When I first saw the map of Saltmarsh, I thought it was too small to house 5000 people, and it bugged me. I didn’t like the alternative maps of Saltmarsh that people have made or from 3.5e, either they were too ugly for me or they didn’t really fix the problem, and I didn’t really feel like making my own map. I know, I sound pretty lazy.

But I think I made it work by having there be about 2,200 residents in Saltmarsh itself, and around 2,700 farmers in the surrounding region (within 6 miles of Saltmarsh) that provide food to it and are economically engaged with it.

With a 6 mile radius, the total “metro” area of Saltmarsh would be 56 mi2 (the sea makes this area a semicircle), and I arbitrarily decided that 70% of this would be farmland and each mi2 of farmland would support 80 people. That makes 40 mi2 of farmland and 3200 supported people. If 80% of those are farmers, that makes 2560 farmers within 6 miles of Saltmarsh that provide food to it, and 640 urban people sustained by the food.

I also decided arbitrarily that 1000 fishers (that includes their families, so around only 200 actual fishermen) would support 600 urban people, with the fishers residing in Saltmarsh. In total, that makes 2240 people living in Saltmarsh, 1240 of which are free to do non food-production related things.

Saltmarsh has around 100 houses (let’s also say shopkeepers and tavern keepers live on the second story, so those building count as well) and each has an average of maybe 10,000 square feet of living space according to the map (this might actually be an underestimate). In total, that’s 1 million square feet of living space in salt marsh. According to google, people need around 100-400 ft2 to live comfortably, and 1 million divided by 400 is 2500 people. So Saltmarsh can comfortably fit even up to 3000 people.

TLDR; 2240 people living in Saltmarsh, 1000 of which are in fisher families, with 400ft squared to accommodate each person. 2560 farmers living within 6 miles that economically participate with and provide food to Saltmarsh. 4800 people total.

Id like to hear about any inconsistencies my calculations, but I think this has mostly put me at ease and I am comfortable using the original 5e map of Saltmarsh with this explanation.