County ranking

The most remote towns in the US

Incorporated places of 1,000 to 9,999 residents, ranked by straight-line distance to the nearest place of 10,000 or more.

Short answer

Unalaska, AK is the most remote town in this list: 809 miles in a straight line from Anchorage, the nearest place of 10,000 or more.
#1 Unalaska, AK
809
  1. 01Unalaska, AK809
  2. 02Akutan, AK776
  3. 03Hooper Bay, AK547
  4. 04Nome, AK524
  5. 05Utqiaġvik, AK501
  6. 06Kotzebue, AK441
  7. 07Bethel, AK414
  8. 08Dillingham, AK350
  9. 09Kodiak, AK258
  10. 10Ketchikan, AK229
  11. 11Craig, AK203
  12. 12Wrangell, AK171
  13. 13Malta, MT169
  14. 14Caribou, ME145
  15. 15Glasgow, MT137
  16. 16Presidio, TX136
  17. 17Presque Isle, ME134
  18. 18Cordova, AK130
  19. 19Homer, AK130
  20. 20Miles City, MT124
  21. 21Chinook, MT122
  22. 22Ely, NV119
  23. 23Oroville, WA112
  24. 24Ainsworth, NE109
  25. 25Grand Marais, MN108
  26. 26Goodland, KS106
  27. 27Valentine, NE104
  28. 28Havre, MT104
  29. 29Burlington, CO103
  30. 30Wakefield, MI103
  31. 31Winnemucca, NV103
  32. 32Hines, OR102
  33. 33Burns, OR102
  34. 34Page, AZ101
  35. 35Warroad, MN101
  36. 36Valdez, AK99
  37. 37Gordon, NE99
  38. 38Colby, KS98
  39. 39Bessemer, MI98
  40. 40Tonasket, WA97
  41. 41Cando, ND97
  42. 42Lamar, CO96
  43. 43Raton, NM96
  44. 44Forsyth, MT96
  45. 45St. Francis, KS94
  46. 46Ontonagon, MI93
  47. 47Blanding, UT93
  48. 48Ironwood, MI93
  49. 49Sitka, AK93
  50. 50Atwood, KS92
Miles to a 10,000+ place. Rank 1 at the top.
GeorgiaIndianaMaineMinnesotaNorth DakotaColoradoAlaskaArkansasIllinoisIowaMississippiNew YorkTennesseeTexasVirginiaKansasAlabamaNorth CarolinaMichiganMissouriNebraskaOhioSouth CarolinaVermontWisconsinCaliforniaKentuckySouth DakotaNevadaFloridaMarylandPennsylvaniaArizonaRhode IslandIdahoOregonMontanaWashingtonWest VirginiaNew MexicoNew HampshireOklahomaUtahWyomingHawaiiLouisianaMassachusettsConnecticutNew JerseyDelawareDistrict of Columbia

Dots mark the location of each of the 50 rows listed.

How remoteness is measured

Each incorporated place with 1,000 to 9,999 residents in the Census subcounty estimates is matched to the nearest place of 10,000 or more by great circle distance between Census internal points. Census-designated places are not in that file, so some unincorporated communities are missing. Place populations are the whole-place totals (summary level 162) from the Census Vintage 2024 subcounty estimates, so cities that span several counties count in full.

Outside Alaska

Alaska towns fill the top of the list. Outside Alaska, the most remote is Malta, MT, 169 miles from Great Falls.

Questions people ask

What is the most remote town in the US?

In this list, Unalaska, AK, 809 miles from the nearest place of 10,000 or more.

Are road distances used?

No. Distances are straight lines between Census internal points.

Suggested citation

Online Map Tools. "The most remote towns in the US." Published 2026-09-30. https://onlinemaptools.com/rankings/most-remote-towns. Data: Census Vintage 2024 subcounty population estimates; Census 2024 Gazetteer, places.

Journalists, students and researchers may quote these figures and reuse the table. Please credit Online Map Tools and link to this page. The underlying government data is in the public domain.

Download the data (CSV)

Sources and data as of

Data as of: Census Vintage 2024 population estimates, 2024 Gazetteer land area and internal points, SAIPE 2023 median household income.

  1. 01Census Vintage 2024 subcounty population estimates
  2. 02Census 2024 Gazetteer, places

How every number is computed: methodology. Spotted a wrong figure? Report an error.

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