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Pismo Beach, Morro Bay ranked in best small coastal town list

April 12, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Pismo Beach won the crown as the best small coastal town in the United States, with Morro Bay ranked fifth by USA Today.

“Big cities have their perks, but these 10 coastal small towns — nominated by an expert panel and voted by readers as the best in the country — offer a calm and charm that is hard to find in more heavily populated areas,” according to USA Today. “Each one has a population of 25,000 or less, and you can enjoy scenic views, historic attractions, delicious food, and plenty of things to do both on and off the water.”

Selected as the number one small coastal town, activities in Pismo Beach include fishing, surfing and whale watching. Visitors can visit Dinosaur Caves Park, the Monarch Butterfly Grove, Oceano Dunes and the award-winning boardwalk.

Top 10 top coastal towns towns in the United States

  • Number 1 – Pismo Beach, California
  • Number 2 – Cedar Key, Florida
  • Number 3 – Castine, Maine
  • Number 4 – Bar Harbor, Maine
  • Number 5 – Morro Bay, California
  • Number 6 – Gulf Shores, Alabama
  • Number 7 – Stuart, Florida
  • Number 8 – Duck, North Carolina
  • Number 9 – Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
  • Number 10 – Beaufort, South Carolina

 


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i encourage all visitors to travel to pismo. pismo has everything you could want. people love it there and are extremely disappointed when they visit places like cayucos


3

If one of the categories was “paying too much for a city manager”, yes Pismo Beach could be #1


13

According to publicpay.ca.gov, PB’s manager is ranked 385 out of 582 city managers in California at 201k. Most of the cities below Pismo are in areas that have a much cheaper cost of living.


-1

Per CCN $245K + benefits


0

$245k includes benefits. Makes $29k less than the CM of Barstow where the median home price is $290,000. Median price in Pismo is $1.4 million. Now I would rather live in Pismo, but that doesn’t alter the fact that Pismo’s CM is not over paid.


-2