America's New Ghost Towns

Citing population decrease, the existing housing stock and the vacancy rate, this post identifies modern American ghost counties. The list is made up of places with populations of at least 10,000 and vacancy rates of 55% and higher.

"Data from states and large metropolitan areas do not tell the story of how much the real estate disaster has turned certain areas in the country into ghost towns. Some of the affected regions are tourist destinations, but much of that traffic has disappeared as the recession has caused people to sell or desert vacation homes and delay trips for leisure. This makes these areas particularly desolate when tourists are not around.

The future of these areas is grim. Our research showed that many have sharply declining tax bases which have caused budget cuts. Forecasts are calling for the fiscal noose to tighten on them even tighter."