100 Largest Cities and Towns in the UK by Population

This is a list of the 100 largest cities and towns in the United Kingdom by population. Please note that this list is unrelated to local authority boundaries, and is instead based on urban sub-divisions.

London is the largest city in both England and the United Kingdom, followed by Birmingham. Northampton is the largest town without city status.

The first column in the table below is the rank of the city or town within the UK, while the second column is the rank of the city or town within its own region or nation.

The ceremonial county column refers to the county that the city or town is located in. In England, this is the ceremonial county; in Scotland it is the council area; in Wales it is the preserved county and in Northern Ireland it is the ceremonial county.

Population figures for cities and towns in England and Wales are based on the 2017 population estimates by the Office for National Statistics, while Scotland’s figures are from the ONS’s 2016 estimates and the figures for Northern Ireland are from the 2011 census. These are the latest official figures.

If you would like a more detailed list, please visit our 1000 Largest Cities and Towns in the UK by Population article.

Rank	in region	City/Town	Ceremonial county	Region	Population
1	1	London	London	London	8,907,918
2	1	Birmingham	West Midlands	West Midlands	1,153,717
3	1	Glasgow	Glasgow	Scotland	612,040
4	1	Liverpool	Merseyside	North West	579,256
5	1	Bristol	Bristol	South West	571,922
6	2	Manchester	Greater Manchester	North West	554,400
7	1	Sheffield	South Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	544,402
8	2	Leeds	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	503,388
9	2	Edinburgh	Edinburgh	Scotland	488,050
10	1	Leicester	Leicestershire	East Midlands	470,965
11	2	Coventry	West Midlands	West Midlands	369,127
12	3	Bradford	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	361,046
13	1	Cardiff	South Glamorgan	Wales	350,558
14	1	Belfast	County Antrim County Down	Northern Ireland	328,937
15	2	Nottingham	Nottinghamshire	East Midlands	311,823
16	4	Kingston upon Hull	East Riding of Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	288,671
17	1	Newcastle upon Tyne	Tyne and Wear	North East	281,842
18	3	Stoke-on-Trent	Staffordshire	West Midlands	277,051
19	1	Southampton	Hampshire	South East	269,231
20	3	Derby	Derbyshire	East Midlands	263,933
21	2	Portsmouth	Hampshire	South East	248,479
22	3	Brighton	East Sussex	South East	241,999
23	2	Plymouth	Devon	South West	241,179
24	4	Northampton	Northamptonshire	East Midlands	229,815
25	4	Reading	Berkshire	South East	229,274
26	1	Luton	Bedfordshire	East	222,907
27	4	Wolverhampton	West Midlands	West Midlands	218,255
28	3	Bolton	Greater Manchester	North West	202,369
29	3	Aberdeen	Aberdeen	Scotland	200,680
30	3	Bournemouth	Dorset	South West	198,727
31	2	Norwich	Norfolk	East	195,761
32	4	Swindon	Wiltshire	South West	191,314
33	2	Swansea	West Glamorgan	Wales	184,436
34	5	Milton Keynes	Buckinghamshire	South East	184,105
35	3	Southend-on-Sea	Essex	East	183,809
36	5	Middlesbrough	North Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	176,991
37	4	Peterborough	Cambridgeshire	East	175,680
38	2	Sunderland	Tyne and Wear	North East	175,031
39	4	Warrington	Cheshire	North West	172,068
40	6	Huddersfield	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	170,269
41	6	Slough	Berkshire	South East	164,046
42	7	Oxford	Oxfordshire	South East	163,967
43	7	York	North Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	161,994
44	5	Poole	Dorset	South West	158,762
45	5	Ipswich	Suffolk	East	150,334
46	5	Telford	Shropshire	West Midlands	149,377
47	6	Cambridge	Cambridgeshire	East	149,023
48	4	Dundee	Dundee	Scotland	148,280
49	6	Gloucester	Gloucestershire	South West	146,667
50	5	Blackpool	Lancashire	North West	145,722
51	6	Birkenhead	Merseyside	North West	144,756
52	7	Watford	Hertfordshire	East	140,902
53	7	Sale	Greater Manchester	North West	137,915
54	8	Colchester	Essex	East	134,176
55	3	Newport	Gwent	Wales	133.353
56	6	Solihull	West Midlands	West Midlands	127,289
57	8	High Wycombe	Buckinghamshire	South East	124,073
58	7	Exeter	Devon	South West	123,379
59	3	Gateshead	Tyne and Wear	North East	122,088
60	8	Blackburn	Lancashire	North West	119,707
61	8	Cheltenham	Gloucestershire	South West	117,843
62	9	Maidstone	Kent	South East	117,626
63	9	Chelmsford	Essex	East	116,997
64	9	Salford	Greater Manchester	North West	116,361
65	10	Basildon	Essex	East	115,269
66	8	Doncaster	South Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	114,900
67	10	Basingstoke	Hampshire	South East	114,329
68	11	Worthing	West Sussex	South East	114,212
69	12	Eastbourne	East Sussex	South East	113,646
70	13	Crawley	West Sussex	South East	111,856
71	10	Rochdale	Greater Manchester	North West	111,733
72	9	Rotherham	South Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	110,751
73	11	Stockport	Greater Manchester	North West	110,000
74	14	Gillingham	Kent	South East	108,880
75	7	Sutton Coldfield	West Midlands	West Midlands	108,330
76	15	Woking	Surrey	South East	107,611
77	12	Wigan	Greater Manchester	North West	106,686
78	5	Lincoln	Lincolnshire	East Midlands	105,447
79	13	Oldham	Greater Manchester	North West	105,402
80	10	Wakefield	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	104,757
81	14	St Helens	Merseyside	North West	104,641
82	8	Worcester	Worcestershire	West Midlands	103,769
83	11	Hemel Hempstead	Hertfordshire	East	101,849
84	9	Bath	Somerset	South West	101,106
85	15	Preston	Lancashire	North West	99,198
86	12	Raleigh	Essex	East	98,809
87	11	Barnsley	South Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	96,878
88	13	Stevenage	Hertfordshrie	East	93,944
89	16	Hastings	East Sussex	South East	93,592
90	16	Southport	Merseyside	North West	93,426
91	4	Darlington	County Durham	North East	92,988
92	14	Bedford	Bedfordshire	East	92,405
93	12	Halifax	West Yorkshire	Yorkshire Humber	91,338
94	5	Hartlepool	County Durham	North East	89,610
95	6	Chesterfield	Derbyshire	East Midlands	89,181
96	9	Nuneaton	Warwickshire	West Midlands	89,001
97	13	Grimsby	North East Lincolnshire	Yorkshire Humber	88,500
98	10	Weston-super-Mare	Somerset	South West	87,983
99	17	Chester	Cheshire	North West	87,593
100	15	St Albans	Hertfordshire	East	86,961

Want to see the cities and towns ranked 101-1000? You’re in luck because we have an article for you.

Photo of Manchester by: Hala AlGhanim

On 4 May 2019

5 thoughts on “100 Largest Cities and Towns in the UK by Population”

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Andrew Kelly says:

24 April 2023 at 15:27

City of London has a population of 8 thousand, not 8 million. If you mean Greater London, then for comparison, it should be compared to Greater Manchester etc.
I.e 9 million v 3 million or 3 times bigger, not 18 times bigger

Reply
1. Anonymous says:
  
  4 June 2023 at 15:10
  
  City status and city boundaries in the UK are rediculous! The ‘city’ of London boundaries were created something like a 1000 years ago or something like that,, all that’s contained in that ‘square mile’ now are shops and office blocks really! Historic reasoning probably upholds any change in that particular definition of London! as a city in the real world and in the last few centuries London is huge, and if you want to compare greater Manchester to greater London, still no comparison, and all the suburbs and boroughs of greater London are pretty much connected continually, where as Bolton say is not a suburb or continuation of Manchester, it just happens to be close to it.
  
  Reply
2. John Richards says:
  
  17 July 2023 at 19:25
  
  Absolutely spot-on. I lived both in inner-city Liverpool and in the City of London.
  Relatively few people work in the City of London though many more work there or have office space there.
  
  The City of Westminster is much bigger than the City of London, both in terms of population and geographic area.
  
  Whilst the City of Liverpool has a greater population than the City of Manchester, many commute every morning along the M62 and A580 from Liverpool, St. Helens and Newton-le-Willows (all in Merseyside), to work in Manchester.
  
  Reply
3. Jim says:
  
  14 September 2023 at 08:02
  
  Why Greater Manchester and not West Midlands which is the larger of the two.
  
  Reply

100 Largest Cities and Towns in the UK by Population

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