The world of The Walking Dead is large and expansive. The key characters moved from place to place over its many seasons searching for safety.
From the beginning of the series to the very end, certain locations became mainstays for these characters, including the prison, Alexandria, the Kingdom, and more.
Looking back at the 11 seasons of The Walking Dead, I ranked the 10 major locations many of these characters called home for a period of time, based on memorability, storyline, and more.
10. Oceanside
The first location I have to put on this list is Oceanside, and it's at the very bottom. Oceanside in The Walking Dead was an interesting location because we only really saw it a few times throughout the series. It was introduced to us through the Saviors in season 7 as one of the few communities they received supplies from, but over time, we didn’t really see the people associated with them.
I lowkey forgot about most of the characters that were associated with the people of Oceanside, and that’s why it ranks so low on this list. They only really had an important role to play in the war against Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and the Saviors.
9. Kings County/Atlanta
I’m sorry, I’m going to get flak for this, but I really don’t think the first setting of the show — Kings County and the city of Atlanta — is all that memorable compared to many of the key locations.
Is the first season of the show fantastic? Yes, it is. I would argue it’s one of the best because it's grounded in its story at that point. But at the same time, we were just sort of sitting in a quarry for the first half, and we barely saw much of the city of Atlanta, aside from the CDC. For me, it’s just a mediocre location. I think the characters and the pacing are great, but overall, in terms of location, it doesn’t really do it for me.
8. The Commonwealth
I was thinking of putting The Commonwealth below Kings County because it’s another case where, while it was very important to the plot, I don’t remember much of it. Season 11 was almost like a fever dream with The Walking Dead.
However, the main reason I put it just a smidgen higher is that I am still thoroughly impressed with how the Commonwealth could even work in a world like The Walking Dead. It genuinely feels impossible to link communities across miles and miles of land. And for that, I have to rank it highly.
7. Woodbury
If The Walking Dead were still on and we were in the earlier seasons, I have a feeling Woodbury, introduced to fans in season 3, would rank much higher. But since we’ve seen how advanced communities can get later on, it takes seventh spot on the list.
Woodbury was great because it was a community. We also got to meet and get to know a lot of characters there. The Governor is an iconic villain. Michonne got her chance to shine and made it all the way to the end of the series. It’s a great location. Just not the best.
6. Hershel's Farm
The Greene's farm gets a bad reputation. Season 2 is arguably one of my favorite seasons because, while it feels slow at first, it’s the build-up of suspense all the way to Sophia’s death that makes it that much better, and it just keeps rolling into action from there.
The reason I rank it so high in terms of a location is that it feels like there’s a lot of versatility within the world of the farm. There were so many stories happening at different angles because everyone was just spread out everywhere. And it’s also where we met Maggie (Lauren Cohan), who has her own The Walking Dead spinoff now. You can’t beat that by much.
5. The Prison
The prison in season 3 holds fond memories for me. Season 3 was one of the first seasons I watched that wasn’t on Netflix (right before I started waiting weekly for season 4), and I remember being fascinated by how they made this location work.
For the prison, I knew I had to rank it higher because the story there was so tight. It featured some incredible moments from characters that I genuinely love — one of Beth’s best scenes happens in the prison — and it lasted for a season and a half, the longest time spent at a single location at the time of the season’s release. It’s truly one of a kind.
4. The Sanctuary
Yes, I am putting the Sanctuary high up here. Why? The memory speaks for itself.
With Negan and his crew of Saviors specifically, I have very few instances in my mind that stand out more than any scene that had to do with where he lived. In fact, every one of the memorable ones was in the Sanctuary, where I was reminded of just how freaking terrifying Negan truly was.
Out of all the villain locations, this one had the most spunk and fire. And through the painful episodes of seasons 7 and 8, when it felt like we were going nowhere, the scenes at The Sanctuary were welcome.
3. Hilltop
Season 6 introduced us to Hilltop, and I’m putting it at a three for one very big reason—because this was the start of communities that actually didn’t want to fight Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and his crew.
It was the first time when we, as a group of viewers, actively watched Rick and everyone else interact with a friendly neighboring alliance that wasn’t trying to kill them or lock them out instantly. Even when Rick and everyone came to Alexandria at first, it was testy. This one was just relatively friendly. Sure, it started with Jesus (Tom Payne) stealing supplies, but that’s beside the point, okay?
2. The Kingdom
Oh, the Kingdom. I fell in love with this place. The Kingdom was so underused, and I wanted it so much more than what I got.
With The Kingdom, I wanted it to be higher because I genuinely loved what I saw when we first witnessed it, and the characters that we met were great. Ezekiel (Khary Payton) was hands down one of my favorite characters throughout the series, and his leadership made me a huge fan of the community itself. But really, it’s how this place changed Carol (Melissa McBride) for the better, both in ways I expected and ways I didn’t. And for that, it gets number two on my list.
1. Alexandria
You knew this was going to be at the top of the list, don’t lie.
Alexandria is hands down the best location in The Walking Dead, for one main reason — it actually stood.
Through countless storylines, through enemies galore, through people trying to take over and walkers storming gates and herds that took out character after character, this place persevered through it all, so much so that Rick somehow made it back to it in the spinoff, The Ones Who Live. Its walls are as strong as the memory of it in my heart. And for that, it gets my number one spot.
You can check out all 11 seasons of The Walking Dead on Netflix.
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