Largest Cities in United Kingdom 2026: Population Ranking

United Kingdom's cities at a glance

Updated October 2026

Dots sized by population · London in orange

United Kingdom has 2 cities with more than a million inhabitants and 104 with more than 100,000 (city-proper figures). The largest is London with 8,961,989 people, followed by Birmingham (1,157,603) and Glasgow (626,410). The three largest cities together hold about 15.3% of the country's 70 million people.

The capital, London, is also the largest city.

By region, the most large cities are in England (96), Scotland (4), Wales (3).

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

United Kingdom cities by population

104 cities · GeoNames · city proper

#	City	Region	Population	Share of United Kingdom
1	LondonCapital	England	8,961,989	12.8%
2	Birmingham	England	1,157,603	1.7%
3	Glasgow	Scotland	626,410	0.9%
4	Manchester	England	568,996	0.8%
5	Sheffield	England	556,500	0.8%
6	Leeds	England	536,280	0.8%
7	Edinburgh	Scotland	514,990	0.7%
8	Liverpool	England	496,770	0.7%
9	Bristol	England	479,024	0.7%
10	Cardiff	Wales	372,089	0.5%
11	Leicester	England	368,600	0.5%
12	Bradford	England	366,187	0.5%
13	Belfast	Northern Ireland	348,005	0.5%
14	Coventry	England	345,324	0.5%
15	Birkenhead	England	325,264	0.5%
16	Nottingham	England	323,632	0.5%
17	Islington	England	319,143	0.5%
18	Reading	England	318,014	0.5%
19	Kingston upon Hull	England	314,018	0.4%
20	Preston	England	313,332	0.4%
21	Swansea	Wales	300,352	0.4%
22	Newcastle upon Tyne	England	300,125	0.4%
23	Southend-on-Sea	England	295,310	0.4%
24	Brighton	England	283,870	0.4%
25	Derby	England	270,468	0.4%
26	Southampton	England	269,781	0.4%
27	Wolverhampton	England	263,700	0.4%
28	Plymouth	England	260,203	0.4%
29	Stoke-on-Trent	England	258,366	0.4%
30	Milton Keynes	England	256,385	0.4%
31	City of Westminster	England	247,614	0.4%
32	Northampton	England	245,899	0.4%
33	Oldham	England	237,110	0.3%
34	Bexley	England	228,000	0.3%
35	Luton	England	225,262	0.3%
36	Barking	England	218,534	0.3%
37	Archway	England	215,667	0.3%
38	Portsmouth	England	208,100	0.3%
39	Swindon	England	201,669	0.3%
40	Dudley	England	199,059	0.3%
41	Aberdeen	Scotland	198,590	0.3%
42	Sutton	England	187,600	0.3%
43	St Helens	England	183,200	0.3%
44	Ipswich	England	178,835	0.3%
45	Wigan	England	175,405	0.3%
46	Croydon	England	173,314	0.2%
47	Warrington	England	172,330	0.2%
48	Walsall	England	172,141	0.2%
49	Mansfield	England	171,958	0.2%
50	Sunderland	England	170,134	0.2%
51	Ilford	England	168,168	0.2%
52	Slough	England	164,793	0.2%
53	Bournemouth	England	163,600	0.2%
54	Peterborough	England	163,379	0.2%
55	Oxford	England	162,100	0.2%
56	Newport	Wales	161,506	0.2%
57	Enfield Town	England	156,858	0.2%
58	York	England	156,135	0.2%
59	Telford	England	155,570	0.2%
60	Poole	England	151,500	0.2%
61	Burnley	England	149,422	0.2%
62	Harrow	England	149,246	0.2%
63	Huddersfield	England	149,017	0.2%
64	Dundee	Scotland	148,210	0.2%
65	Blackburn	England	146,521	0.2%
66	Cambridge	England	145,674	0.2%
67	Blackpool	England	145,007	0.2%
68	Basildon	England	144,859	0.2%
69	Norwich	England	143,135	0.2%
70	Middlesbrough	England	142,707	0.2%
71	Bolton	England	141,331	0.2%
72	Stockport	England	139,052	0.2%
73	High Wycombe	England	133,204	0.2%
74	Gloucester	England	132,416	0.2%
75	Exeter	England	130,709	0.2%
76	Colchester	England	130,245	0.2%
77	Tottenham	England	130,000	0.2%
78	Salford	England	129,794	0.2%
79	Newcastle under Lyme	England	127,727	0.2%
80	Solihull	England	126,577	0.2%
81	Watford	England	125,707	0.2%
82	Saint Peters	England	125,370	0.2%
83	Crawley	England	124,008	0.2%
84	Burton upon Trent	England	122,199	0.2%
85	Cheltenham	England	118,836	0.2%
86	Rotherham	England	117,618	0.2%
87	Worthing	England	113,866	0.2%
88	Doncaster	England	113,566	0.2%
89	Chesterfield	England	113,057	0.2%
90	Chelmsford	England	111,511	0.2%
91	Sutton Coldfield	England	109,899	0.2%
92	Wakefield	England	109,766	0.2%
93	Walthamstow	England	109,424	0.2%
94	Dagenham	England	108,368	0.2%
95	Basingstoke	England	107,642	0.2%
96	Maidstone	England	107,627	0.2%
97	Bedford	England	106,940	0.2%
98	Woking	England	103,900	0.1%
99	Lincoln	England	103,813	0.1%
100	West Bromwich	England	103,112	0.1%
101	Eastbourne	England	101,689	0.1%
102	Worcester	England	101,659	0.1%
103	Bath	England	101,557	0.1%
104	Gillingham	England	101,187	0.1%

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 United Kingdom?

London, with about 8,961,989 inhabitants (city proper).

What is the capital of United Kingdom?

London — population 8,961,989, the largest city in the country.

How many cities in United Kingdom have over one million people?

2: London, Birmingham.

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.

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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.