Largest Cities in Malaysia 2026: Population Ranking

Malaysia's cities at a glance

Updated October 2026

Dots sized by population · Kuala Lumpur in orange

Malaysia has 1 city with more than a million inhabitants and 74 with more than 100,000 (city-proper figures). The largest is Kuala Lumpur with 1,453,975 people, followed by Johor Bahru (858,118) and Kampung Baru Subang (833,571). The three largest cities together hold about 8.6% of the country's 36.5 million people.

The capital, Kuala Lumpur, is also the largest city.

By region, the most large cities are in Selangor (23), Johor (14), Penang (8).

Country-level figures — live population, births and deaths, growth, density and history — are on the Malaysia population page; provinces, terrain, rivers and society maps are in the Malaysia atlas.

Malaysia cities by population

74 cities · GeoNames · city proper

#	City	Region	Population	Share of Malaysia
1	Kuala LumpurCapital	Kuala Lumpur	1,453,975	4%
2	Johor Bahru	Johor	858,118	2.4%
3	Kampung Baru Subang	Selangor	833,571	2.3%
4	Petaling Jaya	Selangor	807,879	2.2%
5	Ipoh	Perak	759,952	2.1%
6	Shah Alam	Selangor	740,750	2%
7	Bukit Rahman Putra	Selangor	607,000	1.7%
8	Pelentong	Johor	583,640	1.6%
9	Malacca	Melaka	579,000	1.6%
10	Iskandar Puteri	Johor	575,977	1.6%
11	Kota Bharu	Kelantan	568,900	1.6%
12	Kuantan	Pahang	548,014	1.5%
13	Kota Kuala Muda	Kedah	544,984	1.5%
14	Sungai Petani	Kedah	544,851	1.5%
15	Selayang Baru Utara	Selangor	542,409	1.5%
16	Pasir Gudang	Johor	534,659	1.5%
17	Mukim Pulai	Johor	505,661	1.4%
18	Kota Kinabalu	Sabah	500,421	1.4%
19	Kampung Larkin Lama	Johor	500,000	1.4%
20	Kota Damansara	Selangor	500,000	1.4%
21	Sandakan	Sabah	439,050	1.2%
22	Kuala Terengganu	Terengganu	426,500	1.2%
23	Alor Setar	Kedah	417,800	1.1%
24	Kampung Kangkar Teberau	Johor	412,373	1.1%
25	Kuching	Sarawak	402,738	1.1%
26	Puchong	Selangor	375,181	1%
27	Seremban	Negeri Sembilan	372,917	1%
28	Tawau	Sabah	372,615	1%
29	Setapak	Selangor	353,268	1%
30	Kluang	Johor	323,762	0.9%
31	Muar	Johor	314,776	0.9%
32	Miri	Sarawak	300,543	0.8%
33	Kapar	Selangor	269,627	0.7%
34	Batu Caves	Selangor	254,083	0.7%
35	Klang	Selangor	240,016	0.7%
36	Kajang	Selangor	236,240	0.6%
37	Teluk Intan	Perak	232,800	0.6%
38	Pasir Mas	Kelantan	230,424	0.6%
39	Paya Terubong	Penang	226,712	0.6%
40	Sungai Buloh	Selangor	222,858	0.6%
41	Bandar Seri Alam	Johor	220,000	0.6%
42	Taiping	Perak	217,647	0.6%
43	Bukit Mertajam	Penang	212,329	0.6%
44	Sepang	Selangor	212,050	0.6%
45	Rawang	Selangor	199,095	0.5%
46	Sibu	Sarawak	198,239	0.5%
47	Kuala Kubu Baharu	Selangor	194,387	0.5%
48	Kulim	Kedah	170,889	0.5%
49	George Town	Penang	158,336	0.4%
50	Batu Pahat	Johor	156,236	0.4%
51	Sitiawan	Perak	156,234	0.4%
52	Bintulu	Sarawak	151,617	0.4%
53	Bercham	Perak	150,000	0.4%
54	Setia Alam	Selangor	150,000	0.4%
55	Bandar Tasik Puteri	Selangor	150,000	0.4%
56	Bandar Bukit Raja	Selangor	146,534	0.4%
57	Kampung Pasir Gudang Baru	Johor	145,639	0.4%
58	Kampung Sungai Glugur	Penang	145,600	0.4%
59	Masai	Johor	141,730	0.4%
60	Kampung Sungai Ara	Penang	140,849	0.4%
61	Pasir Puteh	Kelantan	137,400	0.4%
62	Cheras	Selangor	135,823	0.4%
63	Tasek Glugor	Penang	135,786	0.4%
64	Bayan Lepas	Penang	130,455	0.4%
65	Seri Kembangan	Selangor	130,252	0.4%
66	Port Dickson	Negeri Sembilan	119,300	0.3%
67	Maran	Pahang	111,056	0.3%
68	Butterworth	Penang	107,591	0.3%
69	Lahad Datu	Sabah	105,622	0.3%
70	Kuala Krai	Kelantan	105,007	0.3%
71	Perling	Johor	101,263	0.3%
72	Ijok	Selangor	100,899	0.3%
73	Seri Manjung	Perak	100,000	0.3%
74	Bandar Mahkota Cheras	Selangor	100,000	0.3%

Cities with 300,000 or more people link to their own page. The list keeps every city of 100,000+ and at least the 30 largest places of the country.

Frequently asked questions

What is the largest city in Malaysia?

Kuala Lumpur, with about 1,453,975 inhabitants (city proper).

What is the capital of Malaysia?

Kuala Lumpur — population 1,453,975, the largest city in the country.

How many cities in Malaysia have over one million people?

1: Kuala Lumpur.

Are these metropolitan-area populations?

No. They are city-proper figures (the administrative city) from GeoNames, based on the latest census or official estimate. Metropolitan areas, which include suburbs and satellite towns, are larger — often several times larger for the biggest cities.

Explore more

📊 Malaysia population & statistics 🗺️ Malaysia atlas 🌍 Largest cities in the world

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APA

Glostats. (2026). Largest Cities in Malaysia 2026: Population Ranking. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://glostats.com/cities/malaysia/

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Figures on this page may be quoted, charted or republished as long as the page is credited with a link. Terms · Download the data as CSV · Embed a live counter.

City populations are GeoNames figures (CC BY 4.0): the latest official census or estimate for the city proper — the municipality, not the wider metropolitan area — so they can differ from "metro area" numbers you see elsewhere. Country populations are live Glostats estimates from the UN World Population Prospects. Page generated 2026-10-20. More about our data.