Some of the biggest names in entertainment have traded red carpets for dirt roads, and the towns they picked are surprisingly small. These places give stars room to breathe.
Each stop on this list has a verified link to a famous resident, based on reports from outlets like The Guardian, Architectural Digest, and Montana Public Radio. Some homes are full-time residences, and others are retreats, so the details matter.
Keep in mind that these are private properties, so the fun here is in learning why stars chose these spots. Ready to see where fame goes to unwind?
Hailey, Idaho
Hailey is a small Idaho town, yet Demi Moore has kept deep ties to it for decades. After her divorce from Bruce Willis, she kept a large property here, and the family used the area as a break from Hollywood.
In a 2024 interview with The Guardian, Moore confirmed she still lived at her ranch in Hailey, where she and Willis raised their daughters. She has spoken warmly about the setting, including the wildlife, gardens, and river access.
Her daughter Rumer Willis also moved to rural Idaho in 2025, which strengthens the family’s connection to the area. That makes Hailey more than a quick getaway for this famous household.
If you visit, remember that celebrity homes are private. The town itself, set in the Wood River Valley, is the part you can enjoy openly, with mountain views and a walkable main street.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming
Few movie stars have kept a small-town escape as long as Harrison Ford has. He bought property in Jackson Hole in the early 1980s and has held onto his Wyoming ranch for decades.
Ford did not treat Wyoming as a short vacation stop. The ranch became one of his main retreats away from Los Angeles, surrounded by the dramatic landscape of the Tetons.
Architectural Digest reported in late 2025 that Ford still owns his longtime Jackson Hole compound and splits his time between Wyoming and California.
Think about his résumé, which includes Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and then picture him tied to a relatively small Wyoming community. It is one of the more striking celebrity contrasts in the country, and the Teton scenery explains the appeal.
Telluride, Colorado
Telluride sits at the end of a box canyon, and that natural seclusion is a big part of its pull. Its permanent population is measured in the thousands, yet its celebrity reputation rivals much larger places.
Oprah Winfrey is one of its most famous property owners. She bought a multimillion-dollar mountain residence here and has also owned additional land in the area.
Her Colorado holdings are part of a real estate portfolio that includes properties in California and Hawaii. Recent reporting on that portfolio confirms she still owns her Telluride residence.
The attraction is easy to understand. The former mining town combines skiing, festivals, and sweeping scenery, which makes it one of the surprisingly small places linked to one of America’s best-known media personalities.
Katonah, New York
Just north of New York City, Katonah is a small Westchester County hamlet with a very famous lifestyle personality in residence. That would be Martha Stewart.
She spends much of her time at Cantitoe Corners, also known as Bedford Farm, a roughly 150-acre estate she purchased in 2000. It has grown into far more than a country house.
The property includes gardens, horses, farm buildings, poultry, greenhouses, and many of the horticultural projects Stewart regularly shares with her audience.
Her own website says Katonah remains the home where she spends most of her time. A 2026 People profile was also conducted at the farm itself, which shows how active she still is there.
Ketchum, Idaho
Ketchum is better known for skiing, mountain scenery, and its link to Ernest Hemingway than for Hollywood mansions. Even so, Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson have long had a residential connection here.
The couple commissioned a custom vacation home in Ketchum in the early 2000s. The property became publicly known largely because of a dispute with the company involved in its construction.
Their main base has stayed in California, so Ketchum is best seen as a retreat rather than a primary home.
Still, Architectural Digest included the Idaho residence in its 2025 review of the couple’s real estate holdings. That keeps this tiny mountain community firmly on the celebrity-property map.
Pawhuska, Oklahoma
For Ree Drummond, Pawhuska is not just a celebrity hideaway. It sits at the center of the entire Pioneer Woman brand.
Drummond and her family have long lived and worked on their Oklahoma ranch outside town. Her rise from blogger to Food Network personality turned Pawhuska into an unlikely tourism stop, especially after she opened The Mercantile downtown.
The Oklahoma Hall of Fame lists Pawhuska as her hometown and notes she made her home there after marrying rancher Ladd Drummond.
Her restaurants, shops, lodging businesses, and television work have since become closely tied to the community. It is a rare case where a celebrity did not simply move to a small town, because her fame helped put the town on the national travel map.
Taos, New Mexico
When Julia Roberts wants distance from Hollywood, she has spent decades heading to northern New Mexico.
She purchased a ranch in the Taos area during the 1990s. The property became especially meaningful when Roberts married cinematographer Danny Moder there in 2002.
Malibu has generally been described as the couple’s primary residence, but the Taos ranch remains one of the best-known properties in Roberts’ portfolio.
Desert landscapes, mountains, art, and relative isolation suit an actress who has guarded her private life carefully.
Visitors already get plenty from Taos without any celebrity sightings, including historic adobe architecture and surrounding mountain scenery. Roberts’ long connection simply adds another interesting layer.
Stevensville, Montana
Huey Lewis found his refuge far from the music hubs of Los Angeles and New York.
The singer behind “The Power of Love” and “Hip to Be Square” has long kept a ranch near Stevensville in western Montana. The property has been described as his permanent residence rather than just a vacation home.
Lewis has spoken over the years about fishing and the quieter lifestyle he found in Montana.
The surrounding Bitterroot Valley offers what many stars look for when they want less attention: mountains, rivers, large stretches of land, and a town where daily life looks very different from the entertainment business.
His presence makes Stevensville one of Montana’s lesser-known celebrity communities.
Choteau, Montana
Late-night television and rural Montana seem like opposite worlds, which may be exactly why David Letterman has kept a ranch near Choteau.
Letterman bought Montana property decades ago and has spoken publicly about how he came to love the state. Montana Public Radio has documented his ownership of a ranch near Choteau.
He also married Regina Lasko at the local courthouse in 2009.
Choteau remains a small agricultural community near the Rocky Mountain Front, far removed from Manhattan television studios.
His connection shows why the area appeals to high-profile residents, with spectacular scenery and relatively little celebrity culture. After decades of being recognized nightly by millions, that anonymity likely has real appeal.
Big Timber Area, Montana
Michael Keaton’s Montana ties are strong enough to earn a second tiny community on this list. His ranch is more precisely linked to McLeod, but he has often been described as living near Big Timber, the closest recognizable small town.
Keaton bought his Montana property after becoming successful in Hollywood. He has said more than once that ranch life lets him reconnect with nature.
Horses, fly-fishing, wildlife, and open land are far more central to his routine there than movie premieres.
A 2024 profile reported that Keaton still spends much of the year at the ranch near Big Timber, decades after first buying property in the region.
Santa Ynez Valley, California
P!nk has one of the more unusual celebrity ties to California’s wine country.
The singer and her husband, Carey Hart, bought a property in the Santa Ynez Valley in 2013. P!nk then studied winemaking seriously and developed Two Wolves, her own wine project.
The area’s towns and communities are far smaller than Los Angeles, and the property gave her room to chase an interest that had little to do with touring or pop stardom.
She has since expanded her real estate footprint, including a major New York purchase reported in 2026.
Her Santa Ynez years still turned her from a celebrity who happened to own vineyard land into a genuinely involved winemaker.
Bedford, New York
Bedford shows how close a celebrity can be to one of America’s biggest cities and still live an unmistakably rural life.
Martha Stewart’s Cantitoe Corners estate covers more than 150 acres in the Bedford area, with Katonah serving as its mailing location. Stewart has spent decades developing its gardens, orchards, animal enclosures, farm roads, and historic buildings.
A 2026 profile described her as still actively managing life at the property. Recent features from Stewart’s own publication continue to showcase the farm’s gardens and projects.
The estate may be less than an hour’s drive from parts of New York City, but the chickens, horses, greenhouses, and acres of landscaping make her daily surroundings look worlds away.
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