It’s hard to wrap your head around the idea that an entire town could have just a single resident living there. No bustling streets, no local coffee shop buzzing with neighbors, just one person calling it home. Sounds like the setup for a quirky novel, right? But believe it or not, these pockets of solitude exist right here on Earth, and one particular town stands out as perhaps the most surreal example of extreme loneliness with a population count scaled down to… one.
Welcome to Buford, Wyoming: The Town of One
Nestled along the sloping plains of Wyoming, Buford is often dubbed “the smallest town in America,” though that’s a bit of an understatement. It sits quietly along Interstate 80 between the Rockies and the high desert. Imagine a dusty outpost where the echo of passing trucks is your loudest constant. No crowds waiting in line at the diner or kids ringing doorbells—just one person running the show.
The population count here famously shrank to a single soul. This person was Don Sammons, who, for years, was not just Buford’s only resident but also its mayor, postmaster, and general caretaker. Think about that. One guy running an entire town practically on his own. That’s a level of multitasking most of us can only dream about.
The Rise and Fall of a Town
Buford’s story is a bit like many small towns across America that sprouted up during railroad expansions and mining booms. Back in the early 1900s, Buford had a modest population, mostly railroad workers and their families, serving as a critical pit stop on the transcontinental railroad. The town had a gas station, a school, a general store — the usual trappings of rural life. As the centuries moved on, mechanization and shifting economic currents rendered many such towns obsolete.
By the turn of the millennium, Buord’s population dwindled dramatically as younger generations left chasing opportunities elsewhere, leaving behind what seemed to be a ghost town. In 2012, the town actually went up for sale—yes, the entire town, including the gas station and land—because its sole resident sought to move on and make way for a new chapter.
How Does It Feel to Be the Only Resident?
Imagine waking up every day knowing you’re the only person around for miles. Sounds peaceful, right? But it also brings a sense of isolation few people experience in the 21st century. Don Sammons once described his life in Buford as a mixture of solitude and deep connection to the open land around him. No neighbors meant no small talk or friendly check-ins, but it also meant complete autonomy and freedom from the hustle of crowded city life.
Buford’s lone resident had a deep bond with the land, maintaining the gas station that doubled as a convenience store and a small café—keeping alive a lifeline for passing travelers in that stretch of Wyoming. It was a rugged lifestyle, requiring both resilience and creativity. The resilience to wake up each day facing the vast quiet and the creativity to sustain a business with essentially no local clientele.
Lone Living: Not for Everyone, But Something to Marvel At
Who would choose to live in a place like Buford? For some, the idea of being completely alone in a town is unnerving; the absence of neighbors signals a void, not peace. For others, like Sammons, it’s the ultimate escape. It’s a chance to write your own rules and live your days untouched by the clutter of modern distractions.
There is something enchanting about the idea of one person holding the lineage of a town on their shoulders—an emblem of American frontier spirit and the fading whispers of rural solitude.
Not the Only One: Other One-Person Towns
Buford isn’t an entirely unique case. Across the world, there are other tiny settlements that have dwindled down to a single inhabitant or a handful of people. One example is Monowi, Nebraska, another famously one-resident town. Elsie Eiler runs the bar, operates the library, and holds the mayor’s title there, much like Sammons did in Buford.
These little places question our assumptions about what makes a community. Is it numbers? Shared infrastructure? Or is it the spirit of place carried by individuals? The one-person town challenges our notions of social living and highlights a fascinating intersection of geography, economics, and personal choice.
Living History and a Tourist Curiosity
Odd places like Buford and Monowi sometimes turn into tourist oddities. People passing through want to snap photos, chat with the lone resident, and grasp a bit of Americana in a concentrated, almost surreal setting. You can sense there’s a story behind every brick of these towns, stories of enterprise, decline, survival, and unexpected solitude.
National Geographic’s feature on singular small-town residents goes deeper into this fragile persistence, showing how these places serve as both relics and living testaments of American history.
The Economics and Reality Behind One-Resident Towns
How does a one-person town sustain itself financially? The obvious answer: it usually doesn’t, at least not in the traditional sense. The business models are quirky. Buford’s gas station, for example, caters mostly to motorists on a long highway stretch. But when the town was up for sale, it fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars as a piece of Americana rather than a booming business.
The person living alone shoulders utilities, upkeep, and municipal duties, often handling banking, mailing, and official documentation that a full local government would otherwise take care of. The tech age complicates and aids these tiny towns. Online commerce and communication can break isolation but also accelerates migration by making external opportunities accessible.
Strange Fame and Towns for Sale
Buford actually made headlines when it was put on the market in 2012 for just under $1 million—which included the gas station, a convenience store, a garage, and 10 acres of land. The sale marked a symbolic passing of the torch from a single guardian of Americana to a new owner who might keep the spark alive or turn it into something entirely different.
These one-resident towns capture public imagination because they dance on the edge of disappearance and eternity, caught between the past and the potential for revival or reinvention.
Could You Live There?
When people joke about “escaping society,” few can imagine actually doing it in enough isolation to count as the only person in town. There’s an undeniable romance to the idea but also a stark reality about the challenges: no immediate neighbors, limited social interaction, and all responsibilities falling on one person’s shoulders.
Some residents choose this lifestyle not for isolation but for deep connection to the land—or a desire to maintain an important piece of heritage. It invites reflection: what matters more? Numbers of people or depth of place?
If you want to explore more odd, fascinating trivia about the world and test your knowledge about places like Buford, here’s a fun way to dive into curiosities without even leaving your home: check out this weekly news quiz powered by Bing, which quizzes you on everything from geography gems to current events.
Living in a one-person town can feel like being the final stanza in a long poem—a quiet, solitary conclusion or maybe just the start of a new verse waiting to be written.
Disclaimer: This article is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional, legal, or financial advice. The status of populations and towns may change over time.
