hence, medium and high-income earners migrate to suburban areas for bigger living space and a lack of basic social amenities affects the land value in suburban areas. They also assist in the provision of social amenities in the neighborhood.
