List of largest cities in Brazil

Population distribution in Brazil.

Brazil has a high level of urbanization: 82 out of every 100 Brazilians live in cities. The criteria used by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) in determining whether households are urban or rural, however, are based on political divisions, not on the built environment.

Nowadays, the country has more than 5,570 municipalities.^[1] About 87.86% of Brazilians live in urban areas.^[2]

The state capitals are also the largest cities in their respective states, exceptions being Florianópolis (which is the capital and the second largest city of Santa Catarina state after Joinville) and Vitória (which is the capital but only the fourth largest city of Espírito Santo state). 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), Santa Catarina (Joinville, Itajaí Valley), among others. Most of the non-capital large cities in Brazil are in the states of São Paulo (21), Rio de Janeiro (7), Minas Gerais (7), Pernambuco (5), Paraná (4), Rio Grande do Sul (3) and Espírito Santo (3).

Most populated cities in Brazil[edit]

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

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

IBGE estimates of 1 July 2014^[3]

State capitals are in bold. The first rank tells the list of largest cities in Brazil, the second rank is by state capitals and the third by non-capitals. Palmas is the only state capital not listed.

Rank	Rank	Rank	City	State	Population
1	1	—	São Paulo	São Paulo	11,895,893
2	2	—	Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	6,453,682
3	3	—	Salvador	Bahia	2,902,927
4	4	—	Brasília	Distrito Federal	2,852,372
5	5	—	Fortaleza	Ceará	2,571,896
6	6	—	Belo Horizonte	Minas Gerais	2,491,109
7	7	—	Manaus	Amazonas	2,020,301
8	8	—	Curitiba	Paraná	1,864,416
9	9	—	Recife	Pernambuco	1,608,488
10	10	—	Porto Alegre	Rio Grande do Sul	1,472,482
11	11	—	Belém	Pará	1,432,844
12	12	—	Goiânia	Goiás	1,412,364
13	—	1	Guarulhos	São Paulo	1,312,197
14	—	2	Campinas	São Paulo	1,154,617
15	13	—	São Luís	Maranhão	1,064,197
16	—	3	São Gonçalo	Rio de Janeiro	1,031,903
17	14	—	Maceió	Alagoas	1,005,319
18	—	4	Duque de Caxias	Rio de Janeiro	878,402
19	15	—	Natal	Rio Grande do Norte	862,044
20	16	—	Campo Grande	Mato Grosso do Sul	853,622
21	17	—	Teresina	Piauí	840,600
22	—	5	São Bernardo do Campo	São Paulo	811,489
23	—	6	Nova Iguaçu	Rio de Janeiro	806,177
24	18	—	João Pessoa	Paraíba	780,738
25	—	7	Santo André	São Paulo	707,613
26	—	8	Osasco	São Paulo	693,271
27	—	9	São José dos Campos	São Paulo	681,036
28	—	10	Jaboatão dos Guararapes	Pernambuco	680,943
29	—	11	Ribeirão Preto	São Paulo	658,059
30	—	12	Uberlândia	Minas Gerais	654,681
31	—	13	Contagem	Minas Gerais	643,476
32	—	14	Sorocaba	São Paulo	637,187
33	19	—	Aracaju	Sergipe	623,766
34	—	15	Feira de Santana	Bahia	612,000
35	20	—	Cuiabá	Mato Grosso	575,480
36	—	16	Joinville	Santa Catarina	554,601
37	—	17	Juiz de Fora	Minas Gerais	550,710
38	—	18	Londrina	Paraná	543,003
39	—	19	Aparecida de Goiânia	Goiás	511,323
40	—	20	Ananindeua	Pará	499,776
41	—	21	Niterói	Rio de Janeiro	495,470
42	21	—	Porto Velho	Rondônia	494,013
43	—	22	Campos dos Goytacazes	Rio de Janeiro	480,648
44	—	23	Belford Roxo	Rio de Janeiro	479,386
45	—	24	Serra	Espírito Santo	476,428
46	—	25	Caxias do Sul	Rio Grande do Sul	470,223
47	—	26	Vila Velha	Espírito Santo	465,690
48	22	—	Florianópolis	Santa Catarina	461,524
49	—	27	São João de Meriti	Rio de Janeiro	460,711
50	—	30	Mauá	São Paulo	448,776
51	23	—	Macapá	Amapá	446,757
52	—	28	São José do Rio Preto	São Paulo	438,354
53	—	29	Santos	São Paulo	433,565
54	—	31	Mogi das Cruzes	São Paulo	419,839
55	—	32	Betim	Minas Gerais	412,003
56	—	33	Diadema	São Paulo	409,613
57	—	34	Campina Grande	Paraíba	402,912
58	—	35	Jundiaí	São Paulo	397,965
59	—	36	Maringá	Paraná	391,698
60	—	37	Montes Claros	Minas Gerais	390,212
61	—	38	Carapicuíba	São Paulo	390,073
62	—	39	Olinda	Pernambuco	388,821
63	—	40	Piracicaba	São Paulo	388,412
64	—	41	Cariacica	Espírito Santo	378,915
65	—	42	Bauru	São Paulo	364,562
66	24	—	Rio Branco	Acre	363,928
67	—	43	Anápolis	Goiás	361,991
68	—	44	São Vicente	São Paulo	353,040
69	25	—	Vitória	Espírito Santo	352,104
70	—	45	Caucaia	Ceará	349,526
71	—	46	Itaquaquecetuba	São Paulo	348,739
72	—	47	Caruaru	Pernambuco	342,328
73	—	48	Pelotas	Rio Grande do Sul	342,053
74	—	49	Vitória da Conquista	Bahia	340,199
75	—	50	Canoas	Rio Grande do Sul	339,979
76	—	51	Franca	São Paulo	339,461
77	—	52	Ponta Grossa	Paraná	334,535
78	—	53	Blumenau	Santa Catarina	334,002
79	—	54	Petrolina	Pernambuco	326,017
80	—	55	Paulista	Pernambuco	319,769
81	—	56	Ribeirão das Neves	Minas Gerais	319,310
82	—	57	Uberaba	Minas Gerais	318,813
83	26	—	Boa Vista	Roraima	314,900
84	—	58	Cascavel	Paraná	309,259
85	—	59	Guarujá	São Paulo	308,989

Brazil's population, as recorded by the 2010 Census, was of 190,755,799 inhabitants^[4] (22.40 inhabitants per square kilometer), with 84.36% of the population defined as urban. The population is heavily concentrated in the Southeast (80,4 million) and Northeast (53.1 million).