LIST OF TOWNS AND CITIES IN ENGLAND BY POPULATION

(Redirected from List of English cities by population)
This is a 'list of the largest cities and towns of England ordered by population'. The populations are 2001 census figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), using the Key Statistics for Urban Areas figures, that attempt to divorce the populations of towns and cities from the Local Authority district(s) that they are contained within^[1]. These have been sorted with populations greater than 100,000.
These figures are not the population of City Councils, for these see List of English districts by population. In some examples where the Local Authority has very limited boundaries, the population of some outside suburbs has been included; in other cases, where the Local Authority has very generously-drawn boundaries, the population of rural areas within the boundary has been excluded. In some cases, suburbs of towns that are within the local authority boundary, but have been recognised as part of the larger urban area, have been excluded from the figure (e.g. Beaumont Leys not counted towards Leicester, and Clifton not counted towards Nottingham). In many areas rather than follow modern local authority boundaries, the figures follow pre-1974 local government boundaries^[2] (for example, Oldbury/Smethwick are counted as a single unit, corresponding to the pre-1974 County Borough of Warley).
These figures, on the other hand, should also not be confused with the population of conurbations. The original ONS statistics were calculated and presented in that format; but in this list urban areas and urban sub-divisions recognised as towns with a population greater than 100,000 have been extracted and listed separately. Thus, for instance, the Greater Manchester conurbation has a far larger population than that accredited to Manchester here; this list counts towns such as Salford, Sale and Stockport separately.
This system has not, however, been followed with respect to London. The population given is for the administrative area of Greater London (that is the 32 London Boroughs and London only and ''not'' the entire Greater London Urban Area identified by the ONS) as this would include places like Watford and Woking which are distinct and separate towns.
This internal inconsistency in its tabulation explains why the list shows such a steep drop-off after London. The actual City of London only has a 2001 census population of 7,185, whilst the administrative area of Greater London has a population of 7,172,091.
Also, Telford and Milton Keynes are given the Urban Area figures, as there are no appropriate Urban Subdivision figures given.

'Rank'	'Urban sub-area'	'Population'	'Status'	'Ceremonial county'	'Notes'
1	London	7,172,091	City	Greater London, City of London	Greater London administrative area only
2	Birmingham	970,892	City	West Midlands	Metropolitan district, minus Sutton Coldfield, which is counted separately, plus areas in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull (Castle Bromwich etc). Population of entire West Midlands conurbation is 2,284,093 (2005 estimate)
3	Liverpool	469,017	City	Merseyside	Metropolitan district, plus some areas outside
4	Leeds	443,247	City	West Yorkshire
5	Sheffield	439,866	City	South Yorkshire	Excludes the suburbs of Beighton, Chapeltown and Mosborough/Highlane. Entire Urban area is 640,720 (including Rotherham)
6	Bristol	420,556	City	Bristol
7	Manchester	394,269	City	Greater Manchester	Population of entire Greater Manchester Urban Area is 2,244,931 (2005 estimate)
8	Leicester	330,574	City	Leicestershire	District minus Beaumont Leys, plus Scraptoft, Glenfield, Thurmaston, Thurnby. Excludes Oadby and Wigston
9	Coventry	303,475	City	West Midlands
10	Kingston upon Hull	301,416	City	East Riding of Yorkshire	District plus suburbs outside city border (Haltemprice)
11	Bradford	293,717	City	West Yorkshire
12	Stoke-on-Trent	259,252	City	Staffordshire	Includes suburbs outside city border: Brown Edge and Blythe Bridge
13	Wolverhampton	251,462	City	West Midlands
14	Nottingham	249,584	City	Nottinghamshire	Excludes Clifton
15	Plymouth	243,795	City	Devon
16	Southampton	234,224	City	Hampshire
17	Reading	232,662	Town	Berkshire	Includes suburbs in West Berkshire and Wokingham districts
18	Derby	229,407	City	Derbyshire
19	Dudley	194,919	Town	West Midlands
20	Newcastle upon Tyne	189,863	City	Tyne and Wear	Excludes Gosforth and Newburn
21	Northampton	189,474	Town	Northamptonshire
22	Portsmouth	187,056	City	Hampshire
23	Luton	185,543	Town	Bedfordshire
24	Preston	184,836	City	Lancashire	Includes part of South Ribble district including Walton-le-Dale
25	Milton Keynes	184,506 †	Town ★	Buckinghamshire	Includes Newport Pagnell, outside the designated new town area
26	Sunderland	177,739	City	Tyne and Wear	Excludes Washington, Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole
27	Norwich	174,047	City	Norfolk	Includes Thorpe St. Andrew
28	Walsall	170,994	Town	West Midlands
29	Bournemouth	167,527	Town	Dorset
30	Southend-on-Sea	160,257	Town	Essex
31	Swindon	155,432	Town	Wiltshire
32	Huddersfield	146,234	Town	West Yorkshire
33	Poole	144,800	Town	Dorset
34	Oxford	143,016	City	Oxfordshire
35	Middlesbrough	142,691	Town	North Yorkshire
36	Blackpool	142,283	Town	Lancashire
37	Bolton	139,403	Town	Greater Manchester
38	Ipswich	138,718	Town	Suffolk
39	Telford	138,241 †	Town	Shropshire
40	York	137,505	City	North Yorkshire
41	West Bromwich	136,940	Town	West Midlands
42	Peterborough	136,292	City	Cambridgeshire
43	Stockport	136,082	Town	Greater Manchester
44	Brighton	134,293	Town	East Sussex	Excludes Rottingdean/Saltdean; Is the town of Brighton, not the conjoined local authority of Brighton and Hove
45	Slough	126,276	Town	Berkshire
46	Gloucester	123,205	City	Gloucestershire
47	Watford	120,960	Town	Hertfordshire	Urban sub-area of Greater London; includes large parts of Three Rivers
48	Rotherham	117,262	Town	South Yorkshire
49	Cambridge	113,442 ††	City	Cambridgeshire
50	Exeter	106,772	City	Devon
51	Eastbourne	106,562	Town	East Sussex
52	Sutton Coldfield	105,452	Town	West Midlands
53	Blackburn	105,085	Town	Lancashire
54	Colchester	104,390	Town	Essex
55	Oldham	103,544	Town	Greater Manchester
56	St Helens	102,629	Town	Merseyside
57	Crawley	100,547	Town	West Sussex

; 'Notes' :† – population is given for entire urban area, as "urban subdivision" figures were not considered useful.
:†† – the actual name of the Urban Subdivision is Cambridge/Milton, the population of the Parish of Milton (code 12UG072 in the ONS 2001 Census publication "Key Statistics for parishes in England and communities in Wales" published 16 March 2004) is given as 4,275. This figure has been deducted from the Urban Subdivision figure of 117,717 to show the population of Cambridge alone.
:
★ – Has town status but often regarded as a city

Contents

See also

References

See also

★ List of English districts by population

★ List of English counties by population

★ List of Ceremonial counties of England by Population

★ List of English districts by area

★ List of English districts by ethnic diversity

★ List of conurbations in the United Kingdom

★ List of United Kingdom cities by population

References

1. Office for National Statistics
2. ONS glossary : urban area