MAMMOTH IS BECOMING A GHOST TOWN?
Published in the May 9 2026 edition.
The question of livability for the middle class loomed over the Mammoth Lakes Town Council on Wednesday evening.
It was a story told by statistics, presented in a middle-income housing needs survey by Marcus Sproll, the Housing Manager for the town.
Sproll began by telling the council the town lost approximately 1,200 residents, or 14.5% of its total population from 2010 to 2025. The decline marked the largest population loss of any jurisdiction in the Eastern Sierra.
“There’s a projected further 9% decline by 2040,” Sproll said. “A lack of housing certainly contributes to the decline.”
The survey outlined a need for 1,200 new housing units, including 560 for middle-income residents.
Currently, there are 9,649 total housing units in Mammoth. Of these, 66% of them are vacant second homes, and 34% are occupied primary residences. For the 3,318 occupied units, 624 are dead restricted. Meaning they are off limits to those in the middle-income tax bracket.
“At this income level, publicly financed, low-income housing, like a lot of what we have been building at the parcel, is not available,” Sproll said. “And the market rate housing is marked at an unaffordable level for this.”
Mammoth’s average rents are roughly 15% higher than major California cities, with San Francisco being a notable exception, and 10% higher than most Colorado and Utah ski towns.
“Rents in Mammoth are most similar to those in Vail and Breckenridge in Colorado,” Sproll said.
The middle-income bracket are individuals who earn 81-120% of the area median income (AMI). According to California census data, this is $118,500 for a household of four. In Mammoth, most people in need of housing are looking for single person households, where the AMI is $82,950. These individuals tend to be invaluable community members, such as teachers, firefighters, nurses, and small business owners.
The town has been working to build housing, especially since adopting its Housing Now! initiative in 2019. But the majority of housing built from this solely targets the lower income bracket, or individuals earning between 30-80% AMI.
“We’ve made a lot of progress on low income. We’re essentially halfway to the need,” Sproll said. “But for middle income, we’ve barely got a quarter.”
There are 797 units needed for low-income housing, according to Sproll’s survey. The town has already built 408 of these. Conversely, there are 766 units needed in the middle income bracket.
Currently, only 206 of these exist, of which 131 are siloed for employee housing.
“Hearing there’s a population decline, if we were able to wave a magic wand and build 560 units, I don’t know if the current market would be very much affected,” Mayor Amanda Rice pondered.
“But do we suspect that the population decline is driven by the lack of availability?”
Councilmember Chris Bubser jumped in, “And could that change if we had housing available for people?”
“I think definitely,” Sproll said.
He continued by laying out market rent prices. Mammoth market rates for one bedroom units, which are the most desired by middle-income tenants, are roughly $2,700 per month. He floated the possibility of building a restricted middle housing product, which would lease these units at $2,000 to $2,800 per month.
“The weakness of these units is the challenge to finance these types of developments,” Sproll said. “There are significant public finances and creative ownership structures that need to be developed… we are in the process of developing a middle income rental model.”
Sproll did not elaborate on what building these types of units would look like, but said there would be more of an explanation of financing these types of middle income rentals during the next housing presentation, scheduled for May 20th.
One June 3rd, council plans to discuss a model middle income project proposal, and on June 17th, the group expects to vote on middle income project resolution.
The issue is urgent, said Mono County supervisor Jennifer Kreitz during public comment.
“Our rural, isolated commutes are becoming ghost towns,” she said. “It’s not just Mammoth, it’s Mono County. It’s the Eastern Sierra. Because of housing.”
