This Wisconsin Small Town Dubbed One of America's Best to Visit

When our weather eventually starts to warm up in northern Illinois with more spring-like temperatures, we live in the perfect place to go on a day trip to some of the best towns in America.

Even the Illinois tourism catchphrase promotes that we're "in the middle of everything" which means our location in the Midwest puts us within a half-day drive to all some of our great small towns.

These Are the Top 10 Best Small Towns in the U.S. to Visit

Some of the best small towns in America are in Illinois, like Woodstock and Naperville. In Wisconsin, my other favorites are Cedarburg, Waukesha, and Port Washington.

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A new ranking of smaller towns in Illinois and Wisconsin shows these are the best places to live or visit and have fewer than 10,000 residents:

55 - Galena, Illinois

Always worth the 90-minute drive from Rockford to visit the shops, eat at the great restaurants, and see all the history Galena has to offer.

45 - Mineral Point, Wisconsin

Feels like you stepped back in time when visiting Mineral Point where they say it's where "Wisconsin Began."

41 - Hayward, Wisconsin

Hiking, biking, camping, fishing, you can find everything to love about the outdoors in Hayward.

3 - Stockholm, Wisconsin

There are only 65 residents of Stockholm, Wisconsin but the Swedish heritage brings thousands to visit the quaint shops and cafes.

What Are the 2 Best Small Towns in the U.S. to Live in or Visit?

The 2nd Best Small Town to Visit according to the ranking from Far and Wide is Mooresville, Alabama.

According to Far and Wide, the Best Small Town in America to Live or Visit is Menowi, Nebraska, which has only 1 single resident.

Not sure I agree with that ranking, but you can CLICK HERE to see the Top 100 Best Small Towns in America.

LOOK: Here are the states where you are most likely to hit an animal

Hitting an animal while driving is a frightening experience, and this list ranks all 50 states in order of the likelihood of such incidents happening, in addition to providing tips on how to avoid them.

Gallery Credit: Dom DiFurio & Jacob Osborn

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

Gallery Credit: Sophia Crisafulli

Filed Under: Rockford News