How Travel + Leisure Chooses America’s Best Small Towns

Travel + Leisure launched a new annual tentpole, America’s Best Small Towns, in 2023 to shine a spotlight on the lesser-visited destinations we want you, our readers, to know about, be it for natural beauty and outdoor adventure (think beaches, mountains, lakes, and deserts), or specific topics of interest, such as great restaurants and vineyards, interesting culture, and soothing wellness experiences. For the 2024 edition, we added three new categories: shopping, retirement, and college towns.

That means this year, we’ve selected winners and runners up across 10 small town categories to let you in on our travel secrets. We hope they inspire you to go out and get to know the places that are quietly making our country such a wonderful place to explore.

See America’s Best Small Towns of 2024

What are the categories?

• Best Small Beach Town
• Best Small Mountain Town
• Best Small Desert Town
• Best Small Lake Town
• Best Small Retirement Town
• Best Small Food + Wine Town
• Best Small Spa + Wellness Town
• Best Small Shopping Town
• Best Small Arts + Culture Town
• Best Small College Town

What are the rules?

In order to qualify as one of America’s Best Small Towns, a town must be located in the United States and have a full-time population below 25,000 residents, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau data. It must also excel in its category and offer a variety of activities, accommodations, and a timely reason to visit — be it a notable new festival, hotel, restaurant, attraction, or tourism initiative.

How did we choose the winners?

We polled our colleagues and contributors, trusted travel advisors, and industry leaders from all over the U.S. for nominations. Our 2024 America’s Best Small Towns panel of 10 experts, comprised of T+L editors, A-List travel advisors, and travel influencers who specialize in domestic travel, then sifted through the many thoughtful responses and chose the destinations we believe our readers will enjoy the most right now.

Meet the Panel

Nina Ruggiero

Nina Ruggiero is Travel + Leisure’s senior editorial director and co-founder of Be A Travel Writer, an online course for aspiring travel journalists. She’s a city dweller turned small beach town aficionado and has happily called Hermosa Beach, CA (population 18,985) home for the past five years.

Alisha Prakash

Alisha Prakash is the associate editorial director at Travel + Leisure, where she covers undiscovered destinations, luxury hotels and experiences, outdoor adventures, and more. While she loves traveling to far-flung locations, she also finds joy in exploring closer to home: One of her all-time favorite trips was a road trip through the U.S., hitting 35 states in 60 days.

Elizabeth Rhodes

Elizabeth Rhodes is a senior editor at Travel + Leisure who has traveled from the Antarctic to the Arctic Circle — and many places in between. Originally from South Carolina, she grew up exploring the Southeast’s many small-town destinations, and now she contributes to digital coverage of these lesser-visited spots for T+L.

Elizabeth Cantrell

Elizabeth Cantrell is a senior editor at Travel + Leisure. She edits the Discoveries section and assigns longer stories with a focus on outdoor and adventure travel, as well as Canada, Northern Europe, and the Southeastern U.S.

Kareema Partin

Kareema Bee is an Emmy-nominated producer, writer, and content creator. Her love for travel took off at the tender age of 10 years old, flying solo from NYC to the “big” town of St. Matthews, SC to spend her summers with her grandmother.

Susmita Baral

Susmita Baral is an editor at Travel + Leisure with a decade of experience covering food, travel, climate science, and culture. She’s lived in 11 U.S. states and visited 42 — and has a soft spot for small towns around the world.

Michelle Mure

Michelle Mure is a T+L A-List travel advisor who owns luxury firm Azurine Travel, based in beautiful St. Helena in the Napa Valley. She has the good fortune to be able to visit many of the gorgeous small towns in California’s wine country and beyond.

Mike Augustine

Mike Augustine is a T+L A-List travel advisor who grew up in a cozy small town in rural Ohio, which fueled his love for travel and his passion for showcasing small towns across America when he designs itineraries for clients. He believes these towns offer unexpected charm and quirks that often surprise visitors in the best of ways.

Chris Daniele

Chris Daniele (aka @dirtandglass) is a photographer based out of southern Vermont with over 25 years of experience behind the lens. Specializing in travel and architectural photography, Chris has carved out a unique niche in the short-term rental space across the U.S.

Daniel Gorostieta

Daniel Gorostieta is an outdoor adventure and landscape photographer whose work has appeared in Travel + Leisure, Surfline, and other top-tier travel and surf publications. Based in the small city of Santa Cruz, CA, he’s known for his ability to capture the natural beauty of the West Coast and beyond.