National Advocacy
A unified voice where federal policy, philanthropy, infrastructure and capital decisions are made.
Launched at Climate Week NYC · 2026
Small towns.
National power.
A permanent national table for mayors leading communities of 30,000 or less—built to turn local leadership into collective influence, investment and action.
93%Of incorporated municipalities
60.3MPeople in small cities & towns
100Founding mayors
5Institutional pillars
A national constituency hiding in plain sight
If small-city America were a state, it would be the largest in the nation.
Of America’s 19,483 incorporated municipalities, 18,117—fully 93%—have populations of 30,000 or less. Yet these communities are too often treated as exceptions instead of the governing majority they represent.
The forgotten 93%
America’s smallest municipalities carry national responsibilities without national-scale capacity.
Small cities and rural towns manage water, power, roads, housing, public safety, disaster recovery and the clean-energy transition—often without dedicated grant writers, engineers, policy teams or direct access to capital.
The National Conference of Small Cities and Rural Mayors exists to elevate their voice, expand their capacity and ensure that the places America too often overlooks help shape the nation’s future.
Our governing idea
America does not merely have an infrastructure gap. It has a local leadership infrastructure gap.
How we build power
Five pillars. One institution built around small-place realities.
Good ideas should not remain trapped by geography.
Mayor-to-Mayor Leadership Network
A trusted national community for mentoring, rapid response, regional collaboration and shared strategy.
Rural Leadership Institute
Executive education built for the realities of governing with small teams, thin tax bases and enormous responsibility.
Municipal Solutions Cooperative
Shared expertise, procurement and implementation support that turns collective scale into local capacity.
Rural Innovation Lab
A platform to test community-led solutions and carry what works from one town to a thousand.
One movement. Two engines.
A national voice backed by the capacity to deliver.
The membership & advocacy body
National Conference of Small Cities and Rural Mayors
Organizes mayors, carries a unified policy agenda, convenes the national network and places rural and small-city leaders at the tables where decisions are made.
The research & implementation arm
National Institute for Rural and Small City Leadership
Provides executive education, applied research, technical assistance, municipal solutions and a national platform for local innovation.
From Enfield to America
We are not waiting to be discovered. We are designing our own future.
In Enfield, North Carolina, community leadership is advancing networked geothermal, weatherization, resilience infrastructure, workforce development and a new standard for how large energy users must create public value.
The Conference will help other communities adapt, finance and implement ideas like these—without surrendering ownership, voice or local benefit.
The Founding 100 Mayors Drive
Help build the national table your community deserves.
We are inviting 100 mayors and chief elected officials from communities of 30,000 or less to shape the Conference’s founding agenda, programs and national voice.
- Join a trusted mayor-to-mayor network
- Identify the first municipal solutions to scale
- Participate in the inaugural Founding Mayors Assembly
Who should register?
Mayors and chief elected officials of incorporated cities and towns with populations of 30,000 or less.
Founding partners
Invest in the leaders already saving rural America.
We are seeking philanthropic, financial, academic, technical and clean-energy partners to support the first 100 mayors, build the technical-assistance platform, capitalize rural innovation and help convene the inaugural assembly.
Discuss a Partnership