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Location and extent of the 55 metropolitan areas in Mexico as of 2004. Shading is related to the areas population, where a darker tone indicates a larger population.

The following is a list of all metropolitan areas in Mexico as defined in 2004 by a joint task force of the National Population Council (CONAPO), the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) and the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing (INEGI).[1]

The task force identified a total of 55 metropolitan areas in the country. The state with most metropolitan areas is Veracruz with nine (eight being entirely in its territory and one shared with the neighbouring state of Tamaulipas). Three states do not have any: Baja California Sur, Campeche and Sinaloa. The only entity whose area is entirely within a metropolitan area is the Federal District.

Background

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The first attempt to clasify metropolitan areas in Mexico in a systematic way was done by Luis Unikel in 1976, where he followed a definition set by an expert panel appointed the United Nations in 1966.[2]

Definition and criteria for delimitation

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Extent of the urban spread in the Federal District. Note that the southern part is mostly undeveloped, however the District's entire area is included by the definition of metropolitan area. A similar situation occurs in many other metro areas, especially in the north of the country.

In the 2004 definition of metropolitan areas, municipalities were classified as being either core or external per their relationship with the main city.

Core municipalities

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Core municipalities contain the main city and are considered to be the source of the metropolitan area. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy one of the following criteria:

  • Municipalities which are physically joined by a continuous urban spread with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants.
  • Municipalities with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants which also have a high degree of physical and functional integration with neighbouring municipalities of predominantly urban character. These are said to be in conurbation.
  • Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 1 million inhabitants.
  • Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 250,000 inhabitants and share conurbation processes with a city across the border with the United States.

External muncipalities

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External municipalities are not in conurbation with the main city, but instead are functionally related to it. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy all the following geographical and statistical criteria:

  • The main settlement of the municipality (usually where municipal president is located) must not be more than 10 km away from the main city and linked to it by a paved, two-line highway.
  • At least 15% of the working age population must be employed in the core municipalities. Alternatively, 10% of the employed population in the external municipality must live in core municipalities.
  • At least 75% of the employed population must work in activities other than agriculture.
  • Must have a mean population density of 20 inhabitants per hectare.

In addition some cases were identified where legislation (either local or federal) considered a municipality part of a metropolitan area for the purposes of urban planning and policy. These were also included in the external muncipality count as part of the study.

Metropolitan area State(s) Core municipalities External municipalities Total
1 Aguascalientes Aguascalientes 1 1 2
2 Tijuana Baja California 2 - 2
3 Chihuahua Chihuahua 1 2 3
4 Ciudad Juárez Chihuahua 1 - 1
5 MonclovaFrontera Coahuila 2 1 3
6 Piedras Negras Coahuila 2 - 2
7 Saltillo Coahuila 2 1 3
8 La Laguna Coahuila, Durango 3 1 4
9 ColimaVilla de Álvarez Colima 2 - 2
10 Tecomán Colima 2 - 2
11 Tuxtla Gutiérrez Chiapas 2 - 2
12 Valle de México Federal District, Hidalgo, Mexico 51 24 75 [3]
13 León Guanajuato 1 1 2
14 MoroleónUriangato Guanajuato 2 - 2
15 San Francisco del Rincón Guanajuato 2 - 2
16 Acapulco Guerrero 2 - 2
17 Pachuca Hidalgo 2 5 7
18 Tula Hidalgo 1 4 5
19 Tulancingo Hidalgo 3 - 3
20 Guadalajara Jalisco 6 2 8
21 Ocotlán Jalisco 2 - 2
22 Puerto Vallarta Jalisco, Nayarit 2 - 2
23 Toluca Mexico 7 5 12
24 Morelia Michoacán 1 1 2
25 ZamoraJacona Michoacán 2 - 2
26 La Piedad Michoacán, Guanajuato 2 - 2
27 Cuautla Morelos 3 2 5 [4]
28 Cuernavaca Morelos 6 - 6
29 Tepic Nayarit 2 - 2
30 Monterrey Nuevo León 11 - 11
31 Oaxaca Oaxaca 18 - 18
32 Puebla–Tlaxcala Puebla, Tlaxcala 23 - 23
33 San Martín Texmelucan Puebla 2 - 2
34 Querétaro Querétaro 3 - 3
35 Cancún Quintana Roo 1 1 2
36 RioverdeCiudad Fernández San Luis Potosí 2 - 2
37 San Luis PotosíSoledad de G.S. San Luis Potosí 2 - 2
38 Guaymas Sonora 1 1 2
39 Villahermosa Tabasco 2 - 2
40 Matamoros Tamaulipas 1 - 1
41 Nuevo Laredo Tamaulipas 1 - 1
42 ReynosaRío Bravo Tamaulipas 1 1 2
43 Tampico Tamaulipas, Veracruz 5 - 5
44 Apizaco Tlaxcala 8 - 8
45 Tlaxcala Tlaxcala 11 - 11
46 Acayucan Veracruz 2 1 3
47 Coatzacoalcos Veracruz 2 1 3
48 Minatitlán Veracruz 4 2 6 [5]
49 Córdoba Veracruz 3 1 4
50 Xalapa Veracruz 4 2 6
51 Orizaba Veracruz 9 2 11
52 Poza Rica Veracruz 4 - 4
53 Veracruz Veracruz 2 1 3
54 Mérida Yucatán 3 2 5
55 ZacatecasGuadalupe Zacatecas 2 - 2

List by population

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The following table shows the 55 metropolitan areas ordered by decreasing population. At the time of the study it was found that nine areas had a population of 1 million inhabitants or more; 14 had a population between 500,000 and 999,999 and 32 had a population between 100,000 and 499,999. In total, all metropolitan areas concentrated 51,502,972 inhabitants or 52.8% of the country's population in the year 2000. Figures in the table below use the data from the XII General Population and Housing Census (2000).

Also listed is the extension of each metropolitan area. In total they occupy 142,337 km², that is, 7.2% of the country's area (1,972,550 km²).

Fix this text ->It is important to realize that some municipalities, especially in the north, tend to be occupy a large extension of land but have a low population count, however this land may not be covered in its entirety by a city or another form of urban development. This may lead to the counter-intuitive result of some large metropolitan areas having a comparatively low population. To help to understand this fact the population density of each area is provided and the five largest and the five densest areas are highlighted in the table below.

Rank Metropolitan area Population Area (km²) Density (inhab/km²)
1 Valley of Mexico 18 396 677 7 815 2 354
2 Guadalajara 3 699 136 2 734 1 353
3 Monterrey 3 299 302 5 560 593
4 Puebla–Tlaxcala 1 885 321 1 338 1 409
5 Toluca 1 451 801 1 991 729
6 Tijuana 1 274 240 1 621 786
7 León 1 269 179 1 767 718
8 Ciudad Juárez 1 218 817 3 569 341
9 La Laguna 1 007 291 5 022 200
10 San Luis PotosíSoledad de G.S. 850 828 1 742 488
11 Mérida 803 920 1 547 519
12 Acapulco 791 558 3 544 223
13 Querétaro 787 341 1 650 477
14 Tampico 746 417 5 293 141
15 Cuernavaca 738 326 772 956
16 Aguascalientes 707 516 1 685 419
17 Chihuahua 696 495 18 091 38
18 Morelia 659 940 1 456 453
19 Veracruz 642 680 1 120 573
20 Saltillo 637 273 13 995 45
21 Villahermosa 600 580 2 235 268
22 ReynosaRío Bravo 524 692 4 713 111
23 Xalapa 510 410 444 1 149
24 Tuxtla Gutiérrez 494 763 1 174 421
25 Oaxaca 460 350 474 971
26 Poza Rica 443 419 2 544 174
27 Cancún 431 128 3 010 143
28 Matamoros 418 141 4 659 89
29 Pachuca 375 022 1 181 317
30 Orizaba 367 021 504 728
31 Cuautla 358 405 910 393
32 Tepic 342 840 2 160 158
33 Minatitlán 323 389 2 923 110
34 Nuevo Laredo 310 915 1 220 254
35 Coatzacoalcos 307 724 495 621
36 MonclovaFrontera 282 853 5 047 56
37 Córdoba 276 553 466 593
38 Tlaxcala 249 453 353 706
39 Puerto Vallarta 244 536 1 472 166
40 ZacatecasGuadalupe 232 965 1 263 184
41 La Piedad 229 372 1 846 124
42 ZamoraJacona 216 048 460 469
43 ColimaVilla de Álvarez 210 766 1 033 204
44 Tulancingo 193 638 679 285
45 Guaymas 180 316 8 571 21
46 Tula 169 901 586 290
47 Apizaco 158 948 370 429
48 Piedras Negras 151 149 1 379 109
49 San Francisco del Rincón 145 017 710 204
50 San Martín Texmelucan 143 720 195 737
51 RioverdeCiudad Fernández 128 935 3 596 35
52 Tecomán 127 863 1 201 106
53 Ocotlán 125 027 1 089 114
54 Acayucan 102 992 830 124
55 MoroleónUriangato 100 063 273 366

Notes and references

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  1. ^ Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática (2004). Delimitación de las zonas metropolitanas de México (PDF). Aguascalientes: INEGI. ISBN 970-13-3675-5. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ Unikel, Luis (1978). El desarrollo urbano de México. Mexico City: El Colegio de México. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ Count does not include the municipality of Tonatitla which was created off the municipality of Jaltenco entirely within the limits of the metropolitan area. The reason is the lack of census data for Tonatitla due to the municipality being created only in July 2003. Therefore the locality could not be assessed as being either an internal or external municipality.
  4. ^ The municipality of Yautepec is considered to be part of this metropolitan area due to the degree of integration of the towns of Oaxtepec and Cocoyoc to the city of Cuautla. However it is recognized that the town of La Joya is more closely related to the city of Cuernavaca.
  5. ^ The municipality of Cosoleacaque is considered to be part of this metropolitan area. However it was recognized that the town of Estero del Pantano is more closely related to the city of Coatzacoalcos. Additionally, the municipality of Jaltipán was deemed to belong to this metropolitan area, despite being related to a lower degree to the cities of Coatzacoalcos and Acayucan as well.

www.conapo.gob.mx/prensa/2005/102005.pdf www.cmq.edu.mx/docinvest/document/DI32145.pdf

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