The Transition Zone is characterized as industrial and typically dominated by manufacturing facilities. It surrounds the mainly commercial city center and is surrounded by working-class residential housing, maximizing access to markets to sell manufactured goods and housing for factory workers.

The outermost ring of the Concentric Zone Model is commuter-residential and consists mainly of low-density, estate-style housing, usually comprised of high-income professionals. Urban overcrowding is typically unappealing to people, so property values for low-density and spacious estates will be at a higher premium than higher-density urban properties.

The Transition Zone consists largely of low-quality housing that is close in proximity to industrial and manufacturing jobs in the Commercial Business District (CBD). Since the housing in this zone tends to be unpleasant, its cost is low and the proximity to entry-level jobs attracts low-income families. The Working-Class and Commuter Zones often consist of higher-quality housing, but the cost of living is often inflated and getting to the jobs often requires an automobile, which many low-income families cannot afford.

The Transition Zone is composed of poor-quality housing for low-income residents in close proximity to commercial and industrial areas. Rural migrants to China's big industrial cities are typically living in poor-quality, low-cost housing very close to the factories at which they work, which best represents the Transition Zone of the Burgess Model.

Both the Von Thunen and Burgess models consist of a circular pattern of ring-shaped zones that are designated based upon their value, significance, and accessibility to the central business/market areas of a settlement. The Von Thunen model prioritizes perishability of goods and accessible fuel sources (lumber) to the central populated area, while the Burgess model prioritizes accessibility of labor to industrial/commercial areas. Both result in a circular, layered model.

A city that is described as a Concentric Zone Model city will have a central business district which is surrounded by a series of rings with varying levels of development. Generally the closest ring will be for low quality housing and the furthest ring will be for suburban housing.

The central business district (CBD) is where a large amount of businesses are located. In the concentric zone model, it is located in the center of the city. Houses and apartments are less common in the CBD and tend to be more prevalent outside of it.

The outermost zone of the concentric zone model is the commuter zone, which includes the suburbs. These are the people who live furthest away from the central business district and therefore have to commute the greatest distance to work.