Pismo Beach tops USA Today list of 'Best Small Coastal Towns'

KCLU | By Lance Orozco

Published April 8, 2026 at 4:51 PM PDT

The town of Pismo Beach, seen from the Pismo Pier, in a photo dated July 30, 2025.

The town has topped the list for the second year in a row. Morro Bay finished third this year.

For the second year in a row, Pismo Beach has topped a list of “Best Small Coastal Towns” in America.

USA Today conducts an annual readers' poll of top places to visit.

The town of 8,000 finished fifth in 2023, second in 2018, and first in both 2025 and 2026.

Pismo wasn’t the only community in the region in the top ten. Morro Bay finished third in this year’s USA Today poll.

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Lance Orozco

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.

See stories by Lance Orozco