The world of The Walking Dead is dotted with various communities, with thousands of people living there. The Walking Dead follows the survivors of the zombie apocalypse as they go from community to community trying to find safety. Each location offers different levels of protection and the leaders of each range from those just trying to survive to despotic leaders who hold on to their power using fear and violence. The communities and the people in them are often the main focus of part of or even a full season. Even in a world filled with zombies, it’s often these communities that present the biggest problems.
Most humans have been killed by the time of The Walking Dead pilot with Rick Grimes waking up in a hospital. The communities that have sprung up developed to both protect people from zombies and protect themselves from other humans. Some of these communities are well-run societies that are thriving, either thanks to iron-fisted control or because the people inside are all aligned in their goals. Considering the smaller groups that Rick encounters, including Jocelyn’s, Michonne’s, Tyreese’s, Abraham’s, the Original Terminus, Georgie’s, Magna’s, Jen and Wayne’s, Eugene’s, and Franklin’s groups, tend to be absorbed by larger ones, it’s important to understand the sizes of these communities.
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15Smaller Groups In Various Locations – 5 To 30 People
There are a number of smaller groups that Rick and the survivors encounter throughout The Walking Dead, most notably The Wolves who Rick meets early. The Ferals, the Reapers, the Claimers, Valat’s Vipers, the Wardens, and the Highway Men are all significant groups of survivors who either don’t live somewhere permanently or are not unified like the larger communities on the show. Even with only a few members in the communities, these groups show how one leader can pave the way for an ideology and way of life that can threaten even the strongest of groups as nuisances or outright menaces.
14Grady Memorial Hospital – Over 25 People
The Grady Memorial Hospital is a community in The Walking Dead that borders the line between haven and prison. It becomes a community that retains a small amount of pre-apocalypse authority but in order to maintain their community they begin engaging in indentured servitude of refugees. While this Walking Dead group isn’t majorly powerful or inherently evil, the desperation of post-apocalypse life makes even a community set on following the rule of law susceptible to breakdowns in ethical codes. The community only ever has 25+ people, meaning that any new workers were highly prized.
13The Living, A Nomadic Tribe – 30 People
In The Walking Dead season 2, Rick’s group come into contact with the nomadic community, known as the Living. This group has about 30 people who have made their way down south from Philadelphia. They are a heavily armed group and have engaged in murder and rape as they’ve looted their way through the apocalypse. Their presence was short-lived on the show when they ran into Rick and his crew. While the Living has committed many atrocities, Rick allows himself to be just as violent when he allows Daryl to interrogate the hated Randall Culver. The longer Rick spends fighting for his survival, the more immoral his actions become.
12The Vatos Gang In The Atlanta Nursing Home – 38 people
Rick runs into The Vatos Gang early in season 1. The violent front they show outsiders is just a way to keep others from their community at an Atlanta nursing home. The leader, Guillermo, and the rest of the gang have made it their duty to protect the elderly residents. Compared to the other communities, this made a nice change as The Vatos Gang didn’t have malicious intentions or try to betray Rick and his friends; they even parted on civil terms. All counted, there are roughly 38 people, with half of them being senior citizens, in this surviving Walking Dead community.
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11Terminus – 60 People
Originally set up as a sanctuary, Terminus was overrun by bandits at one point and the peaceful men and women were brutalized by their attackers. Once the founders escaped imprisonment, they turned to violence and cannibalism to never again be taken advantage of. Their motto, “You’re the butcher, or you’re the cattle,” points to the 60-person community’s new outlook on life. It’s one way of viewing the world in The Walking Dead, that survival means being worse monsters than everyone else. It’s a brutal and depressing way to look at the world, but it’s also proven over and over again to be justified.
10Woodbury, Georgia – 73 People
The Governor is one of the most powerful Walking Dead villains, and he operates out of the self-sustaining community called Woodbury. Philip Blake found the abandoned town and transformed it into a thriving settlement with over 73 people at its height. The people of Woodbury live in relative safety and comfort, but they enjoy this ignorant of the cost. The Governor and his men raid and destroy nearby settlements to ensure their own safety. While Woodbury may at first seem like a great place to live, it’s built upon violence and malice. It reflects how underneath anything that seems too good to be true, is a dark heart.
9West Georgia Correctional Facility – 70-100 People
The West Georgia Correctional Facility, or the Prison, is a major refuge Rick and the survivors find and for a brief time, they are able to build a home in the abandoned facility. The Prison storyline in The Walking Dead goes to show that a positive society can develop in the new world if the right leaders are in place. Rick and the other survivors build a thriving settlement that grows to somewhere between 70 and 100 people at its height. It’s important to set up this standard so that the audience believes Rick and the others can create a better way for other survivors.
8The Whisperers In Their Encampment – 130 People
Different groups of survivors of the zombie apocalypse have found ways to cope. The Whisperers learned to survive by mimicking the very monsters who almost brought an end to humanity. The Whisperers are a group of around 130 people who dress in the skins of humans and walk alongside real zombies, hiding and whispering to avoid detection. The Whisperers in The Walking Dead present an antagonist that combines the ferocity of zombies and the intelligence of human colonies. It is the first time Daryl and Carol has to confront the fact that their search for civilization may not be the only way to remain safe in this world.
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7The Scavengers From The Heaps – 150 People
Also known as “The Garbage People”, the Scavengers is a large community of survivors who live in a garbage dump. They have survived by constantly playing both sides of whatever conflict they’re a part of. However, their half-in/half-out approach to dealing with other communities eventually causes their downfall. The Saviors eventually massacre all 150 of The Scavengers for their switching of sides. In The Walking Dead, an effective leader has to pick a side if they are to ensure their community’s survival otherwise they become beset on all sides.
6Oceanside – 188 People
The people of Oceanside once lived peacefully but all the men were murdered by Simon before he joined the Saviors. The remaining women and children fled to a nearby bay-adjacent village and have been living in secret there since with around 188 survivors. By season 7 of The Walking Dead, it becomes apparent that being discovered is one of the quickest ways to die. Living in secret is the best way to stay out of the crosshairs of more dangerous communities. The Oceanside community learned this lesson after paying a heavy price. They stay alive by killing anyone who ventures into their community, ensuring they’re never discovered by dangerous settlements.
5The Kingdom – 200 People
It’s during the later era of the show that societies are beginning to mingle in a more recognizable way. The time of roving hoards of bandits is ending and actual communities with relations are beginning to form. The Walking Dead isn’t post-zombie at this point, but the conflicts of a growing society become much more of a focal point. Due to their acquiescence to the more powerful Saviors community, the Kingdom is granted a large degree of autonomy over their lives. Ruled by King Ezekiel Sutton, the Kingdom marks a change in The Walking Dead and how society is growing into something more evolved than roaming gangs.
4The Hilltop Colony – 300-350 People
Some societies in The Walking Dead were in a healthy spot before outsiders came upon them. The Hilltop Colony barely has any official leadership and the few inter-community conflicts that arise are peacefully settled. The arrival of the Saviors forces the 300-350 inhabitants to pay tribute to the Saviors in order to avoid being destroyed by them. As it sits on a hill and is surrounded by a large fence, the survivors of the community are protected from walkers but not from other humans. Although the problems of defending a community from walkers are taken care of, threats like the Whisperers remain an issue for Hilltop.
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3Alexandria Safe-Zone – 300-400 People
The people of Alexandria are so secure that they’ve begun to lose the skills necessary to survive. It’s easy to become complacent after being safe from hardship for so long but in order to survive, communities need to remain constantly vigilant, no matter how safe they feel at the moment. Alexandria is the largest of the “friendly” communities, nearing 400 people at one point. It was built as a safe zone for the political elite of the United States but has since been abandoned. Skilled workers and competent leadership have led Alexandria to become one of the safest and fairest communities in The Walking Dead and afterward.
2The Saviors – 500-600 People
One of the largest of the post-apocalyptic communities is the network of the Saviors, ruthlessly commanded by Negan Smith. The Saviors are centered around a compound known as the Sanctuary, but their settlements stretch even further. Negan rules the Saviors with an iron fist and the way of life in the Savior community is a brutal one filled with hard labor and the constant threat of the soldier overseers; however, it offers protection which is enough to make it a huge community, nearing 600 survivors. Many of the communities in The Walking Dead are victims of the Saviors’ will to dominate other settlements.
The Walking Dead is as much about society and what happens when laws break down as it is about zombies. The type of community the Saviors represent is evil, no matter what Negan says, and its one dictated by the idea that safety trumps all other freedoms, and, unsettlingly, the idea seems to be working. The Saviors are by far one of the largest and most powerful communities, and it isn’t until Rick comes along that their control begins to slip. However, like all the other communities based around fear and oppression, the Saviors only survive as long as those being oppressed are willing to submit to them.
