Beachside escapes, mountain mining towns and artist colonies in the desert ... the small town landscape of the American Southwest – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and West Texas – is as diverse as the physical one.
USA TODAY set out to find the best small towns with populations under 10,000 (according to the latest census data) in the Southwest. To do so, we asked a panel of local experts to nominate their favorites, and for the past four weeks, our readers have been voting daily to choose a winner. The results are in!
The top 10 winners in the category Best Southwestern Small Town are as follows:
- Ajo, Ariz.
- Bisbee, Ariz.
- Virginia City, Nev.
- Cloudcroft, N.M.
- Madrid, N.M.
- Taos, N.M.
- Creede, Colo.
- Genoa, Nev.
- Tubac, Ariz.
- Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif.
A panel of experts partnered with 10Best editors to picked the initial 20 nominees, and the top 10 winners were determined by popular vote. Experts Deborah Fallows (American Futures), Anna Hider (Roadtrippers) and our team of 10Best Local Experts were chosen based on their knowledge and experience of Southwestern travel.
Other nominated towns included Cambria, Calif.; Idyllwild, Calif.; Manitou Springs, Colo.; Marfa, Texas; Moab, Utah; Nevada City, Calif.; Ojai, Calif.; Ouray, Colo.; Sebastopol, Calif. and Springdale, Utah.
Congratulations to all these award-winning small towns!
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The Experts
Deborah Fallows
Deborah Fallows is a writer and a linguist. She is... Read More
Deborah Fallows is a writer and a linguist. She is the co-author with her husband, James Fallows, of the national best-selling book, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, published in May, 2018. Our Towns, the HBO documentary based on the book was released in April, 2021. They recently launched the Our Towns Civic Foundation to support renewal efforts of communities across America. Deb has written extensively on language, culture, travel, and China for The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times and The Washington Monthly. Her previous book, Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language, is based on her 3-year experience living and working in China.
Deborah Fallows

Deborah Fallows is a writer and a linguist. She is the co-author with her husband, James Fallows, of the national best-selling book, Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, published in May, 2018. Our Towns, the HBO documentary based on the book was released in April, 2021. They recently launched the Our Towns Civic Foundation to support renewal efforts of communities across America. Deb has written extensively on language, culture, travel, and China for The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times and The Washington Monthly. Her previous book, Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language, is based on her 3-year experience living and working in China.
Anna Hider
Anna is a writer and social media manager for
Anna is a writer and social media manager for Roadtrippers, the coolest trip-planning site and app on the planet, where she's spent two years digging up the coolest off-the-beaten-path things for travelers to see and do. She loves hiking, exploring, and sometimes even getting lost in a good state park, and is definitely a sucker for any place with a waterfall, a ghost town or a beach.
Anna Hider

Anna is a writer and social media manager for Roadtrippers, the coolest trip-planning site and app on the planet, where she's spent two years digging up the coolest off-the-beaten-path things for travelers to see and do. She loves hiking, exploring, and sometimes even getting lost in a good state park, and is definitely a sucker for any place with a waterfall, a ghost town or a beach.
10Best Local Experts
10Best Local Experts provide users with original,... Read More
10Best Local Experts provide users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world. No business pays to be listed. Our Local Experts are well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields - and their cities - but discriminating in their tastes. These local experts live in the city they write about, with constantly updated content.
10Best Local Experts

10Best Local Experts provide users with original, unbiased, and experiential travel content of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world. No business pays to be listed. Our Local Experts are well-traveled and well-educated group who are not only experts in their fields - and their cities - but discriminating in their tastes. These local experts live in the city they write about, with constantly updated content.
10Best Editors
10Best.com provides users with original, unbiased... Read More
10Best.com provides users with original, unbiased and experiential travel coverage of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world.
10Best Editors

10Best.com provides users with original, unbiased and experiential travel coverage of top attractions, things to see and do, and restaurants for top destinations in the U.S. and around the world.