Is "Small City Urbanism" an Oxymoron? 10 Undervalued Cities to Ponder 

Have you ever considered breaking down some of your lists in the US by region? Maybe Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Mountain, and Pacific? It might present a more well-rounded list, including some lesser known places of value. Just a thought.

Small City urbansim is really what we need most heavily. The StrongTowns key target. Creating a local downtown, either in true rural areas or suburbs, is the only way to make these places fiscally sounds and actually provide affordable housing that doesn't suffer extreme building and land acquisition costs.

The mythical factoid about the green over red traffic light in Tipperary Hill is that, when the light was initially installed the right way up, the local Irish community took some offense to the color of England (red) being put over the color of Ireland (green), and so repeatedly broke the light until it was installed upside down

HM1. Eugene, OR 1:28 HM2. Lansing, MI 2:00 10. Burlington, VT 4:08 9. Madison, WI 4:48 8. Ann Arbor, MI 5:20 7. Athens, GA 5:54 6. New Bedford, MA 6:38 5. Ithaca, NY 7:31 4. Williamsport, PA 8:24 HM. Charlostville, VA 9:29 3. Syracuse, NY 10:01 2. Champaign, IL 11:03 1. Erie, PA 12:07

Ithaca was an interesting choice to add to this list, especially considering its lack of high-quality, luxurious and chaotic cheesecake experiences. Disappointed that this list didn't weigh maximalist cheesecake dining establishments more prominently on the grading scale. How would someone in Ithaca plan a last-minute mothers' day dinner? -Mike

I’m from the southern New England area and can confirm those facts about New Bedford are true. The whaling industry led to New Bedfords brief time in the sun as the wealthiest city in the world. When whale oil was at its height, New Bedford was the capital of the whaling industry. There is even a whaling museum in the city .

I'd argue that not only is "Small City Urbanism" not an oxymoron, small cities are in some ways more urbanist than large cities. We're all familiar with the concept of the "fifteen minute city," but it's often meant to mean "everything you need is in your neighborhood" and not "you can literally reach the whole city in fifteen minutes. But when you're in a big city like NYC or CDMX, travel from one part of the city to another can be an absolute nightmare. You want to go from the Bronx to Brooklyn to grab lunch? As New Yorkers say, fuhgeddaboutit. That trip will take you well over an hour, even by car. Small cities, on the other hand, don't have this problem. In many of them, you can access the whole city within 30 minutes using public transit. They also don't have severe traffic problems the same way that big cities do, so buses don't get clogged in downtown traffic and can better stick to a schedule. This makes commute times shorter, giving residents more time to spend actually interacting with the community rather than traveling hours to work or school. Sure, you won't get all the same world class cultural attractions, and maybe the city doesn't have an airport, but they VERY often connect to Amtrak, and you'd be shocked by the cultural offerings available. In short, small cities are great, and they're not a "downgrade" from big cities--just different!

Thanks for including home value. Too many urbanist sorts of presenters are all about playing up hyper expensive, unattainable rich peoples' playgrounds and looking down on all of the unclean masses who have to take pause at the concept of a $1.5 million studio apartment.

I moved back to my old college town for a new job 3 years ago, and I’ve never been happier. If you want a close-knit community and a lot of excitement, plenty of things to do, and a city feel that isn’t too chaotic, they’re the way to go. I’m actually giving car-free living a try, and so far it’s better than I expected.

Erie is currently fighting a huge highway expansion PennDOT is trying to thrust on them, would really put some of these great traditional neighborhoods at risk 😢 I feel like a top 10 potential highway boondoggles would make for a good video topic, especially to draw attention to the ones we can still maybe stop!

You urbanists would love Iowa City. I'm kinda surprised I haven't seen any videos on it yet. Small, dense, and a perfect marriage of walkability and car access. If you cut the downtown area of a mid size city and dropped it in the middle of a cornfield, you have Iowa City.

Glad to see Champaign get some recognition! I’ve been spoiled by Chicago’s transit for the past few years so it always seems much worse by comparison (which it is) but the moment you journey to any other central Illinois town you realize what a small gem downtown is

Love this concept. I love big cities but it isn't an option for everyone. But everyone deserves great urbanism.

Madison absolutely SLAMS for a small city. Really excellent design and the terrain is so well used. It seems to have really forced some interesting density onto the isthmus making for a remarkable city. I think the city has a solid bus system now but I would LOVE to see a clean little light metro or streetcar network get constructed, would make it the best designed city in the midwest

As a lifelong resident of Erie, PA, I wanna invite all of you! Erie is a climate "safe haven". When the south is too hot to live and the coasts are inundated...come live in Erie! Our beaches are beautiful. We have tons of clean fresh water. No earthquakes, droughts, or tornadoes.

Speaking from experience, Champaign is a really nice place to live, even if you're not a college student. It has a public transportation system that far exceeds what you'd expect from a town its size, some really good restaurants, plenty of walking areas, and lots of friendly people.

pumped that Syracuse made the list. Graduated from SU last year and spent my senior year living downtown. It was my introduction to urban living and public transit use. I absolutely loved fell in love with the city and the great bars and restaurants (4 triple D alumni in like a 3 block radius). It has incredible bones and a lot of potential. They're building a $100 billion dollar microchip plant just outside the city and tearing down I-81 which is a textbook redlining relic. Can't wait to visit in a few years!

Have you ever thought of adding arts infrastructure to your urbanism criteria? The big 4 i.e. professional opera, theatre, dance companies and symphony orchestra and also reasonable art and/or historical museum?

I recognized that thumbnail of Burlington, VT instantly! My wife and I spent just a couple days of our travelling honeymoon there and have never loved a place more - we'd move there in a HEARTBEAT if we could find jobs there such that we could afford it! Good free transit, GORGEOUS surroundings and lake, beautiful and useful bike paths, incredible pedestrianized area, wonderful compost program (including some awesome restaurants that literally don't have trash because everything is composted by the town), incredible restaurants, and the best food co-op I've ever been to. Now I have to watch the video to see if I was right about the thumbnail...

What keeps a small city from becoming boring (or dwindling into a ghost town) is lots of people moving in from other parts of the country. This is why I would give a bonus to college towns instead of a penalty.

Lived in C'ville, VA for several years and loved it though not the humid summers. Wonderful cultural offerings, especially around the Downtown Mall - mom & pop coffeehouses, art galleries, bistros, bars, music venues, etc. Once you get away from the mall, though, you need a car to get around, for sure.

Erie PA’s weather is actually way better than other cities because I don’t like the heat. The wikipedia article said Erie averages just 4 days at or above 90 which is a miracle for someone who grew up in the south. 90 and above is normal for months at a time in Tennessee and Virginia.

New Bedford is actually getting a Commuter Rail line later this year! I think it most definitely deserves it's place on this list.

Would love to see a video on the best cities/towns in the southeast US that buck the trend of being stroad- and highway-blighted hellscapes. Some I'd bet on would be Gainesville FL, Savannah GA, and Athens GA as mentioned in this video.

i love how you always explain your methodology in such a thorough and easy to understand way

To me 250,000-500,000 is perfect. This feels like a weirdly uncommon size in the us but extremely common in Europe. Really impressed to see Williamsport. Incredible nature to the north as well.

I spent 4 years in Athens for grad school and really enjoyed it. The public transit was impressive for such a small town (helped out by the free transit cards given to UGA students). The proximity to the Atlanta airport was nice, and there are private shuttles that bring you there. That said, the lack of light rail to Atlanta was absurd. I knew many people who commuted over an hour each way into Atlanta. Sadly, while there were plans to extend MARTA, the suburbs didn't want it.

Sold on the Purrista Cat cafe

Charlottesville VA def not a walkable town all over. Car required.

Ithaca is great! With local ordinances, they kept the stroadiness to the state route that curves around the city, so the downtown area and pedestrian commons have a very community-oriented feel that is centered around local businesses. Excellent bus service (TCAT, as you had mentioned in an earlier video) and a phenomenal homegrown carshare system (Ithaca Carshare) help keep car usage down as well.

Erie, PA, has a nonzero number of diners spelled as “dinor.” Valencia doesn’t have that.

I was almost 100% sure Lancaster, PA would be #1 on the list and was surprised it wasn't until I looked up the metro area population. 550,000 people are in the metro area, which consists of only Lancaster county. There are only 430,000 people in the urbanized area, which I think is slightly better for measuring metro populations, but I digress. I think Lancaster would be the perfect city for any urbanist looking for a smaller town. It's one of the oldest cities in the country, and has an incredible central market. It has a station on the Keystone Service, which is about 1 train/hour to Harrisburg or Philadelphia and New York. Its walk score is an 81, which is higher than any other town in PA, including Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Lancaster is kind of my dream city. If only it was a little closer to the Rocky Mts, but I guess the Appalachians would scratch the outdoors itch.

Your Erie description is very distinctly Pennsylvania. There are probably six cities in Pennsylvania that are Erie-like in that they are walkable - hipster-y - college-y with decent infrastructure. Thinking Scranton, Easton, Bethlehem, even Pittsburgh.

Lifetime Clevelander here. Interesting high rank for Erie, PA. In addition to the points you make, we love the historic and natural amenities the city has to offer. The highest being Presque Isle with several ecozones that enclose the city with a beautiful inland bay and a line of wonderful beaches on its lake Erie side.

As someone from central Europe (Germany to be precise) its always interesting to see what americans think of their own cities and their qualities or advantages. Some of these sound very interesting and nice, i love small towns, but these videos also make me realise how different the standards are compared to where i'm from. Having "a car free place" and "some walkability" would just qualify as a normal town over here, and the amount of cars and parking spaces inside the city center is unbelievable compared to most towns here. Don't get me rwong, Europes cities are NOT perfect or better in every way, they are just very different. I still think its great how you found the qualities of these places and what makes them unique and good places to live in. Generally i have a feeling that more and more people realise what actually makes a good town/city these days, not just in the US but also here in Europe, which ultimately will improve places and how we all live.

I live not too far from Erie PA, and have friends there. It's a nice little place, and while there is the occasional big snow it's not as big a factor in daily life as you might think.

Thank you for including Burlington VT on this list!! So excited to see some representation for my state.

I would also recommend Corvallis, Oregon, not in terms of transit but simply very well-built bike infrastructure.

We just moved it to every six months ago. In the dead of winter and it wasn’t miserable. We love it here! Presque Isle and the beaches are amazing, downtown is lively, and there’s arts and lots of food and the bayfront redevelopment is beautiful. Don’t tell everyone! It’s our hidden gem.

My home town of Sitka, Alaska might be a bit small to be considered a city, at only 10,000 people, but it has bike friendly and walk friendly certifications, a trail network that runs the length of the road system, a strong mixed use downtown, and a coastal layout that has mostly prevented sprawl. Road system is only about 15 miles of total pavement, and no roads wider than 2 lane with turning lane. 2 roundabouts and one kind-of-a-roundabout-surrounding the historic church located right in the middle of the Main Street

In a similar vein as your “most improved cities” video, maybe you could talk about “vision zero” and which cities have actually made improvements on traffic/pedestrian safety. Right now it seems like pedestrian safety is getting worse in a lot of big cities like LA. Maybe there are some places doing the right thing. Or if it’s really just getting worse across the board, I’d settle for top 10 most unsafe cities for pedestrians, too.

I'm grew up in Erie and my girlfriend is from Syracuse. We currently live in Tucson. While the weather is fabulous, we could never own a home comparable to where we're from for the price. They have unbelievable affordable housing. Erie is by far a gem in summer. Presque Isle beaches are great. Yeah, you want to flee South in Jan/Feb if you can.

A great one! I love this content, and I can't wait for your visits to some of these cities over time.

Weird. I'm from Erie and I never expected to see it on any list on this channel, let alone #1 🤯 I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it. It definitely feels more rust belt than urbanist.

An important QOL indicator that would put Burlington, Vermont, over the top: microbrewpubs per capita! This, combined with a high bike/walk index would be pretty interesting.

I’m completely biased as a former employee of the City of Ann Arbor’s engineering department, but I’m so happy to see it has finally made one of your lists! I love Ann Arbor so much, and I always say that if I were ever forced to move back to Michigan for some reason, the only place I’d even consider living is Ann Arbor (or maaaayyyyybe Ferndale/Royal Oak)

Nice! Was very surprised to not see Allentown, Bethlehem, Lancaster, Harrisburg, Scranton or Reading to make the list. PA really is the king for small/midsize cities If you are struggling for content at some point you could do a state-by-state ranking, or maybe not ranking but just a state by state spotlight of lesser known cities

@CityNerd I would love to see you start a series where you list your top 5 cities in each state. I realize for some states it might be a challenge finding 5 cities, but I still think it would be interesting.

I gotta love the repeat feature of Madison, as well as seeing underrated gems like Champaign-Urbana and Ithaca. That being said, Rochester MN, Duluth MN, and St Cloud MN I think all deserve honorable mentions on their own right. Rochester MN is probably the smallest city in the US that's building a properly dedicated lane BRT line, that will be opened by 2026. Rochester is home to the Mayo Clinic and U of MN, providing world class healthcare and education that is a literal lifesaver for millions of people every year across the whole US. Duluth MN has also built up their own BRT-lite bus network upgrades with one of the best waterfronts in America, and St Cloud MN was the first city in the entire country to put transit signal priority on all fixed bus routes. Each of the three cities have charming downtowns with plans to improve even further, as Duluth wants to tear down the overbuilt section of I-35 along the waterfront, and Rochester MN pedestrianized some parts of their downtown with plans to further infill the city with proper density and TOD. St Cloud MN is also home to New Flyer's main manufacturing base for buses in the US, with orders only increasing for more Xcelsior buses across the country. Once again another banger video!

Loving the recent focus on affordability recently. I've already signed a lease in Madison WI, glad to see it getting shouted out here :)

So excited to see my home town on a list! The firm I work for did the structural design for the World's Tallest Filing Cabinet, which has a genuine urbanist backstory. Thanks!

Might be challenging, but would be neat to see a similar list restricted to the Sunbelt.

Good shout out for Madison, WI. Alas, rapidly becoming quite expensive.

I feel slighted that you didn't mention the horrible weather of Syracuse. It generally ranks as one of the snowiest cities in the Country. With that however, the State and County do not prioritize snow removal on bike lanes and even close them down. One of the main arteries, Empire State trail does not have any snow removal and for parts they close it off. Biking within the city itself is pretty decent though and is getting better every year albeit at a slower pace than I would like. They are also planning to remove one of the two highways that cut the city (it would honestly make a pretty decent video. A video on the backlash of an objectively good project. Furthermore, Syracuse itself would be a decent topic. Within the city you have basically what people point to as natrual hurdles to bike ability and walk ability. The snow and it is a very hilly city. It fortunely has the backbone of a good city and there are projects to reclaim itself from car dependency). It does have decent train and bus access to NYC and bus access to Ithaca. Skunk city is a terrible place to live. It has an insanely high crime rate and basically no urban amenities within walking distance.

I'm really surprised that Burlington, Vermont made the list. Especially with how high the student population is, the roaring home prices, and 0.5% vacancy rate. But I guess that speaks to how good everything else is! Train service to NYC was just restored last summer. Service to Montreal is still in the works. Just a two hour drive to Montreal, and four to Boston. Six beaches, all of which are along the bike path. Ample kayaking and hiking opportunities. Alpine skiing and rock climbing within an hour's drive. And a way bigger arts and music scene than we deserve. But no homes available, please don't anybody try to move here, lol.

Hey🎉 We got an honorable mention!!! "Old Town" Northside of Lansing, Michigan has a good vibe, and the busses run regularly.

I lived on the Urbana side of Champaign IL for 12 years. It is a great small city and I am going to consider moving back when I retire. I moved from Champaign for a job opportunity where I had the boss from hell. Champaign is a place I would like to move back.

Ann Arbor is really dope and they have an amazing festival in the summer around the university. Also Charlottesville and Roanoke are amazing small towns if you like Virginia it was a pleasant surprise.

Presque Isle State Park in Erie is delightful in the summer.

Glad to see some non-trendy towns on the list (Williamsport, Erie, New Bedford). Your right about Pennsylvania having plenty of smaller, older towns with good bones, historic downtowns and walkable access. Williamsport is quite dense, but surrounded by beautiful scenery. Really does hit on many of the metrics that you speak about. Great video!

As someone who went to UM in Ann Arbor and recently moved to Madison, WI, the bikeability is not even comparable. Sure, Ann Arbor put up one or two protected bike paths, and getting around the university area is fine with a bike (sidewalks and neighborhood roads), but Madison has a massive network of properly separated bike paths that actually take you to all corners of the city. I actually feel very safe biking there. Ann Arbor has recently improved, but it is not even close to Madison yet.

I had an unjustified feeling of pride seeing my home town of Eugene get an honorable mention at the top of the video! XD I think growing up and then going to college there really informed my views on urbanism. It's a wonderful place to walk and bike, most of the older parts of the city have a traditional grid, and shopping/restaurant streets tend to be pretty accessible to a lot of neighborhoods... I was also lucky to live in the college area as a young child which meant a ton of things were easy to walk to! It was great! Also as a child I played a lot of frisbee with college kids lol

Great video! Come visit us in Erie, PA anytime! Lots of great resources here that are atypical for a city of its size. If you live close to the lakeshore, you don't get nearly as much snow as those living south of I-90.

As a resident and planner in Cville, loved seeing it on the honorable mention list! I've been here almost a year and love it so far, very walkable downtown, and lots of cool spots to check out.

Would love to see a video on the classic cities on the southeast coast! Charleston, Savannah, and St Augustine (the oldest cities in the USA) because they seem to be the perfect representation of the premodern urban vision of America. Walkable, mixed use downtowns with amazing and ornate architecture, tons of small shops and restaurants, with perfect grids dotted with green spaces. Went recently and thought of the things I learned from this channel!

I'd love a similar style video but limited solely to NYC neighbourhoods. Top ten "cheapest" neighbourhoods but with walkability, bike score, and transit score factored in.

I could have sworn Greenville, SC was going to be #1 on this list! Still waiting with baited breath for Greenville's time in the spotlight on this channel...

I live in Eugene and I love it here- big enough that there’s plenty of stuff to do, small enough that it’s close to nature, not too loud or polluted, and has a vibrant local culture The public transit kinda sucks but a nice thing about a smaller city is that you can just bike everywhere so that’s what I do

Thank you City Nerd, this was the video I've been waiting for.

8:23 Watch out for Williamsport. The city may be perfectly fine, and the surrounding area may be pretty, but it's in the middle of nowhere (1.5-2 hrs north of Harrisburg, hours from Philly and Pittsburgh) and it's in the midst of DARK red central PA.

Great vid! I can’t wait to see what you do if you go to Barcelona. Would love to see something on their super blocks

Thanks for mentioning Erie. We moved here in 2020 and love it here! Check out the Erie Philharmonic when you visit!

This list was actually very helpful! These are cities I could actually see myself living in.

I was really surprised to see Erie on the list. I live in Erie, on the lower west side, and I walk and bike pretty much everywhere although my family does own one car that we share. But here’s the thing. I’m one of the only ones! Even though the part of town I live in is very flat, and there are attractions in walkable distance in either direction, the majority of the people in the city take their car, even if they are only traveling two or three blocks. People regularly tell me I’m crazy. Another thing is that we have one bike lane that has been in place for over 10 years. It goes from the wealthier neighborhood to the peninsula where those people can ride their bikes around it and ride home. No actual connectivity. A couple years ago, the city put in another maybe five blocks stretch of bike lane on parade street that also doesn’t really connect to anything. The residents here are fighting hard against any Bike infrastructure and pedestrian upgrades. Another reason I was surprised to see Erie on the list is that we don’t have any grocery stores in our downtown area. The local co-op recently opened a small satellite store, downtown, and there are different ethnic markets in the lower Eastside neighborhood. But no grocery stores where you could get everything you need. Those are all outside of city limits and very difficult to get to without a car. But other than that the weather is not as bad as people say. Yes, sometimes we do get 5 feet of snow during one storm but it’s usually gone within a few days. No one leaves the house during that time, and then it’s right back to biking and walking for me.

This is so crazy. I never thought I'd ever see Erie mentioned on this channel because what I remember from living there is massive highways and sparse bus routes. While I'm sure the highways are still there, I'll have to take a look and see if the bus situation has changed the next time I'm up to visit family!

Loved to see VA mentioned. Also, the stuff about New Bedford is true. It was the capital of the New England whaling industry and was full of wealthy ship captains.

You need to take a look at Frederick, Maryland! Gorgeous colonial town nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. Straight up oozing idyllic charm! They also have a pretty good public transit system with a light rail traveling to DC and plans to further improve it. Mid dense housing with block upon block of beautiful and unique rowhomes. Incredible downtown scene with endless restaurants and bars! Two beautiful parks as well with a pedestrian only creek walk similar to the San Antonio river walk! Frederick’s charm is endless

Appreciate the emphasis on affordability! I'm 24, just starting my career, and want to live somewhere walkable, well-planned, with good transit options where I can potentially afford a house in a few years. I'm also a smaller city fan so this video is perfect for me. Burlington is high on my list.

Halifax, Nova Scotia fits your bill, here. In particular, the South End of the city, on the peninsula.

Fayetteville, AR needs to be on this list! I moved from Fayetteville to Athens, GA (which is not walkable whatsoever, but is slowly implementing bike trails, and public busses are free ). Fayetteville has TONS of biking and walking trails that span south fayetteville all the way to northern Bentonville through multiple cities that are all interconnected. The downtown area is well connected to the college and the campus is dense; and it is also one of the easiest drive able college towns and cheap rent/home costs! I miss living within a 10 minute drive/30 minute bike ride to the entire town.

Burlington vt has covered bus stops everywhere because of how much the public transport is actually used (which surprised me) and while there should be more trains, it does at least have an amtrak to new york city

Lovin the videos and cool to see you visiting Spain. Future video idea - some kind of topic or topics related to regional small cities. Rust Belt, Northeast, Pacific Northwest, the South etc. always good to learn about other places that might not be as well-known.

Always loved your videos! Great content

Would love to see urbanism content about the Spanish cities you are visiting, particularly how the Madrid metro compares to other cities' metros.

I recently moved to New Haven, CT for work (where Yale University is located) and I have fallen in love with the city. I rarely use my car, primarily walk and sometimes bike to work. - I know it wasn't a factor you considered on this list, but it is a 2 hour train ride to both NYC and Boston. - 2 hour train ride from JFK airport and the other NYC airports - Only a 2 hour drive away from camping/skiing in Vermont and New Hampshire. - The city is right on the Long Island Sound with access to a bunch of nice beaches. - Weather is much better than what I'm used to in Upstate NY. I also agree with others in the comments that living in a college city is pretty great. Walkability/bikability is almost always a focus within the urban design and there is never a lack of activities/events/museums to explore. Only downside really is the jacked up apartment prices due to the University being here. But there are plenty of affordable places to live within biking distance of downtown.

Cool to see Erie on here! Just surprised the beaches weren't mentioned. Kinda cool to put up an away message at work, hop in my car, and be on the sand in less than 10 minutes. Definitely couldn't do that when I lived in Boston. Also, check out the Lake Erie wine trail!

I’m in Syracuse, the green on top traffic light is there because in the old days the Irish kids would consistently break the red light because to them the red represented the English and the green represented the Irish and they didn’t want the English “above” the Irish so the city put the green on top because Tipperary Hill is an Irish neighborhood both then and now.

It's funny how a lot of college towns I've been too are extremely walkable around the college and then drop off quite quickly in the case of new development at the edges of town.

Interesting list! I've been waiting for a video like this featuring smaller cities! I was a bit surprised to see Erie and Williamsport show up but not Harrisburg. Population is on the small side (around 50,000, though the combined metro area is much larger), but because it's the capital city of a large state, it punches above its weight in terms of amenities (some high-end restaurants, its own symphony orchestra, etc.). Downtown isn't an urbanist paradise by any means, but neighborhoods like Midtown are incredibly beautiful and walkable, and housing is legitimately affordable (Zillow average home price is $213k). Lots of access to nature-the city's entire riverfront is a park, and the Appalachian Trail is 15 minutes away. Also, Harrisburg has decent four-season weather and is a couple hours by train from Philly, NYC, DC, and Pittsburgh. Keep up the great work!

Great video, and one that feels made for me. I lived in Burlington VT for 13 years; have lived near Madison WI for the last 10; and am quite familiar with Ithaca, Ann Arbor, and Syracuse. The two that surprise me are Champaign/Urbana (which I found quite dull when I spent some time there, admittedly around 20 years ago - might've improved) and Erie, which I've heard little good about over the years, and which hasn't given me a good vibe when I've driven through it. But overall an impressive list showing that you can get much of the urban experience in smaller places - in fact that was what I was aiming for when I moved from Chicago to Burlington in 2000. I do think that city is pretty borderline given how expensive it is - but let's face it, every city requires some kind of sacrifice, and in many ways I was happier living car-free in a tiny apartment there than I am where I am now with triple the space and less expenses.

I'm from rural northeast PA originally, but I went to UVM in Burlington for four and a half years and words cannot express how much that city feels like home to me.

I lived in Champaign-Urbana for 6 years, nice town, good bus system, Amtrak to Chicago, nice small airport in town, and slightly larger one an hour away in Bloomington, IL. Living in Valencia, Spain weighs heavily though in comparison

As someone who grew up and until recently lived in Syracuse, I was pretty shocked it was on this list, let alone at #3. I've got to disagree with it being an urbanist city, however. There is little walkability outside of a tiny stretch on Westcott street and downtown (Armory Square). Very much a car-dependent, car-centric city. Extremely high crime and a bad economy with one of the highest poverty rates in the country (top 10) the last time I checked. On paper it looks much better than it is in reality. I would have replaced #3 with Ithaca and put Buffalo, NY in Ithaca's spot.

Another great video, thanks

Nice video ❤❤❤, love your channel..

I grew up in Champaign and my parents live there still so I get plenty of opportunities to visit and I agree that Campustown can pretty much be avoided in its entirety and still enjoy amenities that punch above the weight you'd expect. I now live in Pittsburgh and a lot of what I like about Champaign-Urbana translates well to the larger city with even more amenities.

Nice list. In before the inevitable... "These are all too coldddd, CityNerd! Where are the small, urbanist, sunbelt cities in states with low-income taxes?" comments.

Thank you for the great review! This is what I was looking for. I moved from Austin to Amarillo two years ago. I was giggling over the light rush hour traffic. There was enough to do, including gettin out of Texas into a choice of three states in less than two hours. Public transportation was light, but they were redeveloping the downtown and moving in the right direction. I find the 200k population with plenty of nothing around it to be my ideal. Having a tough time finding the same outside of Texas.

I moved to Ann Arbor a year and a half ago. It's great. Tons to do, compact, full of student energy

After I moved to London, UK from Canada, I visited a small city (or big town) called Salisbury. I remember thinking to myself "this town feels more urban and buzzing than Calgary (my home city in Canada)".