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Ghost towns in United States

United States has 547 ghost towns on Detourmap — ghost towns, abandoned settlements and industry left to rot. The best known is Centralia. Ranked by how many Wikipedia editions cover them; this is 1–150, on page 1 of 4.

Ghost towns
547
Of archaeological
547 of 1,519
Little known
503 of 547
Oldest
Santa Elena 1566

Questions about this page

How many ghost towns are there in United States?

547 on this map, out of 1,519 archaeological & historic sites in United States. That is what Wikidata records with coordinates, a photograph and a Wikipedia article, so it is a floor rather than a census.

What is the best known ghost town in United States?

Centralia. Borough and near-ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States.

Which ghost towns in United States are the least visited?

503 of the 547 rank as little known — a Wikipedia article in only a handful of languages. They sit at the bottom of the ranked list below.

Where does this information come from?

Every place is drawn from Wikidata (CC0), with photographs from Wikimedia Commons and a link to its English Wikipedia article. Selection is deterministic: a place is here because Wikidata files it under one of the classes this atlas carries and it has coordinates, a photo and an article. Nothing is written or chosen by an AI, and the ranking is simply how many Wikipedia language editions cover a place.

Ghost towns elsewhere

Czech Republic377 Spain182 Canada48 United Kingdom46 Germany44 Israel32 Russia16 Ukraine15 Australia13 North Macedonia13 Poland13 Greece10

All ghost towns worldwide →

More in United States

Waterfalls402 Caves123 Volcanoes265 Beaches189 Macabre sites440

All 1,519 archaeological & historic sites in United States → · All 4,064 places in United States →