126 articles
Lakewood, Colorado
Lakewood, Colorado: home rule suburb of about 157,000 residents immediately west of Denver in Jefferson County, Colorado's fifth-largest city. Incorporated 1969; council-manager government; Belmar downtown; 2026 zoning repeal election.
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie, Wyoming: high-plains college town at about 7,200 feet, founded 1868 on the Union Pacific Railroad, home of the University of Wyoming, Louisa Swain's 1870 vote, and the Wyoming Territorial Prison.
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Las Cruces, New Mexico: second-largest city and Doña Ana County seat in the Mesilla Valley; founded 1849, population 116,978 (2025), arid climate, Rio Grande irrigation agriculture, council-manager government.
Las Vegas, New Mexico
Las Vegas, New Mexico, is a city in San Miguel County founded in 1835 as a Mexican land grant and a major Santa Fe Trail trading stop.
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville, Colorado, is the county seat and highest incorporated city in North America, founded in 1877 during a silver boom; mining continues there nearly to the present day.
Lewiston, Idaho
Lewiston, Idaho: city at the Snake-Clearwater confluence (Tsceminicum), founded May 13, 1861 during the gold rush, first incorporated Idaho city, original territorial capital, and Idaho's only seaport.
Littleton, Colorado
Littleton, Colorado: home-rule city and Arapahoe County seat about 11 miles south of Denver, founded by engineer Richard Sullivan Little, platted 1872, incorporated 1890, population 45,652 (2020).
Livingston, Montana
Livingston, Montana, is a city of about 8,040 people in Park County on the Yellowstone River, founded as a Northern Pacific Railroad town in 1882.
Logan, Utah
Logan, Utah: county seat of Cache County, founded 1859, incorporated 1866, named for trapper Ephraim Logan; home of Utah State University, population about 55,000, at the mouth of Logan Canyon.
Longmont, Colorado
Longmont, Colorado: Front Range city founded 1871 by the Chicago-Colorado Colony, named for Longs Peak. Population 98,885 (2020); municipal utilities including NextLight fiber; sugar-beet to high-tech economy.
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Los Alamos, New Mexico (Site Y, PO Box 1663): secret Manhattan Project town on the Pajarito Plateau, now home to Los Alamos National Laboratory; ~19,400 residents, $147,139 median household income, 69.7% college-educated.
Loveland, Colorado
Loveland, Colorado: the "Sweetheart City" of Larimer County, founded 1877, incorporated 1881, population about 81,000. Known for its Valentine Re-mailing Program, sugar beet and cherry heritage, and sculpture parks.
Mesa, Arizona
Mesa, Arizona: large Salt River Valley city east of Phoenix, 36th largest in the US, over 515,000 residents, 138 square miles. Founded 1878 by Mormon colonists on Hohokam canal sites; incorporated 1883; council-manager government; diversified Colorado, Salt, and Verde River water supply.
Mesquite, Nevada
Mesquite, Nevada: a Clark County city of about 24,000 on the I-15 corridor between Las Vegas and St. George, Utah, incorporated in 1984, known for golf resorts, casinos, retirees, and 833,000 annual visitors.
Missoula, Montana
Missoula, Montana: second-largest Montana city and Missoula County seat, founded 1860 as Hellgate trading post, home of the University of Montana (opened 1895); population 73,489 in 2020, at the Clark Fork and Bitterroot rivers.
Moab, Utah
Moab, Utah: Grand County seat and gateway to Arches and Canyonlands national parks. Population about 5,200; incorporated 1902; transformed by the 1950s Charlie Steen uranium boom and now a desert tourism and outdoor recreation hub.
Montrose, Colorado
Montrose, Colorado: home rule city and county seat of Montrose County on the Western Slope, founded 1882 as a railroad supply town, agricultural center after the 1909 Gunnison Tunnel, gateway to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, population about 21,600.
Moscow, Idaho
Moscow, Idaho: county seat of Latah County, home of the University of Idaho (founded 1889, opened 1892), population 25,435 in 2020, twin college town of Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse.
Nampa, Idaho
Nampa, Idaho: third-largest Idaho city in the Treasure Valley, founded 1886 as a railroad and irrigation town; 100,200 residents in 2020, growing about 3% yearly, with agribusiness, manufacturing, and technology employers.
Nogales, Arizona
Nogales, Arizona, county seat of Santa Cruz County, is the U.S. half of Ambos Nogales on the Mexico border. Key facts: 1893 incorporation, Mariposa and DeConcini ports of entry, $20 billion trade, transboundary wastewater issues.
North Las Vegas
North Las Vegas, Nevada: independent incorporated city in Clark County on the northern Las Vegas Valley rim, incorporated May 1, 1946; 296,653 residents (2025 estimate), fastest-growing city in Nevada, with Apex Industrial Park and its own mayor-council government.
Ogden, Utah
Ogden, Utah: county seat of Weber County, Utah's seventh-largest city, founded as Fort Buenaventura in 1845 and incorporated 1851; a railroad junction city and 2025 Milken second-ranked best-performing large city.
Orem, Utah
Orem, Utah: city in Utah County on the eastern shore of Utah Lake, incorporated May 5, 1919 and named for railroad president Walter C. Orem. Fifth-largest Utah city, home of Utah Valley University, population about 95,000 in 2025.
Ouray, Colorado
Ouray, Colorado: 'Switzerland of America,' a 7,687-foot box-canyon mining town founded 1875, incorporated 1876, named for Chief Ouray; home to the Ouray Ice Park, hot springs pool, and Million Dollar Highway to Silverton.
Page, Arizona
Page, Arizona: a city on Manson Mesa near the Utah border, founded in 1957 as a Bureau of Reclamation camp for Glen Canyon Dam workers, incorporated March 1, 1975, now a tourism base for Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, and Horseshoe Bend.
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Pagosa Springs is the county seat of Archuleta County, Colorado, named from the Ute word Pagosah, healing waters. Known for the Mother Spring, the world's deepest geothermal hot spring, the Red Ryder Roundup, and the San Juan River.
Paradise Valley, Arizona
Paradise Valley is an incorporated town in Maricopa County, Arizona, lying between Phoenix and Scottsdale. It is almost exclusively zoned for low-density residential use, with resorts needing permits.
Park City, Utah
Park City, Utah: Summit County resort city chartered 1884, once a silver mining boomtown (Ontario mine, Silver King), reborn as a ski destination in 1963, host of 2002 Olympics events and the Sundance Film Festival until 2026.
Payson, Arizona
Payson, Arizona: a town in northern Gila County at about 5,000 feet below the Mogollon Rim, 90 miles north of Phoenix; population 16,351 (2020), home of the World's Oldest Continuous Rodeo since 1884.
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix, Arizona: capital of Arizona and fifth-largest US city, 1,665,481 residents (2025 est.), 516.70 square miles in the Salt River Valley. Founded 1868, incorporated 1881; water from Salt/Verde Rivers (60%) and Colorado River (40%).