What U.S. state has a town with a population of one?

Nebraska has a town with a population of one: Monowi, in Boyd County.

Monowi became famous as the smallest incorporated municipality in the United States. Its sole resident, Elsie Eiler, has served as mayor, clerk, treasurer, librarian, and operator of the Monowi Tavern. After her husband, Rudy, died in 2004, Eiler became the village’s only inhabitant. She still completes the paperwork needed to keep Monowi legally incorporated, including preparing an annual municipal budget and road plan.

Monowi’s name is traditionally said to mean “flower” in an unidentified Native American language, referring to the wildflowers that grew near the original settlement. Eiler also established Rudy’s Library in 2005, preserving her husband’s book collection for visitors and residents of the surrounding area.

A common mix-up is that other U.S. communities have also recorded populations of one, including Ruso, North Dakota, and Hibberts Gore, Maine. However, Monowi is the best-known and most widely accepted answer to this trivia question because it is an incorporated Nebraska village famously maintained by one resident. Census figures can also be confusing: the 2020 census listed two people, a result attributed to privacy-protection methods, while Eiler remained Monowi’s sole actual resident.