The
Cartography blog tips us to a valuable site when quick hits are
needed on a community, a SMALL place, in the U.S. or Canada. 
Check out ePodunk

“ePodunk is a site that
focuses on place and provides information on 25,000 communities in the
U. S. The site also contains a number of interesting maps, including
maps of the Katrina diaspora, ethnic origin, fastest growing counties
and others. There is also a Canadian version of the site, focusing on
Canadian places, but it, sadly, does not seem to have any maps.”