Fallout 4: Here’s How To Increase Settlement Population

Settlements were one of the key features introduced in Fallout 4. Players were looking forward to building and populating settlements in the Commonwealth. It offered an amazing opportunity to be creative and to affect the world in a visible way. However, settlements require quite an effort and a lot of resources in order to be maintained. And sometimes, no matter what we do, it might seem like the population of a specific settlement is growing ever so slowly. Is there something that can fix this or speed up the process? Let’s see how to increase the settlement population in Fallout 4.

How many settlements can you build in Fallout 4? 

You can build 37 settlements in Fallout 4. 7 additional settlement locations were added by the addons, with 30 being included in the base game. Each settlement requires that you invest specific resources in it, and it needs to be constantly maintained to attract both new settlers and to keep current settlers happy. You can check out the happiness level of your settlements by hovering over the settlement icon on the map or by interacting with the workshop that each settlement has. 

What is the maximum settlement population? 

The default settlement population in Fallout 4 is ten settlers. This number can further be increased by the total charisma you have, meaning +1 settler for each point of charisma. You can easily go over 30 settlers, or even 40, with enough planning and enough charisma-increasing buffs. However, sometimes this might be a good idea, as it could be difficult to maintain a population of such size. With each new settler, the overall needs of your settlement grow. This means that adequate food, water beds, and space need to be provided.

In this case, it’s vital to keep the happiness of your settlers high enough, or you might even be in danger of losing your settlement altogether. Smaller populations are much easier to organize and provide for than larger populations. In some cases, our settlement might have ample opportunities for newcomers, but it just doesn’t seem to be growing as fast as we want it to.

Why is your settlement population not growing? 

At some point, you might notice that your settlement has stopped growing and hasn’t attracted anyone new in a long time. If your settlement population is not growing might check for the following problems: 

1. You can’t provide for the current population of the settlement. Always make sure that your food is at least 1 per settler. 
2. There are plenty of settlers without a job in your settlement. Always make sure that your settlers are assigned something to do. If they just stand around loitering, you won’t be able to attract new settlers with such a high “unemployment” rate. 
3. Make sure that your charisma is high enough. If your settlement population is at 10, make sure that you have enough charisma to attract more. 

These are just the most common issues that might be problematic in terms of populating your settlement, and in the rest of this post, we’re going to cover how to fix population issues in Fallout 4. 

How do you increase the number of settlers in Fallout 4?

The most straightforward way to attract new settlers to your settlement is to take care of the basic needs of the existing settlers, build radio beacons, and keep the settlers busy.  

1. Provide the settlers with food 

In order for your settlement to grow, you need to have at least one unit of food per every existing settler and keep in mind that vegetables count as 0.5 units of food. You need to gradually increase your food output if you plan on bringing new people to your settlement. It’s not enough to just plant food. Use existing settlers for farming that food through the workshop menu.

If everything is organized enough, not only will you have enough food to keep the existing settlers happy, you will have spare food to bring in new settlers. 

2. Provide water to the settlers 

You need to have at least 1 unit of water per 1 settler. This can easily be achieved by building industrial water pumps and purifiers. They are relatively easy to make and don’t require NPC intervention. Water levels will also affect your crops, so always make sure that you have excess water. 

3. Make sure you have power in your settlement

Power is not a “must” to have, but it certainly helps, as you can make sure that your settlement involves some more complicated machinery that, in turn, makes life easier for the general population of the settlement. We’ve already mentioned large-scale industrial pumps. Those can be used only if you have power in your settlement. Not having power will not cause your settlement to grow slowly, but it can certainly help it grow faster. 

4. Keep your defense high enough 

Defense affects how happy your settlers are and the chances of an attack happening on your settlement. If you keep defenses high enough, this greatly reduces the chance that enemies will attack you, and it will greatly improve the morale of all existing settlers.

5. Have plenty of beds for everyone 

Every settler needs to have its own bed, and it needs to be covered by rainfall. If you plan on attracting new settlers, you need to plan ahead and build enough beds to accommodate everyone. Not having a bed greatly reduces the happiness of settlers and, in turn, can hinder population growth. 

6. Build radio beacons 

Recruitment radio beacons are built at the workshop and are used to summon new settlers by playing pre-recorded radio messages. They will not work, however, if your maximum settlement population has been reached. You can increase the range of the radio beacons and, in turn, their recruiting potential by activating relay towers. 

7. Keep settlers busy 

Radio beacon won’t work, and new settlers will not come to your settlement if there are four or more unemployed settlers in your settlement. To keep them busy and greatly improve the morale of your settlements, you can build med centers and various other objects and buildings to assign settlers to perform tasks and keep them busy.

And that’s pretty much it. As you can see, it’s not difficult to manage a settlement if you have plenty of resources. If you’re kind of tight on those, don’t expect your population to grow as fast, and certainly don’t rush into it. 

Have something to add? Let us know in the comments below!