126 articles
Alamogordo, New Mexico
Alamogordo, New Mexico: Otero County seat founded in 1898 as a railroad town by Charles Eddy; about 31,000 residents, adjacent to Holloman AFB, near White Sands National Park.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico: largest New Mexico city, founded 1706 as Villa de Alburquerque; 564,559 residents (2020), Rio Grande valley, Sandia National Laboratories, Kirtland AFB, Route 66 heritage.
Anaconda, Montana
Anaconda, Montana: company town founded 1883 by Marcus Daly to smelt Butte copper; home of the 585-foot Washoe smelter stack, a 200-square-mile Superfund site since 1983, and heritage tourism.
Arvada
Arvada is a Colorado city of about 123,000 northwest of Denver, founded in 1870 and named by Mary Ann Wadsworth after Hiram Arvada Haskins; site of Colorado's first gold discovery (1850) and once the 'celery capital of the world.'
Aurora, Colorado
Aurora, Colorado: home-rule city east of Denver, founded 1891 as Fletcher, renamed 1907. Colorado's third largest city, 386,261 (2020 census), over 165 square miles in three counties, shaped by military bases and the Anschutz Medical Campus.
Billings, Montana
Billings, Montana: largest city in Montana and seat of Yellowstone County, founded 1882 as a Northern Pacific Railroad town, nicknamed the Magic City; 117,116 residents in 2020, 121,239 estimated 2025.
Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee, Arizona: former copper mining boomtown in the Mule Mountains of Cochise County, county seat since 1929, once the largest city in Arizona Territory, now an artist and heritage tourism community after the 1975 mine closure.
Boise, Idaho
Boise, formally Boise City, is the capital and most populous city of Idaho, founded in 1863 during the gold rush and named for the tree-lined Boise River.
Boulder City, Nevada
Boulder City, Nevada: city in Clark County founded in 1931 as a federal reservation for Hoover Dam workers; gambling illegal, growth-capped, 14,885 residents (2020), city-owned utilities.
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado: home-rule city in Boulder County at the Rocky Mountain foothills, pop. 108,250 (2020). Home of CU Boulder, federal research labs, dual-slope water supply, and Colorado's highest flash-flood risk.
Bozeman, Montana
Bozeman, Montana: fourth-largest Montana city and Gallatin County seat, home of Montana State University; fast-growing Rocky Mountain hub with a high-tech economy, Yellowstone gateway recreation, and high housing costs.
Breckenridge, Colorado
Breckenridge, Colorado: Summit County resort town founded in 1859 as a gold-mining camp, home to about 5,000 residents, the Breckenridge Ski Resort's five peaks, and Colorado's largest historic district.
Broomfield, Colorado
Broomfield, also known as the City and County of Broomfield, is a consolidated city and county between Denver and Boulder, Colorado's newest county since 2001, with about 79,000 residents in 2025.
Bullhead City, Arizona
Bullhead City, Arizona: Colorado River city in Mohave County across from Laughlin, Nevada; incorporated 1984, 2020 population 41,348, named for a bull-shaped rock now under Lake Mohave.
Butte, Montana
Butte, Montana: former copper-mining city, seat of consolidated Butte-Silver Bow government, once the "Richest Hill on Earth" supplying a third of world copper, a labor-movement center, and now a major Superfund site with the Berkeley Pit.
Cañon City, Colorado
Cañon City, Colorado: Fremont County seat (pop. 17,141 in 2020) at 5,343 feet where the Arkansas River exits the Royal Gorge; founded 1860, site of the 1877-78 Royal Gorge railroad war, the 1871 state penitentiary, and the Garden Park dinosaur quarries.
Carson City, Nevada
Carson City, Nevada: state capital since 1864, founded 1858 by Abraham Curry, named for Kit Carson; consolidated independent city of 157 square miles, population about 58,600.
Casa Grande, Arizona
Casa Grande, Arizona: Pinal County city founded 1879 as the railroad stop Terminus, renamed 1880 for the nearby Hohokam Casa Grande Ruins. Junction of I-8 and I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson; population grew from 53,658 (2020) to an estimated 69,753 (2025), with Lucid Motors and other manufacturers as major employers.
Casper, Wyoming
Casper, Wyoming: second-largest Wyoming city, seat of Natrona County on the North Platte River, founded 1888-1889 as a railroad town and known as the Oil Capital of the Rockies; population about 59,000 with an energy-based economy.
Castle Rock, Colorado
Castle Rock, Colorado: Douglas County seat between Denver and Colorado Springs, founded 1874 on rhyolite quarrying and the Denver & Rio Grande railway; about 83,000 residents, 65% groundwater supply, and a 2065 goal of 100% renewable water.
Cedar City, Utah
Cedar City, Utah: Iron County city founded November 11, 1851 as an iron works settlement, named for juniper 'cedars'; home of Southern Utah University and the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespeare Festival; 41,871 residents (2025 estimate).
Centennial
Centennial, Colorado: home rule city in Arapahoe County incorporated February 7, 2001, the largest U.S. incorporation at the time; about 108,658 residents, contract-based government, 10th largest Colorado city.
Chandler, Arizona
Chandler, Arizona: a Maricopa County city founded in 1912 by Dr. A.J. Chandler, incorporated 1920, population about 294,000. A semiconductor hub anchored by Intel's Ocotillo campus, with diversified water supplies and no light rail.
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming: capital and largest city of Wyoming, founded 1867 as a Union Pacific Railroad town, seat of Laramie County, home of Cheyenne Frontier Days since 1897 and a growing data center hub.
Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis, New Mexico: county seat of Curry County on the High Plains near Texas, founded 1906/1907 as a Santa Fe Railway Belen Cutoff terminal. Economy: agriculture, railroad, Cannon AFB (27th Special Operations Wing); pop. 38,567 (2020).
Cody, Wyoming
Cody, Wyoming: city founded 1896 by Buffalo Bill Cody, incorporated 1901, county seat of Park County, 52 miles from Yellowstone's east entrance, population about 10,000, home of the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho: Kootenai County seat on Lake Coeur d'Alene, named for the Schitsu'umsh ('heart of an awl'). Founded at Fort Sherman in 1878, incorporated 1887, population 58,179 (2025 estimate).
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado: second-largest city in the state, founded 1871 by William Jackson Palmer; population 494,743 (2025), 195 square miles, military and tourism economy, Pikes Peak setting.
Crested Butte, Colorado
Crested Butte, Colorado: former coal mining town in Gunnison County at 8,885 ft, the state-designated Wildflower Capital, a National Historic District, ski and mountain-bike destination facing a severe housing and short-term rental squeeze.
Cripple Creek, Colorado
Cripple Creek, Colorado: small Teller County gold-rush city at 9,500 feet, site of the 1890 Bob Womack gold strike, now a casino and heritage tourism town and home to the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine.