What is the largest municipality in your state that is NOT on a numbered highway

[NWI_Irish96]

Numbered here includes state, US or interstate routes but not county/locally numbered routes. Bannered routes count if they are state maintained. The highway "skirting" the municipality via the border touching but not crossing the highway counts as being on the highway. Please include the population and the rank of the municipality.

For Indiana it is Winona Lake, in Kosciusko County, the 117th largest municipality with a population of 4,908.

[Max Rockatansky]

Reedley stands out in my area with a population of 25,227.  CA 99, 201, 63 and 180 are all a pretty good clip from the city limit.  Even County Route J19 strays a mile from the east city limit.   There probably some cookie cutter suburb though in the Bay Area or Los Angeles that I'm not thinking with more people though.

[flan]

For Minnesota it's Andover, #31, pop. 32601. It lies 0.5 miles north of US 10, 0.5 miles east of MN 47, and 1.5 miles west of MN 65.

For North Dakota it's Lincoln, #14, pop. 4257. It lies about 2 miles from unsigned ND 810, and 4 miles south of I-94.

[pderocco]

Maywood, in Los Angeles's industrial area, has about the same population as Reedley.

In my original home state, Massachusetts, Dracut has around 33000 people.

[hotdogPi]

Maywood, in Los Angeles's industrial area, has about the same population as Reedley.

In my original home state, Massachusetts, Dracut has around 33000 people.

Dracut has routes 38, 110, and 113 within its boundaries.

Nantucket is the answer with 14,255 people, rank 145 of 351. I checked Dover, which is a case of "town line barely misses", but Nantucket is larger anyway. MA 99 clips the corner of Melrose.

[michravera]

Numbered here includes state, US or interstate routes but not county/locally numbered routes. Bannered routes count if they are state maintained. The highway "skirting" the municipality via the border touching but not crossing the highway counts as being on the highway. Please include the population and the rank of the municipality.

For Indiana it is Winona Lake, in Kosciusko County, the 117th largest municipality with a population of 4,908.

Would you want to count it, if it has an exit from a numbered highway, but one must travel "some distance" on a local (unnumbered road) to get to it? Also, do named settlements count even if not incorporated?

I went all of the way through California's top 100 and found that, not only were all 100 on numbered highways, but (I'm pretty sure) that all of them were on FREEWAYS!

Because of their FM and RM roads, it's likely Texas will go at least as deep and maybe deeper than California.

[JayhawkCO]

Thought I'd do some categories for Colorado. Largest not on a:

Interstate: Greeley - 108,795 (#10)
US Route: Parker - 58,512 (#19)
State Highway: Evans - 22,165 (#29)
Interstate OR a US Route, but is on a State Highway: Superior - 13,094 (#44)
Interstate OR a State Highway, but is on a US Route: Evans - 22,165 (#29)
US Route OR a State Highway, but is on an Interstate: I don't believe this exists in CO
Numbered route at all: Mount Crested Butte - 941 (#153)

There are 273 incorporated municipalities, just for scale.

If I counted correctly, there are only 18 municipalities in CO that aren't on a numbered route: Mount Crested Butte (941, #153), Bow Mar (853, #163), Central City (779, #167), Williamsburg (731, #171), Rockvale (511, #194), Coal Creek (364, #211), Jamestown (256, #226), Rye (206, #237), Ophir (197, #239), Grover (157, #244), Crestone (141, #246), Marble (133, #248), Montezuma (74, #260), Pitkin (72, #261), Starkville (62, #264), Hartman (56, #266), Bonanza (17, #271), Carbonate (0, #273).

Any other Colorado geeks can feel free to correct any mistakes I made.

[JayhawkCO]

Also, do named settlements count even if not incorporated?

I didn't do any CDPs, only incorporated municipalities, for what it's worth.

[El-Caz]

In North Carolina, most minor roads outside of larger cities are state-maintained as part of the "SR" system, and the only municipality that truly has only locally-owned facilities is Bald Head Island with a permanent population in 2023 of about 280, but which can swell to over 5,000 during the peak summer season.

That being said, there are a handful of small towns that lack any primary highways. I think the biggest one is technically Pleasant Garden (5,057), but Google Maps shows two of US-421's ramps clipping its northeastern boundary. Foxfire (1,376), Varnumtown (538), Staley (406), Goldston (250), Proctorville (120), Marietta (107), and McDonald (94) would come in at second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

[kphoger]

Because of their FM and RM roads, it's likely Texas will go at least as deep and maybe deeper than California.

The safe bet is that it will be a suburb of a major city.

Cockrell Hill, for example, has a population of more than 4000.

[1995hoo]

My gut tells me the odds are that in Virginia there aren't any. The Commonwealth handles all public roads except in independent cities and the counties of Arlington and Henrico. The latter two don't qualify because they both have Interstates running through them (among other roads disqualifying them). I haven't carefully studied the map of every independent city, but it appears that a lot of them have at least one US Highway, and even though it doesn't have one, Poquoson doesn't qualify under the rules of this thread because two primary routes (VA-171 and VA-172) pass through the city limits.

[NWI_Irish96]

Numbered here includes state, US or interstate routes but not county/locally numbered routes. Bannered routes count if they are state maintained. The highway "skirting" the municipality via the border touching but not crossing the highway counts as being on the highway. Please include the population and the rank of the municipality.

For Indiana it is Winona Lake, in Kosciusko County, the 117th largest municipality with a population of 4,908.

Also, do named settlements count even if not incorporated?

No, no CDP's or other unincorporated places.

[wriddle082]

Lexington County, SC probably has the only three municipalities in the whole state not located along at least a primary state highway, and I live in one of them.

Pine Ridge (2020 pop. 2,167, including my family and I) is located south of Cayce and just west of US 21/176/321, and if I-77 were ever to be extended south, would be completely obliterated.  So NIMBY to any southern I-77 extension!  Widen 26 and 95 first since there is tons of existing median ROW on both!  Anyway, the SC National Guard Pine Ridge Armory is located here, which also houses the state Emergency Management Division, so anytime a major disaster (e.g. hurricane) befells the state, the parking lot fills up and the Governor is probably on site, arriving by helicopter of course, despite being less than 20 minutes from the executive residence.

Gilbert (2020 pop. 571), located a mile or so south of US 1 west of Lexington, may be small, but every July 4 they host the Lexington County Peach Festival, which is one of the most popular yearly events in the area.

Summitt (2020 pop. 402) is a couple of miles west of Gilbert, is the smallest municipality in the county, and I don't believe is notable for anything other than the city limits being octagonal in shape but turned 22.5° so that four of its eight corners line point to the cardinal directions.

[Max Rockatansky]

Maywood, in Los Angeles's industrial area, has about the same population as Reedley.

The interesting thing about Reedley is that despite not being served on the state highway system it is connected to 99 via Manning Avenue.  Manning Avenue is a pretty decent divided expressway and probably would be state highway in a lot of other states.  California has a lot of state highway-quality corridors of the like owned by city or county agencies. 

[gonealookin]

Nevada only has 19 incorporated cities, and they are all on numbered highways.  There are some other places that should be considered, such as the unincorporated Town of Minden which is the county seat of Douglas County, but those are all on numbered highways as well.

Aside from a few tiny clusters of ranches, I think the only named dots on the map of Nevada that aren't on numbered highways are old mining ghost towns.

[DTComposer]

Reedley stands out in my area with a population of 25,227.  CA 99, 201, 63 and 180 are all a pretty good clip from the city limit.  Even County Route J19 strays a mile from the east city limit.  There probably some cookie cutter suburb though in the Bay Area or Los Angeles that I'm not thinking with more people though.

Maywood, in Los Angeles's industrial area, has about the same population as Reedley.

In the L.A. area, Cypress (50,151) is the biggest one I could think of (it did have CA-214 née US-91 running through it at one point).

Because of the geography, the Bay Area's cities are pretty well stacked vertically, so they're mostly all speared by the north-south highways. The closest I can think of is Newark (47,529), which has I-880 and CA-84 as two of its boundaries, but no highway going into the city.

If they were incorporated, some of the eastern Sacramento suburbs like Carmichael, Orangevale, etc. would likely be contenders.

[Konza]

For Arizona, it appears the answer is Fountain Hills, which is the 32nd most populous municipality (out of 91) in the state, with a 2020 population of 23,820.

Arizona State Route 87 (the Beeline Highway) passes by the southeast corner of Fountain Hills but does not appear to enter the area within the city limits.

[JayhawkCO]

Wyoming's appears to be town of Bar Nunn with 2,981 people and the 22nd largest city in the state. It hugs right next to I-25, but doesn't have it in its boundaries.

[thspfc]

My best guess for Wisconsin is Schofield, pop. 2157

[Rothman]

*notes no one willing to sift through the 1,596 municipalities in NY*

[Max Rockatansky]

Skimming through Arizona it appears to be now Cave Creek since Queen Creek now barely has AZ 24.

[CoreySamson]

Because of their FM and RM roads, it's likely Texas will go at least as deep and maybe deeper than California.

The safe bet is that it will be a suburb of a major city.

Cockrell Hill, for example, has a population of more than 4000.

West University Place in the Houston area has a population of 14,955.

[cockroachking]

*notes no one willing to sift through the 1,596 municipalities in NY*

City of Long Beach at #18, population 35,029 as of 2020.

[Dirt Roads]

West Virginia has seven. 

• It's bizarre, but Stonewood (pop. 1759*) "borders" WV-20 but the official western boundary line is along Elk Creek (thus qualifying on a technicality). 
  
  
• Similarly, Carpendale (pop. 847*) "borders" WV-28, but the eastern boundary is significantly further away from the road with a wooded buffer, as well as a powerline and gas transmission pipeline alongside.
  
  
• In a different twist, Clearview (pop. 459*) sits up on the hill overlooking WV-2 and the Ohio River.  But it actually borders the upper stretch of the city of Wheeling that sits down along the river.
  
  
• Windsor Heights (pop. 339*) is just a bit north of Clearview in Brooke County, and it also sits up on the hill overlooking WV-2 and the Ohio River.  But in this case, there is nothing important on Route 2 down below.
  
  
• Davy (pop. 189*) sits along the Tug Fork inland in McDowell County, but this area is nowhere near any "numbered roads".
  
  
• Rhodell (pop. 137*) is in Raleigh County and might be within view of WV-16.  But I doubt it.
  
  
• Then there is the most famous ghost town on the East Coast.  Thurmond (pop. 3*) is still incorporated and sits on the east side of the New River.  It does have a passenger station on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway mainline, but seldom gets any train stops.

*2023 population estimates

[Bitmapped]

West Virginia has seven. 

• It's bizarre, but Stonewood (pop. 1759*) "borders" WV-20 but the official western boundary line is along Elk Creek (thus qualifying on a technicality). 
  
  
• Similarly, Carpendale (pop. 847*) "borders" WV-28, but the eastern boundary is significantly further away from the road with a wooded buffer, as well as a powerline and gas transmission pipeline alongside.
  
  
• In a different twist, Clearview (pop. 459*) sits up on the hill overlooking WV-2 and the Ohio River.  But it actually borders the upper stretch of the city of Wheeling that sits down along the river.
  
  
• Windsor Heights (pop. 339*) is just a bit north of Clearview in Brooke County, and it also sits up on the hill overlooking WV-2 and the Ohio River.  But in this case, there is nothing important on Route 2 down below.
  
  
• Davy (pop. 189*) sits along the Tug Fork inland in McDowell County, but this area is nowhere near any "numbered roads".
  
  
• Rhodell (pop. 137*) is in Raleigh County and might be within view of WV-16.  But I doubt it.
  
  
• Then there is the most famous ghost town on the East Coast.  Thurmond (pop. 3*) is still incorporated and sits on the east side of the New River.  It does have a passenger station on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway mainline, but seldom gets any train stops.

*2023 population estimates

Rhodell disincorporated a couple years ago, so it no longer counts.

There are a couple others in West Virginia.

• Technically, Salem (2023 population 1,482) is also on this list. There aren't any numbered routes in town after WV 31 was truncated back to US 50 a couple years ago. Its main street through town was US 50 but that was relocated to a bypass in the 1960s.
• Grant Town in Marion County (population 674) also lacks a numbered route connection.
• Coalton (legally Womelsdorf) in Randolph County was never on a numbered route or even a main road for that matter. It's a couple miles off US 33's old alignment, which was bypassed by Corridor H about 35 years ago.