Summary
While the Boston Commonwealth isn’t nearly as populated as it once was,Fallout 4has a handful of locations that are home to a decent number of citizens struggling to survive in the wasteland. These areas are typically the ones players want to go to for safety, supplies, and someone relatively sane to talk to or get quests from.
While none of these locations are as huge as cities in other open-world RPGs, they are the largest cities that can be found in the Commonwealth. While there are many unnamed NPCs living in areas like the Institute and Diamond City, Bethesda has included a relatively large number of named characters that live in these post-apocalyptic cities.
Updated July 02, 2025, by Matthew Weideman:Fallout 4remains a popular game in the wake of the Amazon Prime Fallout show. Players revisiting the game after many years may want a refresher on where to find the relatively few population centers spread out across the Commonwealth. This list has been updated to include some of the larger settlements that players can build as part of the Minuteman quest line, since they can easily surpass the population of many of the smaller pre-existing settlements throughout the Commonwealth.
18Vault 88
NPC Population: 4 Named NPCs + Recruited Settlers
Vault 88 was still under construction when the Great War broke out. The entrance to the cavern that was designed to become the Vault’s atrium caved in, and the Overseer was trapped alone for over two centuries. The Sole Survivor is the first person to enter the Vault since October 2077.
After freeing the Overseer, who survived because she became a ghoul, the player can work with her to run experiments on NPCs that volunteer to join the Vault as a settlement. The player can also explore the cavern and expand the Vault.
17Warwick Homestead
NPC Population: 6
The settlement known as Warwick Homestead was a water treatment plant before the Great War. After a couple of centuries, some people settled there and created a thriving farm, since they were able to trade with the nearby Atom Cats.
It was also a point of interest for the Institute’s plan to investigate the surface world, since they replaced Roger Warwick with a synth in order to experiment with growing crops in the irradiated world above their underground city. This synth, along with the family of the man he replaced, live in the homestead along with a couple of other settlers.
16Atom Cats' Garage
The Atom Cats are a minor faction that live in aRed Rocket Stationon a peninsula near Quincy. They are greasers who love to paint and modify power armor instead of hot rods. The player can join them by helping the small gang defend their garage and their beloved armor from an assault by The Gunners.
One of the Atom Cats, Rowdy, is a merchant who specializes in power armor. This unique settlement cannot be settled by the Minutemen, but it does serve as a great base to this small yet unique faction in an otherwise hostile area of the Commonwealth.
15Graygarden
NPC Population: 6 + Recruited Settlers
Graygarden is a greenhouse that was put up just a few days before the Great War broke out. A senior RobCo engineer named Edward Gray built it to be a self-sufficient farm tended to by a handful of Mister Handy robots. They used water from the Weston Water Treatment Plant for growing their mutfruits until it became infested with mirelurks and broke down.
By clearing out the mirelurks and fixing the water plant, the Sole Survivor can convince the robotos to join the Minutemen. After that, the player can build structures, recruit settlers, and build up Graygarden’s defenses.
14The Slog
NPC Population: Up To 8 Recruited Settlers
The Slog is an abandoned public swimming pool that became one of the two settlements founded specifically for ghouls to live in across the Commonwealth. While it is smaller than Goodneighbor, it can grow thanks to the Sole Survivor and the Minutemen, since it can become one of the many settlements where the player can build and recruit NPCs.
Before joining the Minutemen, there are eight ghouls living in the Slog. They use the swimming pool as a bog to grow tarberries, and brag about it being the only tarberry bog in the whole Commonwealth. The player can assign any settler NPC to live here, but it can be fun to keep in line with the original goals and only assign ghouls like the Vault-Tec Salesman to join up.
13The Castle
NPC Population: Up to 8
The Castle has seen more than its fair share of war. It was originally built to protect Boston’s harbor during the Colonial era, and was known as both Fort Adams and Fort Independence before the bombs fell. After the Great War, it was used as a main base for the Minutemen until a Mirelurk Queen partially destroyed its walls and killed many of the faction’s leaders.
Forty-seven years later, duringFallout 4, the Sole Survivor can retake The Castle for the Minutemen and reestablish it as a huge base of operations for them. Once the Mirelurk Queen has been killed, the Sole Survivor can use the radio antennae to attract people to the base and recruit them to the Minutemen’s cause. With its strong walls and position on the coast, it makes for a very defensive settlement that can grow easily to large numbers of residents.
12The Crater Of Atom
NPC Population: 8
The Glowing Sea is a heavily-irradiated area in the southwestern part ofFallout 4’s map. It is extremely dangerous to come here without a hazmat suit, power armor, or large stockpile of Rad-X and Radaway. At the heart of this region sits The Crater of Atom, which was formed by the nuclear explosion that the player witnesses at the beginning of the game. A minor faction calledThe Church of the Children of Atomhas taken up residence in some shacks built in the crater’s center.
Players can hear unique dialog with the NPCs here if they have joined the faction in theFar HarborDLC. Players can trade with Brother Ogden, and they can remove some radiation simply by talking with Mother Isolde. It is a risky trek to reach this remote area, and the ambient radiation is so harsh that players cannot advance time by sitting and waiting on furniture. This is truly the harshest settlement in the game.
11Covenant
NPC Population: 10
The Covenant is a small community that has done surprisingly well for itself and built some impressive defenses. The ten residents that call this community home live in pre-war homes that have remained standing and are comfortable behind their large walls manned by turrets.
If players wish to enter this community, they must first take a psychological survey to prove they aren’t a synth. Those who fail the test suffer an unfortunate fate, as players find out when completing thequest Human Error.
10Acadia
NPC Population: 12
Foundin theFar Harboradd-on, Acadia was once an observatory that has since been converted into a safe haven for synths who have escaped The Institute. The residents are a mix of humans, synths, and humans who think they are synths.
It’s a relatively quiet place to live on top of a small mountain on the island that is free of the fog that plagues the rest of the area. The player can complete a number of interesting quests that can help or harm the residents found here.
9Far Harbor
NPC Population: 13
The largest city that can be found on Mount Desert Island, Far Harbor is home to humans who are desperately trying to keep themselves safe from the ever-present fog that covers the island and corrupts those who wander into it.
These hearty fishermen don’t take kindly to strangers and have been at warwith the Children Of Atomwho’ve developed an obsession with the fog. Players can improve the town’s defenses, solve many of the mysteries in the area and even become the new captain by completing the various quests found here.
