These are America’s best small towns in 2024 — and one of them is only an hour from NYC
Size isn’t everything.
A prestigious ranking of the country’s best small towns has been published — and a charming locale just an hour’s drive from the hubbub of NYC has made the list.
Compiled by editors at Travel + Leisure and a handful of industry experts, the America’s Best Small Towns 2024 survey tapped the larger-than-life artist’s colony of New Hope, Pennsylvania as tops for arts and culture in the fifty states.
Calling it “packed end to end with idiosyncratic and intellectual allure, all crammed into just 1.4 utterly charming square miles,” writer Jackie Caradonio cites the location, the arts scene and the “quirky charm” of the upscale Bucks County community as reasons for inclusion.
Area native Bradley Cooper dropped a cool $6.5 million on a 33-acre farm outside of New Hope only recently, in an effort to be close to the family home of girlfriend Gigi Hadid, The Post reported earlier.
New Hope takes the spotlight along with historic Bisbee, Ariz., named the best desert town for its “downtown that looks straight out of a storybook.”
The Hawaiian surfer haunt of Paia, another artsy town on the island of Maui, was tapped as America’s best beach town.
In order to be considered, each town had to have a full-time population under 25,000, as well as a strong identity and a solid reputation in one category or the other.
The towns needed to offer “a variety of activities, accommodations, and a timely reason to visit — be it a notable new festival, hotel, restaurant, attraction, or tourism initiative,” the experts explained.
America’s Best Small Towns of 2024
America’s Best Mountain Town Island Park, Idaho
America’s Best Beach Town Paia, Maui
America’s Best Lake Town Harbor Springs, Michigan
America’s Best Desert Town Bisbee, Arizona
America’s Best Food & Wine Town Elk, California
America’s Best Shopping Town Round Top, Texas
America’s Best Spa & Wellness Town Ouray, Colorado
America’s Best Arts & Culture Town New Hope, Pennsylvania
America’s Best College Town Clemson, South Carolina
America’s Best Retirement Town Stuart, Florida
New Hope was the only town selected in the Northeast United States.
Other East Coast towns included Stuart, Fla., cited for its retiree-friendly lifestyle, and Clemson, SC for its college town vibe.