Small City Guide is an independent research site for people thinking about leaving a big U.S. metro for a smaller place. We cover small and mid-sized cities across the country, from the Mountain West to the Southeast to New England, and for each one we try to answer the questions that decide a move: what housing actually costs, what the schools and job market look like, which neighborhoods fit which households, and what the tradeoffs are.
What we cover
Each city gets a set of guides: cost of living, neighborhoods, schools, jobs, things to do, pros and cons, and a practical moving guide. Some cities also get deeper pieces, such as a rent report or a side-by-side comparison with another city. The goal is to let you compare places on the same terms before you spend a weekend visiting any of them.
Where the numbers come from
Our starting point is public data: the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, HUD Fair Market Rents, state education report cards and local Realtor market reports. As each guide goes through our verification process, its figures are tied to a named source and period, so you can check them yourself. The full list of sources is on our Methodology page.
How a guide is made and checked
First drafts are written with the help of an AI language model. We say so because you should know. The model does not decide any fact: figures come from the datasets above, and local specifics (school names, employers, venues, prices, dates, what reopened after a storm and what did not) are checked against primary sources such as city and county sites, school districts, transit agencies and local news. A second, independent check then tries to disprove each correction before it is published. Guides that have been through this process carry a dated “How this guide was made” note at the end, listing what changed.
Who writes it
Guides are published under the byline Jordan Reese, the editorial voice of Small City Guide. We do not claim to live in every city we cover, and we do not write as if we did. What we offer is the public record, read carefully and explained plainly.
Corrections
If something in a guide is wrong or out of date, tell us through the contact page or at [email protected]. We check every report against a source and update the guide, and the correction is noted in that guide’s change log.