Researchers from Oxford University mapped out the continental US and the distance each town or city was from a metropolitan area with a population of more than 75,000 people.
As the Washington Post reports, the researchers found that America's most remote town, that had a population of over 1,000 people, was found Glasgow, Montana -- but, the high plain's Oakley, KS came in fourth place at 3.7 hours from the nearest metro area.
The High Plains topped the charts for two other categories. Out of towns with populations greater than 5,000 Colby, KS was the most isolated. And, among cities with 25,000-75,000 people, Garden City got the medal for being most remote.
Many other communities across the HPPR listening area made the list.
How you define isolation is somewhat subjective. If you define the most isolated areas based on the distance from a city with a population of one million, then communities New Mexico, Montana, and Nebraska top the list.
But, the researchers said, however, you define the middle of nowhere, it’s important to study because the distance from a major city can influence how difficult it is, for example, to see a medical specialist.
