I only saw mention of Ithaca, NY.
Unfortunately, walkable towns are usually pretty expensive in the US. In my experience these are the towns younger professionals usually move to and the rents are charged accordingly. This is where you have access to bars, restaurants, and other activities.
European cities are inherently different. They have town squares dating back hundreds of years in many cases and are filled with rich history and each has a unique culture. There’s no point in really comparing them with American cities, which are much newer and were developed with cars as the primary source of transport (hence all the parking structures).
A really good series on American small towns was done by James fallows at the Atlantic a few years ago. He went over all the things that made some small towns real magnets for jobs and younger people (and he actually flew to those towns to check them out since he’s a pilot). He pointed out a few commonalities like parks, restaurants, and other things. I’ll have to find it and post a link.
On edit here’s the link:
https://www.theatlantic.com/our-towns/
And his book, which I didn’t know about. I might pick it up sometime.
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Towns-000-Mile-Journey-America/dp/1101871849
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