Los Alamos, NM

Los Alamos is a high-elevation community in northern New Mexico, known worldwide for Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Manhattan Project. Scientists and engineers were brought here during World War II to build the secret research site, and the lab still dominates the local economy and identity. The town sits on mesas near canyons, forests, and Pajarito Mountain, where residents ski and hike close to home. Los Alamos feels intellectually intense, scenic, and unusually shaped by science and secrecy.