List of largest cities in Brazil

Population distribution in Brazil.

Brazil has a relatively high reported level of urbanization, with 81 out of every 100 Brazilians living in cities. The criteria used by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in determining whether households are urban or rural, however, is based on political divisions, not on the built environment.

A town is any seat of a district (the lowest political division); a city is the seat of a municipality. Nowadays, the country has more than 5,564 municipalities. About 81.3% of Brazilians live in an urban area.

State capitals are usually also the largest city in their respective state, exceptions being Vitória in Espírito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina; there are also non-capital metropolitan areas in São Paulo (Campinas, Santos, Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Vale do Aço), Bahia (Feira de Santana), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos Valley) and Santa Catarina (Joinville & Itajaí Valley). Most of the non-capital large cities in Brazil are in the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, Bahia and Paraná.

Some of the main Brazilian cities are planned cities; the most famous of these is the capital city, Brasília, which represents the Modernist school of architecture and urbanism.

Top 115 most populous cities and state capitals

This list here of the 115 most populous cities is based on the population of the município where the city is located, rather than its metropolitan area.

IBGE estimates of 2010

State capitals are in bold. Second Rank* is by capitals and non-capitals. Palmas is the only state capital not listed.

1 – São Paulo

2 – Rio de Janeiro

3 – Salvador

4 – Brasília

5 – Fortaleza

6 – Belo Horizonte

7 – Manaus

8 – Curitiba

9 – Recife

10 – Porto Alegre

11 – Belém

12 – Goiânia

13 – São Luís

14 – Maceió

15 – Natal

16 – Teresina

17 – Campo Grande

18 – João Pessoa

20 – Aracaju

Rank	Rank*	City	State	Population
1	1	São Paulo	São Paulo	11,244,369
2	2	Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	6,323,037
3	3	Salvador	Bahia	2,676,606
4	4	Brasília	Distrito Federal	2,562,963
5	5	Fortaleza	Ceará	2,447,409
6	6	Belo Horizonte	Minas Gerais	2,375,444
7	7	Manaus	Amazonas	1,802,525
8	8	Curitiba	Paraná	1,746,896
9	9	Recife	Pernambuco	1,536,934
10	10	Porto Alegre	Rio Grande do Sul	1,409,939
11	11	Belém	Pará	1,392,031
12	12	Goiânia	Goiás	1,301,892
13	1	Guarulhos	São Paulo	1,222,357
14	2	Campinas	São Paulo	1,080,999
15	3	São Gonçalo	Rio de Janeiro	1,016,128
16	13	São Luís	Maranhão	1,011,943
17	14	Maceió	Alagoas	1,002,675
18	4	Duque de Caxias	Rio de Janeiro	872,762
19	5	Nova Iguaçu	Rio de Janeiro	865,089
20	15	Natal	Rio Grande do Norte	806,203
21	16	Teresina	Piauí	802,537
22	17	Campo Grande	Mato Grosso do Sul	787,204
23	6	São Bernardo do Campo	São Paulo	765,204
24	7	Osasco	São Paulo	730,051
25	18	João Pessoa	Paraíba	702,235
26	8	Jaboatão dos Guararapes	Pernambuco	687,688
27	9	Santo André	São Paulo	683,336
28	10	Uberlândia	Minas Gerais	634,345
29	11	Contagem	Minas Gerais	625,393
30	12	São José dos Campos	São Paulo	615,871
31	13	Feira de Santana	Bahia	591,707
32	14	Sorocaba	São Paulo	586,311
33	15	Ribeirão Preto	São Paulo	563,107
34	19	Cuiabá	Mato Grosso	550,562
35	20	Aracaju	Sergipe	544,039
36	16	Juiz de Fora	Minas Gerais	526,706
37	17	Aparecida de Goiânia	Goiás	510,770
38	18	Londrina	Paraná	510,707
39	19	Ananindeua	Pará	505,512
40	20	Belford Roxo	Rio de Janeiro	501,544
41	21	Joinville	Santa Catarina	497,331
42	22	Niterói	Rio de Janeiro	479,384
43	23	São João de Meriti	Rio de Janeiro	469,827
44	24	Betim	Minas Gerais	441,748
45	25	Campos dos Goitacazes	Rio de Janeiro	434,008
46	26	Santos	São Paulo	433,502
47	27	Mauá	São Paulo	427,512
48	28	São José do Rio Preto	São Paulo	425,261
49	29	Vila Velha	Espírito Santo	413,548
50	30	Caxias do Sul	Rio Grande do Sul	410,166
51	21	Florianópolis	Santa Catarina	408,161
52	31	Serra	Espírito Santo	404,688
53	32	Diadema	São Paulo	401,217
54	33	Olinda	Pernambuco	397,268
55	34	Carapicuíba	São Paulo	392,701
56	35	Campina Grande	Paraíba	383,764
57	22	Porto Velho	Rondônia	382,829
58	36	Mogi das Cruzes	São Paulo	375,268
59	37	Piracicaba	São Paulo	368,843
60	23	Macapá	Amapá	366,484
61	38	Cariacica	Espírito Santo	365,859
62	39	Montes Claros	Minas Gerais	363,227
63	40	Bauru	São Paulo	359,429
64	41	Itaquaquecetuba	São Paulo	359,253
65	42	Jundiaí	São Paulo	349,929
66	43	Ribeirão das Neves	Minas Gerais	349,307
67	44	Pelotas	Rio Grande do Sul	345,181
68	45	Anápolis	Goiás	335,960
69	46	Maringá	Paraná	335,511
70	47	Caucaia	Ceará	334,364
71	48	Canoas	Rio Grande do Sul	332,056
72	49	Franca	São Paulo	330,938
73	50	São Vicente	São Paulo	330,795
74	51	Foz do Iguaçu	Paraná	325,137
75	24	Vitória	Espírito Santo	320,156
76	52	Paulista	Pernambuco	319,373
77	53	Vitória da Conquista	Bahia	318,901
78	54	Petrópolis	Rio de Janeiro	315,119
79	55	Ponta Grossa	Paraná	314,681
80	56	Guarujá	São Paulo	308,058
81	25	Rio Branco	Acre	305,954
82	57	Blumenau	Santa Catarina	299,416
83	58	Caruaru	Pernambuco	298,501
84	59	Uberaba	Minas Gerais	296,261
85	60	Cascavel	Paraná	296,254
86	61	Petrolina	Pernambuco	285,339
87	62	Suzano	São Paulo	284,356
88	63	Limeira	São Paulo	281,583
89	64	São José dos Pinhais	Paraná	279,297
90	65	Santarém	Pará	276,665
91	66	Taubaté	São Paulo	273,426
92	67	Barueri	São Paulo	270,173
93	68	Gravataí	Rio Grande do Sul	269,446
94	69	Santa Maria	Rio Grande do Sul	268,969
95	26	Boa Vista	Roraima	266,901
96	70	Governador Valadares	Minas Gerais	263,274
97	71	Volta Redonda	Rio de Janeiro	261,403
98	72	Viamão	Rio Grande do Sul	260,740
99	73	Novo Hamburgo	Rio Grande do Sul	257,746
100	74	Juazeiro do Norte	Ceará	249,829
101	75	Praia Grande	São Paulo	249,551
102	76	Embu	São Paulo	248,722
103	77	Colombo	Paraná	247,268
104	78	Ipatinga	Minas Gerais	244,508
105	79	Magé	Rio de Janeiro	244,334
106	80	Mossoró	Rio Grande do Norte	244,287
107	81	Juazeiro	Bahia	243,896
108	82	Sumaré	São Paulo	241,077
109	83	Várzea Grande	Mato Grosso	240,038
110	84	Imperatriz	Maranhão	236,691
111	85	Santa Luzia	Minas Gerais	231,607
112	86	Itaboraí	Rio de Janeiro	228,996
113	87	Camaçari	Bahia	227,955
114	88	Taboão da Serra	São Paulo	227,343
115	89	Marília	São Paulo	225,938

Brazil's population, as recorded by the 2008 National Household Survey, was approximately 190 million inhabitants (22.31 inhabitants per square kilometer), with a proportion of men and women of 0,95:1 and 83.75% of the population defined as urban. The population is heavily concentrated in the Southeast (79.8 million) and Northeast (53.5 million), while the two wider regions, the Midwest and North, which form 64.12% of Brazil, have a total of just 29.1 million inhabitants. Brazil's population increased significantly between 1940 and 1970, due to a decline in mortality, although the birth rate has also declined slightly in the past period. In the 1940s the rate of annual population growth was 2.4%, rising to 3.0% in 1950 and remaining at 2.9% in 1960, life expectancy rose from 44 to 54 years and 72, 6 years in 2007. The rate of population increase has been declining since 1960 of 3.04% per annum between 1950–1960 to 1.05% in 2008 and expected to drop to a negative value of −0.29% in 2050, thus completing demographic transition. The major metropolitan areas of Brazil are São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte – all in the Southeast – 19.5, 11.5 and 5.1 million inhabitants respectively. Almost all capitals are the largest cities in their states except Vitória, capital of Espirito Santo, and Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are also non-capital metropolitan areas in the states of São Paulo (Campinas, Santos and Paraíba Valley), Minas Gerais (Steel Valley), Rio Grande do Sul (Sinos River Valley), Santa Catarina (North/Northeast) and (Itajaí River Valley) and Ceara (Juazeiro do Norte - Cariri Metropolitan Region).

Largest metropolitan areas

Currently, as of 2009, IBGE officially recognizes 16 hi major RMs (Região Metropolitana; Metropolitan Region in English), where approximately 32% of the Brazilian population (55 million people out of 180 million) live. These RMs are responsible for approximately half of the Brazilian GDP and more than 70% of the Brazilian annual industrial production.

IBGE estimatives of 2007, 2008 and 2009

Metropolitan areas of state capitals are in bold.

Rank	Metropolitan Area	State	Population
1	São Paulo	São Paulo	19,889,559 3
2	Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	11,902,701 2
3	Belo Horizonte	Minas Gerais	5,397,438 2
4	Porto Alegre	Rio Grande do Sul	4,200,413 3
5	Recife	Pernambuco	4,150,004 2
6	Brasília	Distrito Federal	3,768,902 3
7	Fortaleza	Ceará	3,502,319 2
8	Salvador	Bahia	3,451,549 1
9	Curitiba	Paraná	3,172,357 1
10	Campinas	São Paulo	2,633,523 1
11	Manaus	Amazonas	2,178,405 2
12	Goiânia	Goiás	2,162,097 3
13	Belém	Pará	2,142,185 3
14	Natal	Rio Grande do Norte	1,998,123 1
15	Vitória	Espírito Santo	1,624,837 1
16	Baixada Santista	São Paulo	1,606,863 1
17	Sorocaba	São Paulo	1,488,410 4
18	São Luís	Maranhão	1,211,270 1
19	Maceió	Alagoas	1,160,393 3
20	João Pessoa	Paraíba	1,146,461 3
21	Teresina	Piauí	1,116,303 2
22	Florianópolis	Santa Catarina	1,012,831 4
23	Campo Grande	Mato Grosso do Sul	991,420 4
24	Cuiabá	Mato Grosso	815,392 2
25	Petrolina and Juazeiro	Pernambuco and Bahia	812,515 1
26	Aracaju	Sergipe	794,475 3
27	Londrina	Paraná	766,682 3
28	Campina Grande	Paraíba	687.545 3
29	Maringá	Paraná	570,094 2
30	Juazeiro do Norte	Ceará	554,945 2
31	Macapá	Amapá	510,704 2
32	Vale do Aço	Minas Gerais	449,340 2
33	Imperatriz	Maranhão	334,650 2

¹ Data of 2007.
² Data of 2008.
³ Data of 2009.
⁴ Data of 2010

See also

• List of cities in Brazil
• List of largest cities in Brazil by state
• Largest metropolitan areas in the Americas
• Largest cities in the Americas
• Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics