Jemez Mountains in Los Alamos, NM

Top 100 Best Small Towns

Photo: Larry Lamsa

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UPDATE: Check out our new 2023 Best Cities to Live in the U.S. list.

Top 100 Best Small Towns

Our annual small towns rankings expands to offer 100 of the best small towns in the U.S.

By Livability.com on June 3, 2015

Jemez Mountains in Los Alamos, NM

Big stories can happen in small places. Our annual 10 Best Small Towns in America list has been a popular index, but we always wished we could highlight more than 10 communities each year. After all, the reason we produce this list is to shine a light on cities and towns that are often in the shadows of the big metropolises. So, we’re pleased to present our inaugural super-sized 100 Best Places to Live: Small Towns edition.

To create this list, we used a modified version of the robust methodology we developed with the Martin Prosperity Institute for our annual Livability 100. We examined more than 40 data points each for more than 12,000 towns with populations between 1,000 and 20,000. These scores were weighted based on an exclusive survey conducted for Livability by the leading global market research firm, Ipsos Public Affairs. These cities and towns allow for the tight-knit communities key to small-town living coupled with the amenities you’d expect in larger cities.

We hope you enjoy (in more ways than one) the 100 Best Small Towns in America.

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