List of smallest cities in the United Kingdom explained

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): 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): 24 cities with the smallest same-name built-up area (many cities have much countryside and multiple settlements within their boundaries)
• Census population: 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)		Body	Area (locale)		Locale/ body %	Census population				Country	County/council area (Scotland/Wales)
	Rank	sq mi (km^2)		Rank	sq mi (km^2)		Rank (2011)	2021	data-sort-type="number"	2011			data-sort-type="number"	2001
data-sort-value="London"	City of London	1	1.122NaN2	County	3	data-sort-value="1.12"	—	data-sort-value="1000"	—	2	8,583	7,375	7,185^[1]	England	City of London
Wells	2	2.112NaN2	Parish	4	1.352NaN2	63.99%	3	11,145	10,536	10,406^[2]	England	Somerset
St Asaph	3	2.492NaN2	Community	2	0.52NaN2	20.19%	data-sort-value="25"	—	3,485	data-sort-value="116808"	3,355*	data-sort-value="110000"	3,491*	Wales	Denbighshire
Bangor	4	2.792NaN2	Community	5	1.652NaN2	59.20%	5	15,060	16,358	13,725^[3]	Wales	Gwynedd
Ripon	5	3.832NaN2	Parish	7	1.972NaN2	51.36%	6	16,590	16,702	15,922^[4]	England	North Yorkshire
Armagh	6	data-sort-value="3.97"	—	None	11	3.972NaN2	data-sort-value="2000"	—	4	TBC	14,749	14,590	Northern Ireland	County Armagh
Chichester	7	4.122NaN2	Parish	9	3.322NaN2	80.77%	9	29,407	26,795	23,731^[5]	England	West Sussex
Truro	8	4.152NaN2	Parish	8	2.832NaN2	68.25%	7	21,046	18,766	17,431^[6]	England	Cornwall
Lichfield	9	5.412NaN2	Parish	10	3.352NaN2	61.84%	11	32,580	32,219	27,900^[7]	England	Staffordshire
Newry	10	data-sort-value="5.43"	—	None	16	5.432NaN2	data-sort-value="2001"	—	10	TBC	26,967	data-sort-value="115000"	27,433*	Northern Ireland	County Armagh/Down
Perth	11	data-sort-value="6.71"	—	None	19	6.712NaN2	data-sort-value="2004"	—	data-sort-value="26"	—	TBC	data-sort-value="117000"	46,970*^[8]	data-sort-value="120000"	43,450*	Scotland	Perth & Kinross
Salisbury	12	7.142NaN2	Parish	12	4.362NaN2	61.04%	12	41,552	40,302	39,726^[9] ^[10]	England	Wiltshire
Lisburn	13	data-sort-value="7.53"	—	None	20	7.532NaN2	data-sort-value="2005"	—	13	TBC	45,370^[11]	data-sort-value="125000"	71,465*	Northern Ireland	County Antrim/Down
Bangor	14	data-sort-value="7.55"	—	None	21	7.552NaN2	data-sort-value="2005.5"	—	data-sort-value="27"	—	TBC*	data-sort-value="120000"	61,011*	data-sort-value="123000"	58,388*	Northern Ireland	County Down
Hereford	15	7.852NaN2	Parish	17	6.582NaN2	83.82%	15	53,113	58,896^[12]	50,154^[13]	England	Herefordshire
Stirling	16	data-sort-value="7.91"	—	None	23	7.912NaN2	data-sort-value="2006"	—	14	TBC	45,750	data-sort-value="122000"	45,115*	Scotland	Stirling
data-sort-value="Westminster"	City of Westminster	17	8.292NaN2	District	data-sort-value="24"	24	data-sort-value="8.29"	—	data-sort-value="2006.5"	—	data-sort-value="43"	—	204,236	219,396	data-sort-value="181286"	181,286	England	Greater London
Inverness	18	data-sort-value="10.28"	—	None	data-sort-value="27"	—	10.282NaN2	data-sort-value="2007"	—	16	TBC	61,235^[14] ^[15]	71,000	Scotland	Highland
data-sort-value="Carlisle"	City of Carlisle	data-sort-value="19"	19	10.382NaN2	Trustee	22	7.762NaN2	74.75%	23	74,428	107,524	100,739	England	Cumbria
Dunfermline	20	data-sort-value="10.85"	—	None	data-sort-value="28"	—	data-sort-value="10.28"	10.852NaN2	data-sort-value="2007.7"	—	data-sort-value="28"	—	TBC*	data-sort-value="131028"	68,426*^[16]	data-sort-value="115001"	39,320*^[17]	Scotland	Fife
Worcester	21	12.852NaN2	District	data-sort-value="24"	—	9.522NaN2	74.12%	22	103,872	98,768	93,353^[18]	England	Worcestershire
Derry	22	data-sort-value="13.10"	—	None	data-sort-value="31"	—	13.12NaN2	data-sort-value="2008"	—	18	TBC	85,016	83,652	Northern Ireland	County Londonderry
Lincoln	23	13.782NaN2	District	data-sort-value="30"	—	12.612NaN2	91.48%	20	103,813	93,541	85,595^[19]	England	Lincolnshire
St Davids	data-sort-value="26"	—	17.882NaN2	Community	1	0.233NaN3	1.29%	1	1,751	1,841	1,797^[20]	Wales	Pembrokeshire
Ely	data-sort-value="29"	—	22.862NaN2	Parish	6	1.842NaN2	8.04%	8	20,574	20,256	15,102^[21]	England	Cambridgeshire
City of Bath	data-sort-value="34"	—	28.682NaN2	Trustee	data-sort-value="29"	—	11.072NaN2	data-sort-value="2009"	—	19	97,066	88,859	83,992^[22]	England	Somerset
data-sort-value="Canterbury"	City of Canterbury	data-sort-value="57"	—	119.252NaN2	District	15	5.092NaN2	4.27%	data-sort-value="35"	—	157,432	151,145	135,278	England	Kent
data-sort-value="Durham"	City of Durham	data-sort-value="64"	—	186.682NaN2	Trustee	14	4.962NaN2	data-sort-value="2010"	—	21	101,372	94,375	87,709^[23]	England	County Durham
Wrexham	data-sort-value="65"	—	194.512NaN2	District	18	6.72NaN2	3.45%	data-sort-value="30"	—	135,117*	134,884*	128,476*	Wales	Wrexham
data-sort-value="Winchester"	City of Winchester	data-sort-value="67"	—	255.22NaN2	District	13	4.762NaN2	1.86%	24	127,444	116,595	107,222	England	Hampshire
data-sort-value="Chester"	City of Chester	data-sort-value="69"	—	448.042NaN2	Trustee	data-sort-value="25"	—	9.852NaN2	data-sort-value="2044"	—	17	TBC	79,645^[24]	77,040^[25]	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.
• 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 note), wider council areas can hold the title on behalf of a city urban area much like a charter trust (see note), 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 note) 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.
• 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 note), 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.
• 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 note) or former district area (see note). Rank column is for 2011 population only.
• 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^[26]

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.

• 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 401.282NaN2 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.^{[27] [28] [29]} Size of the parish is 5.562NaN2 and its population 20,115 (2011).

Notes and References

1. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276743&c=city+of+london&d=13&g=325264&i=1001x1003x1006&k=population&m=0&r=1&s=1243769484276&enc=1&domainId=16&dsFamilyId=75 Census 2001 : City of London
2. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790506 Census 2001 : Mendip
3. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790560 Census 2001 : Gwynedd
4. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790484 Census 2001 : Harrogate
5. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790544 Census 2001 : Chichester
6. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790339 Census 2001 : Carrick
7. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790513 Census 2001 : Lichfield
8. Web site: Perth & Kinross Council - Census 2011 (3 Perth wards). 2017-04-02. www.pkc.gov.uk. en.
9. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=277143&c=salisbury&d=13&g=498191&i=1001x1003x1006&k=population&m=0&r=1&s=1243770196474&enc=1&domainId=16&dsFamilyId=75 Census 2001 : Salisbury (Former Local Authority)
10. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790551 Census 2001 : Salisbury
11. Web site: Key Statistics. www.niassembly.gov.uk.
12. Web site: 2011 CENSUS KEY STATISTICS - Hereford City. factsandfigures.herefordshire.gov.uk/about-your-area/2011-census-market-town-profiles.aspx.
13. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790292 Census 2001 : Herefordshire
14. Web site: Butlin. Heather. Highland profile - key facts and figures. 2017-04-02. www.highland.gov.uk. en.
15. Web site: Council. The Highland. The Highland Council download - Briefing notes Planning and building standards Planning - policies, advice and service levels. 2017-04-02. www.highland.gov.uk. en.
16. Web site: 2011 census table data: Settlement 2010 . Scotland's Census . en.
17. Web site: Team . National Records of Scotland Web . National Records of Scotland - 2001 population of urban areas . National Records of Scotland . English . 31 May 2013.
18. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=277148&c=worcester&d=13&g=499664&i=1001x1003x1006&k=population&m=0&r=1&s=1243769721212&enc=1&domainId=16&dsFamilyId=75 Census 2001 : Worcester
19. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=3&b=277039&c=lincoln&d=13&e=15&g=467793&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1258917235862&enc=1 Office for National Statistics : Census 2001 : Key Statistics : City of Lincoln
20. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790567 Census 2001 : Pembrokeshire
21. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/viewFullDataset.do?instanceSelection=03070&productId=779&$ph=60_61&datasetInstanceId=3070&startColumn=1&numberOfColumns=8&containerAreaId=790328 Census 2001 : East Cambridgeshire
22. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/BathNES/councilanddemocracy/statisticsandcensusinformation/default.htm Bathnes.gov.uk
23. http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=276944&c=durham&d=13&g=440194&i=1001x1003x1006&k=population&m=0&r=1&s=1243769675353&enc=1&domainId=16&dsFamilyId=75 Census 2001 : Durham
24. Web site: Locality Chester People and Population Profile Census 2011. inside.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk.
25. Web site: Demographics. https://web.archive.org/web/20080626191831/http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/601CE006-8690-485A-BD90-6372EB093CB6/0/ChesterDistrict.pdf. June 26, 2008. 27 September 2008. Cheshire County Council.
26. Web site: Department for Culture Media and Sport - civic honours competitions. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160428050646/http://old.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/honours/7610.aspx. 2016-04-28. 2017-05-02. old.culture.gov.uk. en. 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..
27. Web site: What you need to know about a new parish council for Durham city centre . The Northern Echo . en.
28. Web site: Review of Community Governance in the Unparished Area of Durham City carried out by Durham County Council Final Recommendations (No Parishing Arrangements) . www.durham.gov.uk.
29. Web site: Review of Community Governance in the Central Unparished areas of Durham by Durham County Council . www.durham.gov.uk.