National Geographics's 30 Best Small Cities in the United States

[zerocool84]

Pittsburgh PA, NOLA, and Honolulu are considered "small" with populations over at almost 400,000!

Healdsburg CA has a population of 12,000 - now that is small!

List is whack!

Reno is actually pretty decent - all the Californians moved there and classed up the place trying to escape the absurd cost of living. Avoid the downtown strip casinos - off strip casinos are fine. Peppermill, Atlantis, Grand Sierra.
Lots of outdoor activities in the winter and summer, tons of live concerts and shows due to the casino tourists. Big University UNR, G-League NBA team, minor-league baseball team, close to Lake Tahoe and plenty of skiing as well.

Exactly, how are those cities small wtf.

The list makes no sense.

 

[brianmanahan]

small city = anything that is not NYC

 

[Darwin333]

Not true at all, The Keys are easy to locate. Back country, up to Flamingo where the Evergaldes meet the salt, the reefs, and then way offshore for blue water action. They call Islamorada sport fishing capitol of the world for a reason!

For real fishing, for catching things bigger than you with regularity, my choice would be Pinas Bay, Pacific side of Panama. That place is unreal. Lived in Pcola for 5 years, was never really impressed with the salt water action there, and large mouth bass bore me to tears.

Ok, how about "great and diverse fishing in the NOLA area"?

 

[zerocool84]

I want to go to NOLA just for the food. I freaking love Cajun and Creole food so it's on my bucket list of places to visit.

 

[Paladin3]

Hard to get better fishing than the NOLA area. Don't have to go far for good hunting either.

I bet! Back in the 90's my mother and stepfather lived in Lafeyette, LA for about 5 years, but I never got down to visit. I would love to spend a few weeks down there fishing. My stepfather supervised cathodic protection crews on oil rigs for years and I never took him up on the offer to go out fishing on one of the rigs. When you're young you always think there will be time to do the things you want to later. I've tried to teach my kids to work hard, but enjoy life and have your fun along the way.

We've got tons of awesome lake fishing here and I live right on Lake Pend Oreille, but I miss the ocean and fishing in it. I'm semi-retired and a widower so I can fish 3-6 times a week in the summer chasing mostly large and smallmouth bass. No ice fishing for me so far because it's been too warm during the day and too much slush on the lakes.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I've never been there, but the picture they provided didn't inspire me. Cumberland would have been a better choice. Annapolis is nice, and worth a visit, especially if you aren't driving/parking. That's a nice place to teleport to, and walk.

LOL.

Cumberland named poorest city in Maryland

 

[lxskllr]

LOL.

Cumberland named poorest city in Maryland

Money isn't everything. There's not much going on in the mountains. It has interesting buildings, and good scenery. I'd rather be homeless in Cumberland than own a house in Baltimore.

 

[feralkid]

Lol Reno NV

That cigarette smelling trash hole. I visited there during my roadtrip in 2009.

Literally shacks of poverty and D-rate casinos. All super worn down and depressing looking.



Wtf am I reading. Is this why it's top 30 small cities in USA? A steakhouse and bars???

"Best Turkey Leg"

Who could resist?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I don't consider any of those "small" cities.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Reminds me of how people that live in Toronto think that Barrie and anything further is considered the far north.

 

[vi edit]

I think they meant Lexington, KY and not Louisville. Louisville is almost 800k people with a MSA of close to 1.3 million.

As a contrast, Rapid City, SD is 75,000 people. That counts as a small city.

 

[Majes]

Hagerstown MD? Seems a stretch, really its a truck stop.

I rather like Hagerstown, it has some solid restaurants and a few interesting places to visit, but probably not enough to spend a weekend there which makes the truck stop description harsh but accurate.

 

[PricklyPete]

I agree with a lot of people these...until I got to Columbia, SC. Total dump.

 

[nakedfrog]

The Omaha, NE metro area is 900,000 people.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I'm pretty sure New Orleans does not qualify.

But I've not been there, or even wanted to be there.

I'd argue that New orleans is not a "small city", as it's metro area hosts over a million people. (though New Orleans itself is only around 350K-400K for the city "proper".)

That said, NOLA is the best city.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Not a single one in Illinois LOL

There's 50 states and only 30 cities. Illinois doesn't have many small cities unless you count suburbs of chicago. Yes, we have ... Rockford, Rock Island ,Springfield and a few others, but meh

 

[soulcougher73]

These are all large cities in my opinion. At least medium sized. List is ghey due to that failure.

 

[ElFenix]

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/features/best-small-cities-united-states/

Pittsburgh, PA - 200,000 in the core city, which is small, but 2.3 million in the metro, which is midsize. doesn't qualify.
Boulder, Colo. - really just a burb of denver, so not a city
Greenville, S.C. - metro is 885, small city found
Anchorage, Alaska - 250k core, 400k metro. small city found.
Annapolis, Md. - 40k people, it's a mid-size town, not a small city.
Hagerstown, Md. - 40k people, it's a mid-size town, not a small city.
Pensacola, Fla. - only 50k people in core, but near 500k in a compact metro, small city found.
Omaha, Neb. - 450k core, 900k metro. small city found.

i could go on, but i think you guys get the point.

 

[Denly]

Reminds me of how people that live in Toronto think that Barrie and anything further is considered the far north.

To be fair, Torontonian likely need to spend more time to get to 400/hwy 7 than 400/hwy 7 to Barrie.

 

[FerrelGeek]

Pensacola isn't bad. Great beaches.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Boulder is NOT a burb of Denver.

 

[IronWing]

Boulder is NOT a burb of Denver.

Sounds better than, "suburb of Longmont."

 

[judasmachine]

Those exits on I-40 are terrifying there.

Yes. Especially right now that they finally decided to fix them, all at once.

 

[ElFenix]

Boulder is NOT a burb of Denver.

driving up 36 you pass through a whole 3.2 miles of not having a subdivision on either side of the highway between boulder and denver. suburb found.

 

[JTsyo]

Not a single one in Illinois LOL

Are there any other cities in Illinois other than Chicago? My impression of the state was dense urban around Chicago and then rural for the rest of the state.