Although small towns in America differ significantly in terms of how well they are maintained, there has been little scholarly work on what community factors relate to upkeep. In this research, we search for the correlates of town maintenance using data from a unique study of 99 small Iowa towns. The data include visual assessments of the towns, citizen responses to random sample attitudinal surveys, and U.S. census information. When these data are analyzed, the results show that better kept towns are associated with (a) higher median family incomes, (b) larger populations, (c) higher percentages of elderly, (d) fewer commuters, (e) stronger psychological attachment to the community, and (f) more community improvement activity. The implications of these findings are discussed.
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