Inside the ‘Dying’ Kansas Ghost Towns Where You Can Find a Home for Less Than the Price of a Tesla

While moving to a remote rural area might not be the traditional American dream, it could be the perfect way to take a first step onto the property ladder—while also helping to breathe new life into the country’s “dying” ghost towns.

Home ownership is a dream that, for some, feels increasingly out of reach, particularly in the midst of a turbulent economy and rising prices in many metropolitan areas. As of July, the national median list price hit $439,450, according to Realtor.com® data, a sum that many simply cannot afford.

But for those willing to look outside of their comfort zone, houses can be snapped up for less than the price of one of billionaire Elon Musk‘s Tesla Cybertrucks.

While a Cybertruck will set you back at least $99,990 for the most basic model, according to Tesla’s website, in rural Kansas, homes can be found for less than half that amount.

Driving through the central east of Kansas, you’ll encounter towns that look like they belong in a museum or old movie set—open skies and stretches of land with not a soul in sight, where tumbleweeds might roll across the road at any minute.

Populations are dwindling at such a rate they may not even warrant the label “town” anymore. In a string of places—Coldwater, KS; Protection, KS; Ashland, KS; and Englewood, KS—the number of residents has halved since the 1930s, according to U.S. census data. And these are just a small example—a drop in the pool of middle-country towns in the same predicament.

It’s a symptom of a changing country. From Kansas to Pennsylvania, there’s been a decline in industry; manufacturing giants have fled to cheaper areas—and agriculture, once the backbone of these regions, is far less profitable for family farms thanks to rising costs, less productive land, and thin profit margins.

Now, for towns that were once viewed as America’s beating heart, there’s a risk of total abandonment.

That looming threat was brought to light in a YouTube video posted by travelers Joe and Nic, who are currently in the midst of a lengthy road trip across the U.S., in which they are visiting some of the country’s long-forgotten areas in a bid to shine a spotlight on America’s “dying” towns.

In Kansas, the duo—who post on the account Joe & Nic’s Road Trip—stumbled across multiple ghost towns, where once-thriving industries have crumbled, causing a mass exodus of residents who have fled in search of more financially-stable communities.

Even those towns that have managed to maintain a slightly more significant population of 1,296, the risk of total abandonment is ever present, with local real estate agent Jeff Simpson noting that “it still gets sleepy pretty quick.”

And that’s practically a thriving metropolis compared to Englewood, which has a population of just 58 people.

A lot of this emptying out can be attributed to aging out. Simpson, who works primarily with agricultural land and farmsteads, says that, with industry and local commerce gone, people leave and then never return—lowering the value of the land and properties.

“You see a lot of people aging out of the farming communities, and their children have kind of left—either moved into suburban areas or out of state. So yeah, there’s certainly a little bit of a struggle going on there,” he explains.

“We’re seeing homes sell for $50,000 to $85,000—especially old farmsteads that have been broken off larger parcels.”

When people flee a town, their homes remain, serving as an eerie reminder of the area’s history—but also an extremely low-cost opportunity for those willing to take a chance on an under-appreciated community.

“A lot of these towns didn’t have the money to tear down and build new—so these homes survived,” Elizabeth Finkelstein, from Cheap Old Homes, explains. “They’re like time capsules, filled with pink tile bathrooms and solid oak cabinets. They weren’t designed to impress—they were designed to last.

“They’re the backbone of the country—agriculture, farmland, the rolling lands. They’re such a part of where this country came from, and the houses deserve to be preserved.”

Finkelstein spends her days scouring and highlighting Cheap Old Homes across the country to passionate buyers—including a charming historic bungalow listed under $65,000 with original features that hit the market in Coldwater in 2024.

“This is such a great example of the kind of house I see all the time. Most of the wood is oak—one of the heaviest woods. These bungalows are so sturdy and built to last,” she says.

What’s more, many of these old houses have features that would be extremely difficult to replicate if built today.

“These are solid cabinets. They’re inset. Just to get the cabinetry today, that alone is half the cost of the house,” Finkelstein notes.

Just an hour’s drive away in Attica is a three-bedroom home with strong bones, listed for just $20,000.

Finkelstein positions low-cost homes as stepping stones onto the property ladder or a project for young buyers.

“No one in this country can afford houses right now—it’s completely ludicrous,” she says. “Someone who’s done everything right still can’t afford to buy.

“This is a ticket into a real estate market that seems like a pipe dream. You can get in at a low closing cost and chip away at it slowly over time.”

Local Kansas real estate agents are also pitching low-cost homes as investment opportunities for recreation activities, as farm production struggles.

“That area doesn’t get a lot of rain, so crop production and yields aren’t as high as places like Iowa or Illinois. It makes it pretty hard to make a living farming,” Finkelstein continues.

The beautiful environment and peaceful, expansive space is being rethought as a possible income stream for locals, with some spaces in middle Kansas, such as around Wilson Lake, leaning into recreation activities.

“There’s a lot of out-of-state recreational users—pheasant and quail, the deer, the turkey. There’s a lot of hunting that happens in our area,” says Simpson.

“If you can buy a farm for recreational use and there’s no place to stay, a decent little home nearby will get chewed up pretty quick.”

These homes aren’t just relics from a quieter time; they’re a chance for people and communities to begin again. Whether it’s for personal property, a fixer-upper, personal income stream, or to support larger investment, they’re a chance for opportunity. But Finkelstein says their history needs to be honored in the process. 

“The houses that get landmarked are usually where something extraordinary happened. But the homes in these towns were where everyday people lived and worked—and that’s actually our real history,” she says.

Realtor.com Senior Economic Research Analyst Hannah Jones notes that there are also alternatives for struggling towns other than relying on investment from homebuyers, explaining that, while it is an uphill road to try and reverse the fortunes of these “dying” areas, the task is not impossible.

“‘Dying’ towns face prolonged population decline, disinvestment and economic contraction,” she says. “Many of these locations are former industrial hubs, or small towns left behind by shifts in economic activity. As a result, these towns face a large number of vacant homes and buildings, a shrinking tax base, fewer working-age residents, and limited investment.

“While the future may seem grim for these towns, there are some strategies that could help manage their decline. The city or county can acquire and manage privately-held land to prevent further blight and strategically choose how/when to use vacant land. Some towns like Youngstown, OH, or Flint, MI, have adopted strategies to ‘right-size’ their towns by concentrating services and infrastructure in viable areas.

“Revitalization can happen, but it requires bringing job opportunities and people back to town, which can lead to investment and growth.”