Why Nobody Lives in America's Most Beautiful Town

My book, The Times You Grew Up With, takes you back: https://paulmcallister.store Carmel-by-the-Sea may be the most beautiful small town in America. One square mile of fairy-tale cottages, white sand beach, and Monterey pines on the California coast. No chain restaurants. No streetlights. No house numbers — until 2024. And almost nobody left to live in it. Peak population was 4,707 in 1980. By 2020 it had fallen to 3,220. Nearly half the housing units sit vacant. The median age is 68.5. The median home value is so high the U.S. Census can’t measure it — its instrument tops out at $2,000,001. Meanwhile, hotel tax revenue just hit a record $9.3 million, and in June 2026 the city council cut tourism marketing because residents were overwhelmed by crowds. This is the story of how a town founded by selling cheap lots to broke artists — ten dollars down, pay when you can — spent a century passing ordinances to protect itself and ended up preserving everything except the community. From Frank Devendorf’s original real estate scheme in 1902 to George Sterling’s bohemian colony, Hugh Comstock’s fairy-tale architecture, Robinson Jeffers building Tor House by hand, Clint Eastwood’s pro-development rebellion as mayor in 1986, the 1989 short-term rental ban, and the 3-2 council vote to finally allow house numbers on July 9, 2024 — every fight the town won made it a little more empty. The town that artists built became too expensive for anyone but the very rich and too impractical for anyone but the very old. The cottages still stand. The streets are quiet at night. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2019–2023) — Carmel-by-the-Sea city, California: population, median age, housing vacancy, median home value. “Carmel-by-the-Sea, a town with no addresses, says the time has come to add house numbers.” Los Angeles Times, July 2024. “This picturesque California town is overwhelmed by tourists — but can’t afford to lose them.” San Francisco Chronicle, July 25, 2026. City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, Historic Context Statement (2008; updated 2019). City planning archives. “Carmel-by-the-Sea Halts $292,000 Tourism Marketing Budget Amid Resident Outcry Over Overtourism.” NBC Palm Springs, June 20, 2026. Carmel Residents Association, “Street Addresses in the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea” — White Paper and historical timeline. carmelresidents.org.