I’ve currently got 14 folks which gives me 4 footmen, three workers and all the other crafters (including a trapper and Shepherd).
I’ve been refusing new additions because it seems like I don’t need them.
How many folks do you have?
Here’s a shot of my base so far BTW:
My optimum:
3 Villagers
1 Footman (Armed to the teeth!)
1 Blacksmith
1 Mason
1 Carpenter
1 Farmer
(1 Trapper)
(1 Weaver)
I go for 8-10. What I often do is promote a villager to become a trapper, they’ll get the speed boosts and a ton of meat/fur, and then I change them back. Same with the weaver - my towns are typically very austere, but if I’m crafting armour I’ll make some outfits and comfy beds as well!
Keeping the numbers low lets me run this game well on my older PC. The pool of villagers lets me redirect them to more pressing issues when I’m not building/mining - three extra footmen do help when my soldier is being overwhelmed
My optimum is one of every class, except farmer and footman, which i have 2 of. (10 settlers.)
14 to 16 Seems max for me until one gets choppy/laggy, 16 in a more spread (plains) area while 14 seems to do well in a smaller area (mountain hills), anymore then that I get the choppy laggy stuff
I like 23. 4 crafters, 1 trapper, 1 shepherd, 1 farmer, 8 footmen, 8 workers. That many workers and footmen, in addition to their obvious benefits, helps consume a lot of the food my farmer produces on his way to level 6 (which I haven’t yet achieved, as the game tends to become unplayable early in the second month, and I haven’t bothered just letting him produce grossly excessive quantities).
[quote=“NonBritGit, post:1, topic:10680”]
4 footmen
[/quote] You might just want more thank that 
I stop at a comfortable 20. Carving out 20 little bedrooms is easier than carving 30, and it gives me enough manpower to do what I want. Plus my soldiers are using modded armour, so they last a little longer than regular ones, and I don’t have to keep increasing my army size c:
To that point is having the ability to assign specific beds to specific players. (rimworld works this way). That way, you can make specific little huts for everyone.
Tom has mentioned a few times that this will be done with signs attached to buildings. 
Though the devs have mentioned that the maximum number of settlers you will be allowed to have are 50.
Wow, I can’t imagine trying to keep track of that many folks… Maybe spread out over different camps maybe…
Yeah, it is hard to imagine. Hopefully they’ll do an update with decreased lag for settlers.
I actually just accept them all O.o
I keep as many as I can get if the town gets over 10 I then consider making bigger houses except when they all decide that they like ONE bed
The devs said that? Well thats… Dissapointing.
They said either 50 or 100.
I would hope the cap isn’t 50, I am sure I am not the only one who likes big cities taking over the landscape
I tend to agree, but don’t forget that the engine currently can’t cope with more than 25 or so (or less, depending on your system) and it has to include all the NPC goblins and Orcs and skeletons and such, as they run AIs as well. I’m quite sure there will be engine improvements and optimisations, but even so, you may find that having much more than 50 Hearthlings wont be happening any time in the forseeable future.
I think 50 player-controlled units and about 100-200 total (inclusive enemies and wildlife) are somewhat realistic. While it sounds like it’s not that much, and certainly less than previously thought, I would say that the game becomes incredibly micro-managy at 20 people already. I can’t imagine what to do with a hundred of those little guys.
This may well have changed in more recent times but the ‘population cap’ has always been spoken of as anywhere between 50 and 200, or even higher, it all depends on the feel and balance of the game, as well as obviously what is possible.
Like @repeatpan has said it does get a tad micro-managy as numbers increase at the moment, but that’s not to say that as things progress a better population management system will be implemented that reduces that micro feeling. Though I may be wrong here, don’t other games in the genre suffer from feeling very micro as population increases?
