I used to have 3 villagers in the central area near the museum while the others are on the outskirts in their own little villages. But I recently knocked down a lot of my initial terraforming and redid parts of my island. Now I have Freya, Bianca, Jambette, Scoot, and Ursala as central residents near the museum and town hall. I have Hamphrey and Quillson living in their own little "spa town" in a more forested area. I have tabby living in the top corner of the island in her own little seashell-themed beach town (because she's the only house with shack-like exterior). Dizzy lives with me on top of a hill at the very back. I need to find one more spot for Erik to relocate to. Currently I am thinking moving him onto his own personal farm or somewhere else in the forest.
I think 2 of my villagers at the moment are not permanent so it's likely I'll redo terraforming again when I obtain them. I'm hoping to get Cyd and Spike at some point and have a little village for those two.
I have 6 homes like right next to each other, almost near the airport, which is quite efficient. two villager homes are on the second level and the other two on a third level connected with the second level. They're really not scattered with the 6 other villager homes. Sorry I can't show you my map since I'm away from the switch but I honestly wanna remake the 6 vikkager homes after seeing a really cool idea on Instagram but the max inclines pisses me off in this game. 8 is not enough.