American Ghost Towns of the 21st Century

[OKDem08]

These are the American Ghost Towns of the 21st century. Each has a population of more than 10,000 along with vacancy rates of more than 55%, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.


1. Lake County, Mich.

Number of homes: 14,966
Vacancy rate: 66%
Population: 11,014

Lake County is located in central Michigan, a few hour's drive from the industrial cities of Flint, Pontiac and Detroit. It is in the heart of the state's fishing district and has been a vacation destination since the early years of the car industry. Many of those second home owners are now gone. This has helped drive nearly 20% of the residents below the poverty level and the median household income to under $27,000 a year.

2. Vilas County, Wis.

Number of homes: 25,116
Vacancy rate: 62%
Population: 21,919

Vilas County is located at the uppermost part of Wisconsin, near the border of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. The county is plagued by two things. The first is that it has been a tourist area for Wisconsin residents. The second is that a significant part of the county's economy depends on the logging, forestry and construction industries, each of which struggled during the recession.


3. Summit County, Colo.

Number of homes: 29,842
Vacancy rate: 61%
Population: 26,843

Summit County sits northwest of the Pike National Forest and due west of Denver. The area is near to several major ski resorts. The local paper reports on revenue "The decrease isn't linked to the dramatic dip in assessed property values in Summit County, expected to be near 20 percent lower than in the previous valuation period. Those changes will show up in property tax bills starting in 2011."


4. Worcester County, Md.

Number of homes: 55,749
Vacancy rate: 60%
Population: 49,274

The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation recently estimated that the county would have a sharp drop in its tax base in fiscal year 2012 and "another, more drastic, revenue decrease" for the fiscal year that follows. The twin engines of county's economy are tourism and agriculture. Experts believe the tourism business in Maryland's Eastern Shore could stay crippled for years.

5. Mono County, Calif.

Number of homes: 13,912
Vacancy rate: 59%
Population: 12,774

Mono County sits near the Sierra Nevada and Yosemite National Parks. Ironically, Bodie, the official state gold rush ghost town, is in Mono County. Finance Director Brian Muir recently said he expected another property drop in property tax receipts. Like most of the other counties on this list, tourism is a major source of revenue for its economy.

6. Dare County, N.C.

Number of homes: 33,492
Vacancy rate: 57%
Population: 95,828

Dare County includes the northern-most parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks. The situation in the vacation area is so severe that the "Outer Banks Voice" recently wrote, "If Dare County Manager Bobby Outten was intending to sound an alarm by suggesting that the EMS helicopter and school nurses were expendable in the next budget, he probably succeeded." His comments are unlikely to be terribly different from those of other executives of counties on the list. Vacant homes and homes which lose double-digit amounts of their value each year irreparably undermine the tax base. And, as services fall, fewer potential homeowners will consider investing in the area.

7. Dukes County, Mass.

Number of homes: 17,188
Vacancy rate: 57%
Population: 15,527

Dukes County encompasses the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The enemy of the local budget is, as is true for most of the counties on this list, falling property values. Vacationers still flock to the resort island in the summer as do seasonal workers. The county is close to deserted when the weather turns cold.

8. Sawyer County, Wis.

Number of homes: 15,975
Vacancy rate: 56%
Population: 17,117

The Sawyer County website has a link, prominently placed on the homepage, which goes to a list of foreclosed homes for sales by the sheriff's department. There are not many new homebuyers. The number of people who live in the county was flat from 2000 to 2010. The Hayward Community School District, located in Sawyer, will probably close one of its elementary schools. Sawyer is a fishing and biking destination, and has suffered from a drop in travelers from the southern part of the state.

source:
http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/112463/american-ghost-towns-21st-century-247wallst

[Ian David]

1. They missed Picher, Oklahoma

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=506544&mesg_id=506544

[virgogal]

2. I am very familiar with Duke's County and it always has been a ghost town

in the winter.

A very strange inclusion on the list.

[lutefisk]

3. What does the author mean by "vacancy rates"?

These look like tourist areas. Does he mean abandoned/in foreclosure, or unoccupied (as in summer cottages currently sitting empty)?

[lutefisk]

4. I found the answer

"Vacant Housing Units. A housing unit is vacant if no one is living in it at the time of the interview, unless
its occupants are only temporarily absent. In addition, a vacant unit may be one which is entirely occupied by
persons who have a usual residence elsewhere."

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/housing/hvs/annual10/ann10def.html

The author is either an idiot or intentionally misrepresenting the data. Summer homes/cottages (as in Vilas County) are by definition owned by "persons who have a usual residence elsewhere".