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List of smallest cities in the United Kingdom

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Map of St Davids in Pembrokeshire, Wales, demonstrating the size of the settlement (grey), compared to its wider community boundary. Also indicated are isolated hamlets within the city.
  City boundaries
  Built-up area

The table displays the 31 smallest official cities in the United Kingdom across three measures. Most of these appear in all three of the following categories:

  • Area (body):1 This default sort ranks the physically smallest 23 local government areas (parish/community, district, county) and if missing, a built-up locality that has city status
  • Area (locale):2 24 cities with the smallest same-name built-up area (many cities have much countryside and multiple settlements within their boundaries)
  • Census population:3 24 cities around 100,000 residents and fewer since the 2001 census

For the list of all 76 cities, and with additional information, see List of cities in the United Kingdom.

Lichfield, Hereford and Salisbury, in addition to being some of the smallest cities in England, are among the most populous civil parishes.

The least populous cities on all of British territory are Jamestown in St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (pop. 629) and Hamilton in Bermuda (pop. 854).

City Area (body/locale)1 Body1 Area (locale)2 Locale/
body % 		Census population3 Home nation County/​council area ​(Scotland/Wales)
Rank sq mi (km2) Rank sq mi (km2) Rank
(2011) 		2021 2011 2001
City of London 1 1.12 (2.90) County 3 — — 2 8,583 7,375 7,185[1] England City of London
Wells 2 2.11 (5.46) Parish 4 1.35 (3.50) 63.99% 3 11,145 10,536 10,406[2] England Somerset
St Asaph 3 2.49 (6.45) Community 2 0.50 (1.29) 20.19% — 3,485 3,355* 3,491* Wales Denbighshire
Bangor 4 2.79 (7.23) Community 5 1.65 (4.27) 59.20% 5 15,060 16,358[3] 13,725[4] Wales Gwynedd
Ripon 5 3.83 (9.92) Parish 7 1.97 (5.10) 51.36% 6 16,590 16,702[5] 15,922[6] England North Yorkshire
Armagh 6 — None 11 3.97 (10.28) — 4 TBC 14,749 14,590 Northern Ireland County Armagh
Chichester 7 4.12 (10.67) Parish 9 3.32 (8.60) 80.77% 9 29,407 26,795 23,731[7] England West Sussex
Truro 8 4.15 (10.75) Parish 8 2.83 (7.33) 68.25% 7 21,046 18,766 17,431[8] England Cornwall
Lichfield 9 5.41 (14.01) Parish 10 3.35 (8.68) 61.84% 11 32,580 32,219 27,900[9] England Staffordshire
Newry 10 — None 16 5.43 (14.06) — 10 TBC 26,967 27,433* Northern Ireland County Armagh/Down
Perth 11 — None 19 6.71 (17.38) — — TBC 46,970*[10] 43,450* Scotland Perth & Kinross
Salisbury 12 7.14 (18.49) Parish 12 4.36 (11.29) 61.04% 12 41,552 40,302 39,726​[11][12] England Wiltshire
Lisburn 13 — None 20 7.53 (19.50) — 13 TBC 45,370[13] 71,465* Northern Ireland County Antrim​/Down
Bangor 14 — None 21 7.55 (19.55) — — TBC* 61,011* 58,388* Northern Ireland County

Down

Hereford 15 7.85 (20.33) Parish 17 6.58 (17.04) 83.82% 15 53,113 58,896[14] 50,154[15] England Herefordshire
Stirling 16 — None 23 7.91 (20.49) — 14 TBC 45,750 45,115* Scotland Stirling
City of Westminster 17 8.29 (21.47) District 24 — — — 204,236 219,396 181,286 England Greater London
Inverness 18 — None — 10.28 (26.63) — 16 TBC 61,235​[16][17] 71,000 Scotland Highland
City of Carlisle 19 10.38 (26.88)5 Trustee 22 7.76 (20.10) 74.75% 23 74,428 107,524 100,739 England Cumbria
Dunfermline 20 — None — 10.85 (28.10) — — TBC* 68,426*[18] 39,320*[19] Scotland Fife
Worcester 21 12.85 (33.28) District — 9.52 (24.66) 74.12% 22 103,872 98,768 93,353[20] England Worcestershire
Derry 22 — None — 13.10 (33.93) — 18 TBC 85,016 83,652 Northern Ireland County​ Londonderry
Lincoln 23 13.78 (35.69) District — 12.61 (32.66) 91.48% 20 103,813 93,541 85,595[21] England Lincolnshire
St Davids — 17.88 (46.31) Community 1 0.23 (0.596) 1.29% 1 1,751 1,841 1,797[22] Wales Pembrokeshire
Ely — 22.86 (59.21) Parish 6 1.84 (4.77) 8.04% 8 20,574 20,256 15,102[23] England Cambridgeshire
City of Bath — 28.68 (74.28)5 Trustee — 11.07 (28.67) — 19 97,066 88,859 83,992[24] England Somerset
City of Canterbury — 119.25 (308.86) District 15 5.09 (13.18) 4.27% — 157,432 151,145 135,278 England Kent
City of Durham — 186.68 (483.50)5 Trustee 14 4.96 (12.85) — 21 101,372 94,375 87,709[25] England County Durham
Wrexham — 194.51 (503.78) District 18 6.70 (17.35) 3.45% — 135,117* 134,884* 128,476* Wales Wrexham
City of Winchester — 255.20 (660.96) District 13 4.76 (12.33) 1.86% 24 127,444 116,595 107,222 England Hampshire
City of Chester — 448.04 (1,160.42)5 Trustee — 9.85 (25.51) — 17 TBC 79,645[26] 77,040[27] England Cheshire

See also

Notes

  • Dashes mean no rank is given or that no local body exists. Missing body or locale statistics use the amounts shown in the other.
  • Statistics in italics have been added for completion of the table. These are in numerical but non-ranking order. Additionally starred population counts indicate the place was not a city at the time of the census.
  • English cities prefixed 'City of...' are districts so named to distinguish them from a namesake settlement area which does not have city status, with the City of London having additional county status. All of these except London have several communities and suburbs within their boundaries, with most containing large swathes of countryside, extra settlements and sometimes parishes/communities.
  • TBC - awaiting forthcoming census figures.
  • ^1 The area (body) measurement is the size of a localised council area which is designated as a city, if there is one. See the Body column for their local government type. These council area boundaries are well-defined, and cities are typically awarded the honour via parish or principal governing public bodies, so it is used as the primary sizing definition. Many in the table are parishes (England) or communities (Wales), except for the City of London (county). Several districts that hold city status are shown as the areas become larger; these are named after their only settlement or largest town in the case of multiple settlements. Cities can also be boroughs, which are simply a honorific title for districts. In Scotland and Northern Ireland (see note2), wider council areas can hold the title on behalf of a city urban area much like a charter trust (see note5), and in Northern Ireland particularly, these mainly have multiple place names in their titles, so the area (body) does not apply in these cases. The column also substitutes the locale size (see note2) when there is no local body, as a second definition to rank the physical size of the cities. Some local legal entity types such as communities in Scotland or townlands in Northern Ireland do not at present hold city status.
  • ^2 The area (locale) reflects the built up area that most closely corresponds to the urban area of the named city settlement, which means for many small cities that portions of their administrative area is rural land. It is listed for comparison with the public body measurement. It is used in the statistics instead of the body size where there is no local government entity, e.g. unparished area with city charter trustees (see note5), or cities designated by their urban area (Scotland, Northern Ireland). This is a secondary method of determining physical size; relatively fewer cities are explicitly defined in this way, and their urban area can extend beyond the city boundary. London and Westminster are completely surrounded by a much larger built-up area (Greater London) and so any parkland within these is considered part of their urban landscape. Thus Wells is the smallest standalone city, as it is wholly surrounded by countryside.
  • ^3 Population is for the council body area that has the city status. For cities without an existing public entity such as those in an unparished area, the population is instead compiled from an agglomeration of electoral wards which cover its urban area (see note2) or former district area (see note5). Rank column is for 2011 population only.
  • ^4 Sources:
    England and Wales area figures are taken from the ONS Geography Linked Data, DEFRA, AND NOMIS sites.
    Scotland cities post-2000 area and population figures are taken from the Scotland Census site and settlement size used as local government areas there are not required to hold the city designation for their full area[28]
    Northern Ireland (NI) area and population figures taken from the NISRA site. Cities there formed their own districts until local authority reform in 2015. These settlements now form part of larger council areas, but kept their city statuses through continuing legislation.
  • ^5 Cities with charter trustees covering prior local government areas (England):
Bath: the city area considered is the area of the former borough, in existence until 1996.
Carlisle: this was reformed in April 2023, from a district measuring 401.28 sq mi (1,039.31 km2) to a smaller, mainly unparished area covering several district wards.
Chester: the area shown is the prior City of Chester district active until 2009. Population of wards in 2001 was 118,210; those were not directly mappable in 2011, so local population figures given in table.
Durham: this was parished in 2018, but city charter trustees continue to exist, and so hold the charter on behalf of the city area covered by the much wider Durham city district council until 2009. The 2011 population is that of wards covering the same area. The title is not held by the parish council.[29][30][31] Size of the parish is 5.56 sq mi (14.40 km2) and its population 20,115 (2011).[32][33]

References

  1. ^ Census 2001 : City of London
  2. ^ Census 2001 : Mendip
  3. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Bangor Parish (1170221346)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  4. ^ Census 2001 : Gwynedd Archived 2010-09-22 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Ripon Parish (1170217073)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  6. ^ Census 2001 : Harrogate
  7. ^ Census 2001 : Chichester
  8. ^ Census 2001 : Carrick
  9. ^ Census 2001 : Lichfield
  10. ^ "Perth & Kinross Council - Census 2011 (3 Perth wards)". www.pkc.gov.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  11. ^ Census 2001 : Salisbury (Former Local Authority)
  12. ^ Census 2001 : Salisbury
  13. ^ "Key Statistics" (PDF). www.niassembly.gov.uk.
  14. ^ "2011 CENSUS KEY STATISTICS - Hereford City" (PDF). factsandfigures.herefordshire.gov.uk/about-your-area/2011-census-market-town-profiles.aspx.
  15. ^ Census 2001 : Herefordshire
  16. ^ Butlin, Heather. "Highland profile - key facts and figures". www.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  17. ^ Council, The Highland. "The Highland Council download - Briefing notes | Planning and building standards | Planning - policies, advice and service levels". www.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 2017-04-02.
  18. ^ "2011 census table data: Settlement 2010". Scotland's Census.
  19. ^ Team, National Records of Scotland Web (31 May 2013). "National Records of Scotland - 2001 population of urban areas". National Records of Scotland.
  20. ^ Census 2001 : Worcester
  21. ^ Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Key Statistics : City of Lincoln Retrieved 2009-11-22
  22. ^ Census 2001 : Pembrokeshire
  23. ^ Census 2001 : East Cambridgeshire
  24. ^ Bathnes.gov.uk Archived 2007-12-20 at the Wayback Machine, Bath and North East Somerset District Council: Population Statistics
  25. ^ Census 2001 : Durham
  26. ^ "Locality Chester People and Population Profile Census 2011". inside.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk.
  27. ^ "Demographics" (PDF). Cheshire County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 26, 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
  28. ^ "Department for Culture Media and Sport - civic honours competitions". old.culture.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2017-05-02. Applications can only be made in respect of the whole of the local authority area, except in Scotland, where the award of city status operates differently because of differences in the legislation underpinning local government.
  29. ^ "What you need to know about a new parish council for Durham city centre". The Northern Echo.
  30. ^ "Review of Community Governance in the Unparished Area of Durham City carried out by Durham County Council Final Recommendations (No Parishing Arrangements)" (PDF). www.durham.gov.uk.
  31. ^ "Review of Community Governance in the Central Unparished areas of Durham by Durham County Council" (PDF). www.durham.gov.uk.
  32. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Elvet Ward (as of 2011) (1237326530)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
  33. ^ UK Census (2011). "Local Area Report – Neville's Cross Ward (as of 2011) (1237326541)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2018-10-21.
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