Zanesville named second most charming small town in USA, study finds

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A small Ohio city is being recognized for its beauty and amenities in a recent study of the most charming towns in the United States and Canada.

Betway, an online casino and sports betting company, set out to find the most and least appealing small places in North America. The motivation for the study was based on the trend, according to USA Today, of people moving to less populated locations.

Researchers analyzed several metrics including Instagram search volume, positive sentiment, number of parks, number of landmarks, number of museums, and number of art galleries to rank the towns.

When the calculations were complete, Zanesville, Ohio, was slotted in the No. 4 spot of most charming small towns in North America and rose even higher to second place of the most charming small towns in the U.S. The Ohio city scored 2.894 out of 6 in the study, while the top town overall, Decatur, Georgia, earned a score of 3.255 out of 6.

The study authors noted what made Zanesville stand out in the rankings.

“Zanesville, Ohio is officially the second most charming town in the USA, with the most museums on our list, at six, alongside the second most landmarks and art galleries, at nine and seven, respectively,” researchers said.

Key sights specifically listed in the results were the Zanesville Museum of Art and the largest alpaca farm in southeastern Ohio, Alpacas of Spring Acres.

In comparison, Decatur, located outside of Atlanta, boasts 21 parks, 10 art galleries, four museums, and six landmarks.

10 most charming small towns in U.S. and Canada

1. Decatur, Georgia/Total Score: 3.255
2. Whitehorse, Canada/Total Score: 3.225
3. Langley, Canada/Total Score: 2.916
4. Zanesville, Ohio/Total Score: 2.894
5. Bainbridge Island, Washington/Total Score: 2.570
6. Brockville, Canada/Total Score: 2.364
7. Denison, Texas/Total Score: 2.259
8. Duncan, Canada/Total Score: 2.257
9. Owen Sound/Total Score: Canada/Total Score: 2.246
10. Kerrville, Texas/Total Score: 2.136

The dataset ranked 70 small locations, 50 from the US and 20 from Canada. Once the data for the six different factors was collected, the factors were then normalized to provide each factor with a score of between 0 and 1. If data was not available, a score of 0 was given. The normalized values were then summed, to give each location a total score out of 6. The locations were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on total scores. Betway stated that all data is correct as of June 2024.

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