Fix Django Static Files Not Loading in Production (Nginx + Gunicorn)

If your Django site loads but:

• CSS is missing
• JavaScript is broken
• Admin panel looks unstyled

👉 Then your static files are not being served correctly

This guide will help you fix it step-by-step.

⚡ Quick Fix (Try This First)

Run:

python manage.py collectstatic
sudo systemctl restart gunicorn
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Then reload your site.

👉 This solves the issue in many cases.

🧠 What’s Happening

In production:

• Django does NOT serve static files
• Nginx is responsible for serving them

If static files are broken, it usually means:

Nginx cannot find or access your static files

🧪 Step-by-Step Diagnosis

Follow these steps in order.

1. Check STATIC_ROOT setting

In settings.py:

STATIC_ROOT = '/var/www/myproject/static/'

👉 This is where files will be collected

2. Run collectstatic command

python manage.py collectstatic

Verify files exist:

ls /var/www/myproject/static/

You should see:

• admin/
• css/
• js/

👉 If empty → static files were not collected

3. Check Nginx configuration

Open your config:

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/myproject

or your favourite editor.

Ensure this exists:

location /static/ {
    root /var/www/myproject;
}

👉 Important:

root must match your STATIC_ROOT parent directory /static/ maps to /var/www/myproject/static/

4. Test Nginx config

sudo nginx -t

Then:

sudo systemctl restart nginx

5. Test static file directly

Open in browser:

http://your-domain/static/admin/css/base.css

If it works:

• Nginx is correct

If NOT:

• Problem is Nginx or file path

6. Check file permissions

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/myproject
sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www/myproject

This will fix permissions for all files in the directory.

👉 Nginx must be able to read the files

🔥 Common Causes (and Fixes)

🔴 Forgot to run collectstatic

Fix:

python manage.py collectstatic

🔴 Wrong STATIC_ROOT

Make sure:

• Matches Nginx path
• Is an absolute path

🔴 Nginx misconfiguration

Wrong:

root /var/www/myproject/static;

Correct:

root /var/www/myproject;

🔴 DEBUG = False but no static setup

In production:

DEBUG = False

👉 Django stops serving static files

🔴 Permissions issue

Fix:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/myproject

🔴 Wrong STATIC_URL

In settings.py:

STATIC_URL = '/static/'

🧠 Debugging Tips

Check Nginx logs:

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Look for:

• 404
• permission denied

Check browser console:

• Open DevTools → Network tab
• Look for:
  • 404 errors
  • missing files

✅ Quick Fix Checklist

• collectstatic was run
• Files exist in /static/ folder
• Nginx config is correct
• Permissions are correct
• STATIC_ROOT is correct
• STATIC_URL = /static/

🔗 Related Guides

• Deploy Django with Nginx + Gunicorn
• Fix Django 502 Bad Gateway
• Fix Django media files not serving