This list is of the largest settlements in the United Kingdom in order of their population, according to the 2001 census data from the Office for National Statistics (for England and Wales), the General Register Office for Scotland, and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. It comprises the Key Statistics for Urban Areas figures (referred to as settlements in Scotland and Northern Ireland), that attempt to distinguish the populations of towns and cities from those of their Local Authority district(s).

These figures are not the population of City Councils. In some examples where the Local Authority has very limited boundaries, the population of some outside suburbs has been included by the ONS; in other cases, where the Local Authority has very generously drawn boundaries, the population of rural areas within the boundary has been excluded. In some cases, suburbs of towns that are within the local authority boundary, but have been recognised by ONS as separate settlements within the larger urban area, have been excluded from the figure (e.g. Beaumont Leys not counted towards Leicester, and Clifton not counted towards Nottingham). In many areas rather than follow modern local authority boundaries, the figures follow pre-1974 local government boundaries (for example, Oldbury/Smethwick are counted as a single unit, corresponding to the pre-1974 County Borough of Warley).

These figures, on the other hand, should also not be confused with the population of conurbations. The original statistics were calculated and presented in that format; but in this list urban areas and urban sub-divisions recognised as towns with a population greater than 100,000 have been extracted and listed separately. Thus, for instance, the Greater Manchester Urban Area has a far larger population than that accredited to Manchester here; this list counts the City of Salford, and towns such as Sale and Stockport separately.

This system has not, however, been followed with respect to London. The population given is for the administrative area of Greater London (that is the 32 London Boroughs and City of London only and not the entire Greater London Urban Area identified by the ONS) as this would include places like Watford and Woking.

This internal inconsistency in its tabulation explains why the list shows such a steep drop-off after London. The actual City of London only has a 2001 census population of 7,185, whilst the administrative area of Greater London has a population of 7,172,091. Other popular definitions of London are Inner London and the London postal district.

Also, Telford and Milton Keynes are given the Urban Area figures, as there are no appropriate Urban Subdivision figures given.

Rank	Urban sub-area	Population (Census 2001)	Country	Notes	Image
1	London	7,172,091	England	Greater London administrative area only. The wider Greater London Urban Area has an estimated population of 8,505,000 (2005 estimate)
2	Birmingham	970,892	England	Metropolitan district, minus Sutton Coldfield, which is counted as a separate settlement, plus areas in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull such as Castle Bromwich. Population of entire West Midlands conurbation is 2,284,093.
3	Glasgow	629,501	Scotland	Population of entire Greater Glasgow conurbation is 1,168,270
4	Liverpool	469,017	England	Metropolitan district, population of Liverpool Urban Area conurbation is 816,216
5	Leeds	443,247	England	City & Metropolitan district has a population of 761,200, population of West Yorkshire Urban Area conurbation is 1,499,465
6	Sheffield	439,866	England	Excludes the suburbs of Beighton, Chapeltown and Mosborough/Highlane. Entire urban area is 640,720 (including Rotherham)
7	Edinburgh	430,082	Scotland	Excludes surrounding Lothians. Often described as Edinburgh's unofficial urban area (Edinburgh & the Lothians).
8	Bristol	420,556	England	Population of entire Greater Bristol conurbation is 551,066.
9	Manchester	394,269	England	Population of entire Greater Manchester Urban Area is 2,244,931 (2005 estimate)
10	Leicester	330,574	England	District minus Beaumont Leys, plus Scraptoft, Glenfield, Thurmaston, Thurnby. Excludes Oadby and Wigston
11	Coventry	303,475	England	Part of the Coventry/Bedworth Urban Area.
12	Kingston upon Hull	301,416	England	District plus suburbs outside local authority border (Haltemprice)
13	Bradford	293,717	England	Metropolitan district has a population of 493,000 Part of West Yorkshire Urban Area
14	Cardiff	292,150	Wales	Excludes the suburb of Radyr. Entire Cardiff Urban Area conurbation, including the surrounding towns of Dinas Powys, Penarth and Radyr, has a population of 327,706.
15	Belfast	276,459	Northern Ireland	Entire Urban area of Belfast and connected settlements has a population of 483,418. Second largest conurbation in Northern Ireland is the Derry Urban Area with a population of 90,736.
16	Stoke-on-Trent	259,252	England	Includes suburbs outside local authority border: Brown Edge and Blythe Bridge. The Potteries Urban Area had a population of 362,403, accrding to the 2001 census.
17	Wolverhampton	251,462	England	Includes suburbs outside local authority including Perton and Lower Penn. Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
18	Nottingham	249,584	England	Excludes Clifton. Nottingham Urban Area has a population of 666,358
19	Plymouth	243,795	England	Represents the unitary authority area of Plymouth, excluding the surrounding suburbs over the Tamar.
20	Southampton	234,224	England	Population of Southampton Urban Area conurbation (which includes Eastleigh) is 304,400
21	Reading	232,662	England	Includes suburbs in West Berkshire and Wokingham districts
22	Derby	229,407	England
23	Dudley	194,919	England	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
24	Newcastle upon Tyne	189,863	England	Excludes Gosforth and Newburn. Part of Tyneside conurbation, population 879,996
25	Northampton	189,474	England
26	Portsmouth	187,056	England	Population of entire Portsmouth Urban Area conurbation (which also includes Gosport, Waterlooville and Fareham is 442,252
27	Luton	185,543	England	Part of the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area including Houghton Regis which has a population of 236,318
28	Preston	184,836	England	Includes part of South Ribble district including Walton-le-Dale
29	Aberdeen	184,788	Scotland	Population of urban area (including Cove Bay and Dyce) is 197,328. Population of the City of Aberdeen is 212,125.
30	Milton Keynes	184,506 †	England	Includes Newport Pagnell, outside the designated new town area
31	Sunderland	177,739	England	Excludes Washington, Tyne and Wear, Houghton-le-Spring and Hetton-le-Hole from the City of Sunderland
32	Norwich	174,047	England	Includes Thorpe St. Andrew
33	Walsall	170,994	England	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
34	Swansea	169,880	Wales	Wider Swansea Urban Area including Neath, Port Talbot, Pontardawe and Clydach has a population of 270,506
35	Bournemouth	167,527	England	Population of entire South East Dorset conurbation (which includes Poole and Christchurch is 383,713
36	Southend-on-Sea	160,257	England	Population of entire Southend Urban Area conurbation, which also includes Benfleet, Hockley, Rayleigh and Rochford is 269,400
37	Swindon	155,432	England
38	Dundee	154,674	Scotland
39	Huddersfield	146,234	England	Part of West Yorkshire Urban Area
40	Poole	144,800	England	Part of South East Dorset conurbation
41	Oxford	143,016	England
42	Middlesbrough	142,691	England	Part of Teesside Urban Area which has a population of 396,244
43	Blackpool	142,283	England	The Blackpool Urban Area, which includes the towns of Fleetwood, Lytham St Annes, Poulton-le-Fylde and Thornton-Cleveleys, has a combined population of 261,088
44	Bolton	139,403	England	Excludes Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton and other surrounding towns/districts. Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area.
45	Ipswich	138,718	England
46	Telford	138,241 †	England	Including the population of Newport, Shropshire.
47	York	137,505	England
48	West Bromwich	136,940	England	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
49	Peterborough	136,292	England
50	Stockport	136,082	England	Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area
51	Brighton	134,293	England	Excludes Rottingdean/Saltdean; is the town of Brighton, not the conjoined local authority of Brighton and Hove
52	Slough	126,276	England
53	Gloucester	123,205	England
54	Watford	120,960	England	Urban sub-area of Greater London Urban Area; includes large parts of Three Rivers
55	Rotherham	117,262	England	Part of Sheffield Urban Area
56	Newport	116,143	Wales	Excludes Caerleon, Marshfield and Langstone; Newport Urban Area (including Langstone and Risca) has a population of 139,298.
57	Cambridge	113,442 ††	England
58	Exeter	106,772	England
59	Eastbourne	106,562	England
60	Sutton Coldfield	105,452	England	Part of the West Midlands conurbation.
61	Blackburn	105,085	England
62	Colchester	104,390	England
63	Oldham	103,544	England	Excludes Chadderton, Failsworth, Royton, Shaw and Crompton and other surrounding towns. Part of Greater Manchester Urban Area
64	St Helens	102,629	England	Part of Liverpool Urban Area
65	Crawley	100,547	England

Notes

† – population is given for entire urban area, as "urban subdivision" figures were not considered useful.

†† – the actual name of the Urban Subdivision is Cambridge/Milton, the population of the Parish of Milton (code 12UG072 in the ONS 2001 Census publication "Key Statistics for parishes in England and communities in Wales" published 16 March 2004) is given as 4,275. This figure has been deducted from the Urban Subdivision figure of 117,717 to show the population of Cambridge alone.

See also

• List of English districts by population
• List of Scottish council areas by population
• List of Welsh principal areas by population
• Local Councils in Northern Ireland by population
• List of conurbations in the United Kingdom
• Travel to Work Area
• List of towns and cities in Devon by population

References

1. ONS glossary : urban area
2. United Nations World Urbanization Prospects, 2005 estimate for London
3. The UK's major Urban Areas

• Office for National Statistics Key Statistics for Urban Areas Table KS01
• General Register Office for Scotland Key Statistics for Settlements and Localities Scotland Table KS01
• Northern Ireland Census 2001 Key Statistics for Settlements Table KS01