The city in the TV series "Stranger Things" is Hawkins, a fictional town in Indiana.
The story begins in Hawkins in November 1983, where Will Byers disappears after encountering a creature from the Upside Down. His friends Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair search for him, while Will’s mother Joyce and police chief Jim Hopper uncover a secret connected to Hawkins National Laboratory.
Hawkins is presented as a quiet rural community where “nothing ever happens,” making its supernatural events especially unsettling. The town itself is fictional, although the series was filmed largely around Atlanta, Georgia. Jackson, Georgia, provided the visual basis for much of Hawkins, including several recognizable downtown scenes.
A common mix-up is confusing Hawkins with Montauk, New York. Montauk was the original setting planned by the Duffer Brothers when the project was still being developed under the title "Montauk." The setting changed to Indiana before production, but the show retained its small-town mystery atmosphere.