20 Best Small Towns in the US (real estate, village, wild, horse)

[AuburnAL]

From Smithsonian Magazine. What say you?

[daydreamin71]

I'm surprised to see Key West on the list, only because of the heavy tourist traffic. It sure doesn't feel like a small town.

[SCGranny]

It always cracks me up that the 'big city' people 1) have no idea what a "small town" is, and 2)that they say things like "There is, we think, something encouraging about finding culture in small-town America" as if it were a shock to find anything at all, much less creative and cognizant human beings, outside of their beltways. I've lived in huge cities (+1 million pop) and now live in a town of 145 - and there are museums, art shows, local band performances, even a cappella singing performances and melodramas, everywhere you look, and at least every weekend within a two hour drive. 'Culture' is everywhere, once you get off your subways and look somewhere else - besides down your own nose. And you don't need a computerized Google list to find it. I hope those writers weren't paid for this bit of mindless, effortless fluff. I found the whole tenor of this to be condescending and insulting - just another example of the "let me tell you what you should think" mentality in media.

[ognend]

Originally Posted by AuburnAL

From Smithsonian Magazine. What say you?

This is a list geared towards folks who have $700K to spend on an old "historic home" in a "quaint village/town" downtown. Then they will go on and "renovate".

Taos is #2? Crime index 520+, real estate unapproachable for a normal person.... Most of the places on the list can only be afforded by the rich.

Puhleeease....

OD

[AJBarney]

Heh...their inclusion of Taos, NM tells me all I need to know.

[duster1979]

The glaring omission of Mount Sterling, Iowa from this list proves its inaccuracy at a glance.

Every town on the list but one is bigger than any town I've ever lived in. Heck, a couple are bigger than the combined populations of all six towns I've lived in.

[ki0eh]

They don't say much about their selection criteria. Much is the usual assortment of wealthy metro-rimshot enclaves, but as a wild card they threw in Butler, PA, distinguishable from a collection of steel towns around Pittsburgh chiefly by being a county seat.

[itsMeFred]

Much is the usual assortment of wealthy metro-rimshot enclaves

And heavy on the "culture" stuff.

I guess that would be their criteria--Places that would appeal to Smithsonian Magazine type readers.

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by itsMeFred

And heavy on the "culture" stuff.

I guess that would be their criteria--Places that would appeal to Smithsonian Magazine type readers.

Exactly, and why anyone would think it might include a high per capita population of pickup trucks with gunracks is not getting the magazine's readership.

[Cali BassMan]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Exactly, and why anyone would think it might include a high per capita population of pickup trucks with gunracks is not getting the magazine's readership.

That's why I read Bassmaster, Outdoor Life and Horse and Rider......