List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population

For a list of the largest contiguous urban areas or conurbations in the UK, see List of conurbations in the United Kingdom.

This list is of the largest settlements in the United Kingdom in order of their population, according to the 2001 census data from the Office for National Statistics (for England and Wales),^[1] the General Register Office for Scotland,^[2] and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.^[3] It comprises the Key Statistics for Urban Areas figures (referred to as settlements in Scotland and Northern Ireland), that attempt to distinguish the populations of towns and cities from those of their Local Authority district(s).

These figures are not the populations of local government districts such as city council or borough council areas. The figures are based on the ONS definition of an urban area, which is an area of land of at least 20 ha with at least 1,500 residents. Separate areas of urban land are linked if less than 200 m apart. Major urban agglomerations are sub-divided to provide results about localities within them. Sub-divisions often follow the boundaries of local authorities existing before re-organisation in 1974, or the boundaries of current authorities within agglomerations.^[4] The figures in this list should not be confused with the population of conurbations. In this list, urban areas and urban sub-divisions recognised as towns with a population greater than 50,000 have been extracted and listed separately. Thus, for instance, the Greater Manchester Urban Area has a far larger population than that accredited to Manchester here; this list counts towns such as 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 City of London only and not the entire Greater London Urban Area identified by the ONS) as this would include places like Watford and Woking.

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 (2001 Census)	Constituent Country	Ceremonial county	Notes
1	London	7,172,091	England	Greater London	Greater London administrative area only. The wider Greater London Urban Area has an estimated population of 8,505,000^[5] (2005 estimate), and a metropolitan area of between 12 and 14 million.^[6]^[7] .^[8] It is the United Kingdom's only mega city.^[9]
2	Birmingham	970,892	England	West Midlands	Metropolitan district, minus Sutton Coldfield, which is counted as a separate settlement, plus areas in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull such as Castle Bromwich. Population of entire West Midlands conurbation is 2,284,093.
3	Glasgow	629,501	Scotland	Glasgow	Population of entire Greater Glasgow conurbation is 1,199,629 at the 2001 census^[10].
4	Liverpool	469,017	England	Merseyside	Metropolitan district. Population of entire Liverpool Urban Area conurbation is 1,365,900.
5	Leeds	443,247	England	West Yorkshire	City & Metropolitan district has a population of 810,200. Population of entire West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation (including in particular Bradford, Huddersfield and Wakefield) is 1,499,465.
6	Sheffield	439,866	England	South Yorkshire	Excludes the suburbs of Beighton, Chapeltown and Mosborough/Highlane. Population of entire urban area (including Rotherham) is 640,720.
7	Edinburgh	430,082	Scotland	Edinburgh	Excludes surrounding Lothians, often described as Edinburgh's unofficial urban area (Edinburgh & the Lothians).
8	Bristol	420,556	England	Bristol	Population of entire Greater Bristol conurbation is 587,400.^[11]
9	Manchester	394,269	England	Greater Manchester	Population of entire Greater Manchester Urban Area is 2,244,931 (2001 cenus).
10	Leicester	330,574	England	Leicestershire	Excludes the suburb of Beaumont Leys. Population of entire Leicester Urban Area conurbation is 441,213.
11	Coventry	303,475	England	West Midlands	Part of the Coventry/Bedworth Urban Area, which has a population of 328,063.
12	Kingston upon Hull	301,416	England	East Riding of Yorkshire	District plus contiguous suburbs outside local authority border to the west of the city (Haltemprice). The Hull and Humber City Region has a population of 887,500,
13	Bradford	293,717	England	West Yorkshire	Population of metropolitan district is 493,000. Part of West Yorkshire Urban Area.
14	Cardiff	292,150	Wales	South Glamorgan	Excludes the suburb of Radyr. Population of entire Cardiff Urban Area conurbation (including the surrounding towns of Dinas Powys, Penarth and Radyr) is 327,706.
15	Belfast	276,459	Northern Ireland	County Antrim County Down	Population of entire Greater Belfast urban area is 579,554.^[12]
16	Stoke-on-Trent	259,252	England	Staffordshire	Includes suburbs outside local authority border: Brown Edge and Blythe Bridge. Population of entire Potteries Urban Area is 362,403 (2001 census) putting them 10 (includes Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme whose suburbs run into the cities)
17	Wolverhampton	251,462	England	West Midlands	Includes suburbs outside local authority including Perton and Lower Penn. Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
18	Nottingham	249,584	England	Nottinghamshire	City boundaries are tightly drawn and exclude much of the Greater Nottingham area, such as Arnold and West Bridgford. Population of entire Nottingham Urban Area is 666,358.
19	Plymouth	243,795	England	Devon	Unitary authority area, excluding the surrounding suburbs over the Tamar.
20	Southampton	234,224	England	Hampshire	Population of entire Southampton Urban Area conurbation (including Eastleigh) is 304,400
21	Reading	232,662	England	Berkshire	Includes suburbs in West Berkshire and Wokingham districts.
22	Derby	229,407	England	Derbyshire	Population of Derby Urban Area 236,738 (includes Borrowash and Ockbrook).
23	Dudley	194,619	England	West Midlands	Part of the West Midlands conurbation. This figure is for the ONS Urban sub-area (including Brierley Hill and Sedgley), as the ONS does not report on just the traditional town.
24	Newcastle upon Tyne	189,863	England	Tyne and Wear	Population of entire Tyneside conurbation is 879,996.
25	Northampton	189,474	England	Northamptonshire	Population of Northampton Urban Area is 197,199 (includes Wootton and Hardingstone).
26	Portsmouth	187,056	England	Hampshire	Population of entire Portsmouth Urban Area conurbation (including Gosport, Waterlooville and Fareham) is 442,252.
27	Luton	185,543	England	Bedfordshire	Population of entire Luton/Dunstable Urban Area (including Houghton Regis) is 236,318.
28	Preston	184,836	England	Lancashire	Includes part of South Ribble district including Walton-le-Dale. Population of Preston Urban Area is 264,601 (includes Chorley, Euxton, Leyland and Wymott).
29	Aberdeen	184,788	Scotland	Aberdeen	One of the fastest growing cities in the UK. The population of the city and shire combined is 462,900.
30	Milton Keynes	184,506 †	England	Buckinghamshire	Includes Newport Pagnell, outside the designated new town area.
31	Sunderland	177,739	England	Tyne and Wear	Excludes Washington, Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole from the City of Sunderland, Population of which is 280,300. Population of Sunderland Urban Area is 182,974 (includes Whitburn).
32	Norwich	174,047	England	Norfolk	Includes Thorpe St. Andrew. Population of Norwich Urban Area is 194,839 (Includes Costessey, Cringleford and Taverham).
33	Walsall	170,994	England	West Midlands	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
34	Swansea	169,880	Wales	West Glamorgan	Population of entire Swansea Urban Area including Neath, Port Talbot, Pontardawe and Clydach is 270,506.
35	Bournemouth	167,527	England	Dorset	Population of entire South East Dorset conurbation (including Poole and Christchurch) is 383,713.
36	Southend-on-Sea	160,257	England	Essex	Population of entire Southend Urban Area conurbation (including Benfleet, Hockley, Rayleigh and Rochford) is 269,415.
37	Swindon	155,432	England	Wiltshire
38	Dundee	154,674	Scotland	Dundee	Scotland's 4th largest city. Population of Dundee and Tayside, 395,000.
39	Huddersfield	146,234	England	West Yorkshire	Part of West Yorkshire Urban Area.
40	Poole	144,800	England	Dorset	Part of South East Dorset conurbation.
41	Oxford	143,016	England	Oxfordshire
42	Middlesbrough	142,691	England	North Yorkshire	Population of entire Teesside urban area is 365,323.
43	Blackpool	142,283	England	Lancashire	Population of entire Blackpool Urban Area (including Fleetwood, Lytham St Annes, Poulton-le-Fylde and Thornton-Cleveleys) is 261,088.
44	Bolton	139,403	England	Greater Manchester	Excludes Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton and other surrounding towns/districts. Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area.
45	Ipswich	138,718	England	Suffolk	Population of Ipswich Urban Area is 141,658 (includes Martlesham Heath).
46	Telford	138,241 †	England	Shropshire
47	York	137,505	England	North Yorkshire
48	West Bromwich	136,940	England	West Midlands	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
49	Peterborough	136,292	England	Cambridgeshire
50	Stockport	136,082	England	Greater Manchester	Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area.
51	Brighton	134,293	England	East Sussex	Town of Brighton, excluding Rottingdean/Saltdean and Hove (hence does not represent the entire conjoined local authority of Brighton and Hove).
52	Slough	126,276	England	Berkshire	Population of Slough Urban Area is 141,848 (includes Colnbrook, Farnham Royal and Stoke Poges).
53	Gloucester	123,205	England	Gloucestershire	Population of Gloucester Urban Area is 136,203 (includes Innsworth and Churchdown).
54	Watford	120,960	England	Hertfordshire	Urban sub-area of Greater London Urban Area; includes large parts of Three Rivers.
55	Rotherham	117,262	England	South Yorkshire	Part of Sheffield Urban Area.
56	Newport	116,143	Wales	Monmouthshire	Excludes Risca is 139,298.
57	Cambridge	113,442 ††	England	Cambridgeshire
58	Exeter	106,772	England	Devon
59	Eastbourne	106,562	England	East Sussex
60	Sutton Coldfield	105,452	England	West Midlands	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
61	Blackburn	105,085	England	Lancashire	Population of Blackburn / Darwen Urban Area is 136,655.
62	Colchester	104,390	England	Essex
63	Oldham	103,544	England	Greater Manchester	Excludes Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton, Shaw and Crompton and other surrounding towns. Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area.
64	St Helens	102,629	England	Merseyside	Part of Liverpool Urban Area.
65	Woking	101,127	England	Surrey	Includes neighbouring village of Byfleet. Part of Greater London Urban Area.
66	Crawley	100,547	England	West Sussex	Population of Crawley Urban Area is 180,177 (This includes Redhill, Reigate, Horley and Salfords).
67	Chelmsford	99,962	England	Essex
68	Basildon	99,876	England	Essex
69	Cheltenham	98,875	England	Gloucestershire
70	Gillingham	98,403	England	Kent	Population of entire Medway towns Urban Area is 231,659
71	Worthing	96,964	England	West Sussex	Part of Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton Urban area.
72	Rochdale	95,796	England	Greater Manchester	Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area
73	Solihull	94,753	England	West Midlands	Part of West Midlands Conurbation
74	Worcester	94,100	England	Worcestershire
75	Derry	93,512	Northern Ireland	County Londonderry	Population figure is Derry Urban Area
76	Southport	91,404	England	Merseyside	Population of entire Southport urban area (includes Formby) is 115,882.
77	Basingstoke	90,171	England	Hampshire
78	Bath	90,144	England	Somerset
79	Maidstone	89,684	England	Kent
80	Harlow	88,296	England	Essex	Population includes the nearby village of Sawbridgeworth.
81	Grimsby	87,574	England	Lincolnshire	Population of entire Grimsby Urban Area including Cleethorpes is 138,842
82	Darlington	86,082	England	County Durham
83	Hartlepool	86,075	England	County Durham
84	Lincoln	85,963	England	Lincolnshire
85	Hastings	85,828	England	East Sussex	Population of entire Hastings Urban Area (includes Bexhill) is 126,386.
86	Birkenhead	83,729	England	Merseyside	Population of entire Birkenhead Urban Area is 319,675.
87	Halifax	83,570	England	West Yorkshire
88	Hemel Hempstead	83,118	England	Hertfordshire	Part of Greater London Urban Area
89	South Shields	82,854	England	Tyne and Wear	The population of South Tyneside is 152,875
90	Bedford	82,488	England	Bedfordshire
91	St Albans	82,429	England	Hertfordshire	Population of entire St Albans Urban Area is 114,720
92	Stevenage	81,482	England	Hertfordshire
93	Wigan	81,203	England	Greater Manchester	Population of entire Wigan Urban are is 166,840
94	Warrington	80,661	England	Cheshire	Total population of Warrington Urban Area according to 2001 census is 158,915
95	Chester	80,121	England	Cheshire
96	Stockton-on-Tees	80,060	England	North Yorkshire County Durham
97	Gateshead	78,403	England	Tyne and Wear	Part of Tyneside Urban Area.
98	Weston-super-Mare	78,044	England	Somerset
99	High Wycombe	77,178	England	Buckinghamshire
100	Wakefield	76,886	England	West Yorkshire
101	Redditch	74,803	England	Worcestershire
102	Newcastle-under-Lyme	74,427	England	Staffordshire	Part of The Potteries Urban Area
103	Paisley	74,170	Scotland	Renfrewshire	Part of Greater Glasgow Urban Area
104	East Kilbride	73,796	Scotland	North Lanarkshire
105	Chatham	73,468	England	Kent	Part of Medway towns Urban Area
106	Burnley	73,021	England	Lancashire
107	Salford	72,750	England	Greater Manchester	Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area.
108	Scunthorpe	72,514	England	Lincolnshire
109	Hove	72,335	England	East Sussex
110	Carlisle	71,773	England	Cumbria
111	Tamworth	71,650	England	Staffordshire
112	Barnsley	71,599	England	South Yorkshire
113	Harrogate	71,594	England	North Yorkshire
114	Lisburn	71,465	Northern Ireland	County Antrim County Down
115	Bracknell	70,795	England	Berkshire	Part of Reading/Wokingham Urban Area
116	Nuneaton	70,721	England	Warwickshire
117	Chesterfield	70,260	England	Derbyshire
118	Mansfield	69,987	England	Nottinghamshire	Part of Mansfield Urban Area, which had a total population of 158,114 in the 2001 census.
119	Guildford	69,400	England	Surrey
120	Gosport	69,348	England	Hampshire	Part of Portsmouth Urban Area
121	Aylesbury	69,021	England	Buckinghamshire
122	Lowestoft	68,340	England	Suffolk
123	Doncaster	67,977	England	South Yorkshire
124	Crewe	67,683	England	Cheshire
125	Shrewsbury	67,126	England	Shropshire
126	Ellesmere Port	66,265	England	Cheshire
127	Cannock	65,022	England	Staffordshire
128	Grays	64,173	England	Essex
129	Stafford	63,681	England	Staffordshire
130	Waterlooville	63,558	England	Hampshire	Part of Portsmouth Urban Area
131	Torquay	63,998	England	Devon
132	Kingswood	62,679	England	Gloucestershire
133	Bognor Regis	62,141	England	West Sussex
134	Newtownabbey	62,056	Northern Ireland	County Antrim
135	Rugby	61,988	England	Warwickshire
136	Royal Leamington Spa	61,595	England	Warwickshire
137	Bury	60,718	England	Greater Manchester	Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area
138	Royal Tunbridge Wells	60,095	England	Kent
139	Runcorn	60,072	England	Cheshire
140	Rhondda	59,602	Wales	Rhondda Cynon Taf
141	Bootle	59,123	England	Merseyside	Part of Liverpool Urban Area
142	Ashford	58,936	England	Kent
143	Maidenhead	58,848	England	Berkshire
144	Wallasey	58,710	England	Merseyside
145	Margate	58,465	England	Kent
146	Bangor	58,388	Northern Ireland	County Down
147	Taunton	58,241	England	Somerset
148	Aldershot	58,170	England	Hampshire	Population of entire Aldershot Urban Area is 243,344.
149	Great Yarmouth	58,032	England	Norfolk
150	Farnborough	57,147	England	Hampshire	Part of Aldershot Urban Area.
151	Bebington	57,066	England	Merseyside	Part of Birkenhead Urban Area.
152	Dartford	56,818	England	Kent	Part of Greater London Urban Area.
153	Hereford	56,373	England	Herefordshire
154	Fareham	56,160	England	Hampshire	Part of Portsmouth Urban Area. Includes the suburb of Portchester.
155	Littlehampton	55,716	England	West Sussex	Part of Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton Urban Area.
156	Widnes	55,686	England	Cheshire
157	Stourbridge	55,480	England	West Midlands
158	Kidderminster	55,348	England	Worcestershire
159	Cheshunt	55,275	England	Hertfordshire
160	Halesowen	55,273	England	West Midlands
161	Loughborough	55,258	England	Leicestershire
162	Sale	55,234	England	Greater Manchester
163	Dewsbury	54,341	England	West Yorkshire
164	Morley	54,051	England	West Yorkshire
165	Washington	53,388	England	Tyne and Wear	Part of Tyneside
166	Gravesend	53,388	England	Kent	Part of Greater London Urban Area
167	Eastleigh	52,894	England	Hampshire	Part of Southampton Urban Area
168	Crosby	51,789	England	Merseyside	Part of Liverpool Urban Area
169	Clacton-on-Sea	51,284	England	Essex
170	Kettering	51,063	England	Northamptonshire
171	Livingston	50,826	Scotland	West Lothian
172	Dunstable	50,775	England	Bedfordshire
173	Macclesfield	50,688	England	Cheshire
174	Barry	50,661	Wales	Vale of Glamorgan
175	Staines	50,538	England	Surrey	Part of Greater London Urban Area

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.