What do you think is the best small city or town in the United States?
By “small city”, I mean less than 100,000 people or so, or a metro population of less than 250,000 - not a suburb of a larger city. But I am more interested in a towns’s feel than it’s exact census figures - basically a place with enough people to have something going on, but not a “big city” atmosphere.
And “best” is subjective, but I would say a place that has the following qualifies:
Relatively low crime rates for a small city.
Nice scenery (I know that’s highly subjective), with nearby parks and recreational areas.
A nearby insitution at the college or university level.
A diverse and active culture with a variety of restaurants, live music, and maybe a museum or two.
Mostly friendly and tolerant people, and places to meet others.
A healthy economy, with some employment opportunities for a college graduate.
I know I’m asking for a lot, so I will appreciate any answer at all to any part of the question. I am looking for places to relocate to, and I am a small town guy (but not a hick) at heart. Any ideas?
Thank you for reading.
[li]Within 45 minutes of Indianapolis and not horribly far from other “bigger” cities.[/li][li]Pop. of about 68,000[/li][li]As far as I know crime rate isn’t bad (from what I’ve seen)[/li][li]Not very many parks just a couple 3 or 4 I can think of (though they are of decent size)[/li][li]Home to Ball State University (which is ranked nationally in the top 10 in a couple different areas)[/li][li]Restaraunts here in Muncie are pretty good (especially the Chinese restaraunt across from my house wow I love it 'cause I can always smell when they are cooking), they is usually some kind of live music going on every weekend at some of the small music stores and the university hosts more classical music sometimes, as far as I know there is only one museum.[/li][li]The people here are great and so I’ve heard many times that the bars in Muncie are among the best 5 in the nation according to Playboy (never seen this stat just heard it many many times)[/li][li]There is a decent amount of employment opportunities for grads and if not here in Muncie a few other big cities are less than an hour drive away.[/li][/ul]
Personally I’m biased because I live here right now but honestly I think Muncie is the nicest small city that I’ve ever been to. The traffic is never bad, weather is decent, and we’re growing pretty good in Muncie so hey why not?
Joplin, MO
[ul]
[li]Population: 45,000 or thereabouts.[/li][li]Violent crime is restricted to one very small part of town.[/li][li]Ozark Mountains within a half hour’s drive south or east; Grand Lake of the Cherokees within a half hour’s drive southwest.[/li][li]Missouri Southern State College is in town.[/li][li]All kinds of restaurants, ranging from steak & ribs to sushi.[/li][li]Live music (and from time to time, live comedy) at several venues in town every weekend, particularly if you like country music or blues.[/li][li]Friendly people, although there are some racial issues. Rumor has it that a nearby suburb is controlled by the Klan. Also, in some of the deeper rural areas outside of town there are likkered-up rednecks in abundance.[/li][li]A reasonably good economy, and a very low cost of living.[/li][/ul]
Another favorite of mine is a town that has a population of about 30,000 or so, but during certain times of the year there may be as many as 200,000 people in town. Does that disqualify it?
Daytona Beach, FL
[ul]
[li]Restaurants, bars and comedy clubs everywhere.[/li][li]A fair variety of ethnic restaurants.[/li][li]Of course, the beach.[/li][li]Disney attractions an hour away.[/li][li]A small college (Halifax Community College or something like that) in town.[/li][li]Dog-racing and jai-alai (if that’s your thing).[/li][/ul]
Providence, Rhode Island. It has culture, great restaurants and shopping, many colleges and universities and is the most beautiful urban setting I’ve ever encountered. It is also culturally diverse.
-Permanent population of about 100,000 (plus 30K or so students)
-the University of Michigan, and all the sports games, touring opera companies, museums, theater, and top-rated hospitals that it implies.
-Tree City, USA with the higher number of Trees per capita within city limits of an US city.
-numerous large parks within the city and nearby. Wild untamed areas of Upper Peninsula and nifty geographic features such as the Sleeping Bear Dunes are within driveable distance.
-Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz fest, music at the Ark & Bird of Paradise (folk & Jazz respectively) plus access to Detroit venues if desired.
-Largest employers are: the University of Michigan, Domino’s Pizza (World HQ), Borders Group (world HQ of Borders Books & Music, Waldenbooks) and Parke-Davis pharmeceuticals (possibly now owned by Pfizer).
-Nearby even smaller towns where you can enjoy small-towny fun like going to the drive-in A&W or the World Largest Chicken Broil.
Fort Collins, Colorado - the city is at about 110,000, metro 200,000.
[ul]
[li]Vibrant downtown, with an active nightlife seven days a week[/li][li]Streets cleaner than an operating room floor[/li][li]Progressive politics, but not “Berkleyesque”[/li][li]Very strict zoning and growth controls[/li][li]Almost no crime to speak of[/li][li]Culture galore[/li][li]Colorado State University[/li][li]Setting at the foot of the Rocky Mountains[/li][li]Very well educated population (although it’s tough meeting people if you’re a Gen X single, and not working for one of the tech companies in town.[/li][li]Adjacent to hundreds of thousands of acres of public land[/li][li]More brewpubs and good restaurants than what you would find in a city that is twice or three times the size[/li][/ul]
I’m gonna have to echo Caricci here. Of course, being from RI I’m probably biased, but the past few years have seen so much change in Providence that it’s almost a different city. (In fact, they’ve taken to calling it “The Renaissance City”.) Here’s a good start: The City of Providence.
great university
perfect weather year round
beautiful scenery
beach minutes away
halfway between San Francisco and LA
voted best small town in america a few years ago
oh yeah, the median price for a house is around $400,000
Lincoln’s actually at around 225K, 250K for Lancaster County. It doesn’t feel that big, however, partly because the city and the metro area are pretty much self-identical – there aren’t miles of discrete suburbs surrounding it. Note the OP’s statement that the exact census figures are less important than the feel of the place. Chattanooga is closing in on a half-million in the five-county MSA, with 300K in Hamilton County alone, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near that big. Asheville, NC, is over 200K now, but I still think of it as a town of 75K-80K. Joplin, MO was mentioned by a previous poster as having a population of 45K or so; the census figures for the MSA say 150K. My point isn’t to quibble with other posters, but to point out that a lot of places that still feel like small cities (particularly to someone like me who’s been in Atlanta for fifteen years) have actually gotten much larger in the last twenty years or so. And just for comparison, the Ann Arbor Primary MSA is at over 500K.
I spent a week in Lincoln earlier this year and I was struck by how livable it seemed. Downsides for me would be getting anywhere else from there (flying in and out of Lincoln is expensive and your options are limited, and Omaha’s not a lot better), the lack of a major city in easy driving distance (3 hrs or less), the winter climate, the small Jewish population (admittedly not a concern for most people), and the rather uninspiring natural setting (I grew up in flat farmland in Arkansas, and it doesn’t do anything for me). Those things aside, I could live there.
Thanks. When I saw this thread earlier I debated whether I should compose a new version of my panegyric on Chattanooga, or simply link to that one. You saved me the effort.
Okay. But I can assure you that Ann Arbor doesn’t feel like half a million people live around here. That figure must be throwing in some of the suburbs of Detroit. While they might fit the geographical line you draw around Ann Arbor for the MSA, they “belong” to Detroit, and those people head east for shopping and the like, instead of west to A2. Thank god.
I grew up in Nebraska, so I know Lincoln well. I’d concur with what you wrote.
I’m not a big fan of Chattanooga, to be honest. Granted, I’ve only visited there for a couple of days onve, so I definitely don’t know the entire story. However, the thing about Chattanooga that really rubbed me the wrong way is something I call “vertical pollution” – signs and billboards. I never saw a city with so much sign clutter anywhere in the United States, with the exception of San Antonio, Houston and El Paso. HUGE billboards everywhere, some stacked on top of each other, most soaring 60 or more feet into the sky. It’s the same with business signs, where sign “size wars” seems to be the rule of the day.
Despite the incredible natural setting and the claimed “sustainability” of the city, I think Chattanooga has one of the most gawd-awful built environments of any city I’ve stumbled across – it’s uhhh-glee.
Its not a small town, in fact a very big city, but Chicago satisfies nearly every qualification except maybe number 1. I’m not sure about the crime rates but best bet is that they’re not small town low. A lot depends on where you live. If you live in the projects, don’t expect everyone to be nice. I hold firm that Chicago is a big city with a small town/Midwest feel.
