List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines

The Philippines has three metropolitan areas officially recognized by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) due to their prominence, population, size, and economy: Manila, Cebu, and Davao. The most populous is Metro Manila, which comprises the City of Manila, 15 neighboring cities, and a municipality. The largest by land area is Metro Davao in Mindanao.

Previously, NEDA recognized ten other metropolitan areas: Metro Angeles, Metro Bacolod, Metro Baguio, Metro Batangas, Metro Cagayan de Oro, Metro Dagupan, Metro Iloilo–Guimaras, Metro Naga, and Metro Olongapo. However, these ten were not included as official metropolises in the 2017–2022 Philippine Development Plan created by NEDA. By 2025, the population of Metro Cagayan de Oro is expected to reach a level that would allow it to be reclassified as a metropolitan area.

The official definition of each metropolitan area, as listed below, does not necessarily follow the actual extent of continuous urbanization. For example, the built-up area of Metro Manila has long spilled out of its borders into the adjacent provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal.

List

	Metro area	Population (2020)		Area		Density (2020)		Managing agency
				km2	sq mi	/km2	/sq mi
	Metro Cebu	3,165,799		1,053.19	406.64	3,000	7,800	Metro Cebu Development and Coordinating Board
	Carcar	4.3%	136,453	116.78	45.09	1,200	3,100
	Cebu City	30.5%	964,169	315.00	121.62	3,100	8,000
	Compostela	1.8%	55,874	53.90	20.81	1,000	2,600
	Consolacion	4.7%	148,012	37.03	14.30	4,000	10,000
	Cordova	2.2%	70,595	17.15	6.62	4,100	11,000
	Danao	4.9%	156,321	107.30	41.43	1,500	3,900
	Lapu-Lapu (Opon)	15.7%	497,604	58.10	22.43	8,600	22,000
	Liloan	4.8%	153,197	45.92	17.73	3,300	8,500
	Mandaue	11.5%	364,116	25.18	9.72	14,000	36,000
	Minglanilla	4.8%	151,002	65.60	25.33	2,300	6,000
	Naga	4.2%	133,184	101.97	39.37	1,300	3,400
	San Fernando	2.3%	72,224	69.39	26.79	1,000	2,600
	Talisay	8.3%	263,048	39.87	15.39	6,600	17,000
	Metro Davao	3,339,284		6,492.84	2,506.90	510	1,300	Metropolitan Davao Development Authority
	Carmen	2.5%	82,018	166.00	64.09	490	1,300
	Davao City	53.2%	1,776,949	2,443.61	943.48	730	1,900
	Digos	5.6%	188,376	287.10	110.85	660	1,700
	Hagonoy	1.7%	56,919	114.28	44.12	500	1,300
	Maco	2.5%	83,237	342.23	132.14	240	620
	Malalag	1.2%	40,158	186.12	71.86	220	570
	Malita	3.5%	118,197	883.37	341.07	130	340
	Mati	4.4%	147,547	588.63	227.27	250	650
	Padada	0.9%	29,878	83.00	32.05	360	930
	Panabo	6.3%	209,230	251.23	97.00	830	2,100
	Samal	3.5%	116,771	301.30	116.33	390	1,000
	Santa Cruz	3.0%	101,125	319.91	123.52	320	830
	Santa Maria	1.7%	57,526	175.00	67.57	330	850
	Sulop	1.1%	35,151	155.26	59.95	230	600
	Tagum	8.9%	296,202	195.80	75.60	1,500	3,900
	Metro Manila	13,484,462		633.11	244.45	21,000	54,000	Metropolitan Manila Development Authority
	Caloocan	12.3%	1,661,584	53.20	20.54	31,000	80,000
	Las Piñas	4.5%	606,293	32.02	12.36	19,000	49,000
	Makati	4.7%	629,616	27.36	10.56	23,000	60,000
	Malabon	2.8%	380,522	15.96	6.16	24,000	62,000
	Mandaluyong	3.2%	425,758	11.06	4.27	38,000	98,000
	Manila	13.7%	1,846,513	42.88	16.56	43,000	110,000
	Marikina	3.4%	456,059	22.64	8.74	20,000	52,000
	Muntinlupa	4.0%	543,445	41.67	16.09	13,000	34,000
	Navotas	1.8%	247,543	11.51	4.44	22,000	57,000
	Parañaque	5.1%	689,992	47.28	18.25	15,000	39,000
	Pasay	3.3%	440,656	18.64	7.20	24,000	62,000
	Pasig	6.0%	803,159	31.46	12.15	26,000	67,000
	Pateros	0.5%	65,227	1.76	0.68	37,000	96,000
	Quezon City	22.0%	2,960,048	165.33	63.83	18,000	47,000
	San Juan	0.9%	126,347	5.87	2.27	22,000	57,000
	Taguig	6.6%	886,722	45.18	17.44	20,000	52,000
	Valenzuela	5.3%	714,978	45.75	17.66	16,000	41,000

History

In 2020, 54% of the Philippine population lived in urban areas encompassing many cities. Growth in some cities has led to urban spillover in adjacent municipalities.

Metro Manila was created in 1975 with the establishment of the Metro Manila Commission. This commission, reorganized in 1986 as the Metro Manila Authority, was renamed in 1995 as the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA). While MMDA has no power over the local government units (LGUs) it covers, it has worked with the LGUs to solve issues that affect all of them such as traffic management.

The practice of creating an intercity board or agency to determine the limits of a metropolitan area has become common. A number of proposals have been created to create similar metropolitan arrangements in other areas of the country. In 1997, Cebu created the Metropolitan Cebu Development Council (MCDC), which was renamed the Metropolitan Cebu Development and Coordinating Board (MCDCB) in 2011. In 2022, Baguio and Davao created their own metropolitan boards. Other proposed metropolitan boards include ones for Bulacan and Bataan.

List of built-up urban areas

The following table lists urban areas in the Philippines, with a population of over 500,000, according to Demographia's "World Urban Areas" study as of 2023. Demographia defines an urban area as a continuously built up land mass of urban development that is within a labor and housing market, without regard for administrative boundaries.

Rank	Urban Area	Est. Population	Built-up Area (sq miles)	Built-up Area (sq km)	Pop. Density (per sq miles)	Pop. Density (per sq km)
1	Manila	24,156,000	738	1,911	32,732	12,638
2	Cebu City	2,482,000	79	205	31,418	12,130
3	Davao City	1,379,000	50	130	27,580	10,649
4	Cagayan de Oro	723,000	27	70	26,778	10,339
5	Angeles City	712,000	72	186	9,889	3,818
6	Bacolod	611,000	32	83	19,094	7,372
7	Iloilo City	542,000	35	91	15,486	5,979
8	Zamboanga City	539,000	21	54	25,667	9,910
9	General Santos	529,000	36	93	14,694	5,674

Gallery

• 
  Metro Manila
• 
  Metro Cebu
• 
  Metro Davao

See also

• List of cities in the Philippines
• List of metropolitan areas in Asia
• List of urban agglomerations in Asia