The California Town With Less Than 30 Residents Begging for Young People to Move In
April 16, 2026 at 04:30PMTessa McLean profiles Darwin, California, a small community near Death Valley National Park. Once a mining town, Darwin has attracted people for its cheap housing and the sense of solitude and freedom in the desert. But the rise of ghost-town tourism, a declining and aging population, and a struggling water system now threaten Darwin’s survival. Its residents are hoping the right kind of newcomers will find their way there.
The only job available in Darwin is at the post office, and after the last postmaster retired a few years ago, that position’s no longer even held by a town resident.
They’re also not all Republicans, a common misconception about small communities in the state. On her porch, Goss shared pictures from the town’s recent No Kings protests, which she joked had to have been the largest in the state, at least when you take into account the percentage of residents who took part from a single town.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2026/04/16/darwin-ghost-town/
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