A microtown is a municipality with less than 500 residents that is not part of the suburbia of a neighboring city. (Such towns might also be known as villages and hamlets.) Microtowns used to be prevalent in the West and Midwest United States in the 18th and 19th centuries as people moved for cheaper land and started their own municipality. Today, a microtown is usually a strong sign of a locality's decline, as people have moved away to seek more prosperous opportunities elsewhere, although many such places still exist today, always in rural America. The smallest documented microtown is in Maine with a population of exactly one (it is legally a town), although a town usually has some degree of independence. A population of zero is a ghost town.

Examples of microtowns

• Homestead, Iowa, population 103
• Calvin, ND, population 27
• Fredonia, Kentucky, population 425
• Hiseville, Kentucky, population 220
• Easton, New Hampshire, population 256
• Fortescue, Missouri, population 51
• Lake Buena Vista, Florida, population 15
• Harmony, California, population 18
• Weeki Wachee, Florida, population 12

See also

• List of places in the United States with an official population less than 10
• Town
• Village
• Hamlet