Communes of Chile explained

A commune (Spanish; Castilian: comuna, pronounced as /es/) is the smallest administrative subdivision in Chile. It may contain cities, towns, villages, hamlets as well as rural areas. In highly populated areas, such as Santiago, Valparaíso and Concepción, a conurbation may be broken into several communes. In sparsely populated areas, conversely, a commune may cover a substantial rural area together with several settled areas which could range from hamlets to towns or cities.

The term "commune" is ambiguous in English, but the word is commonly used in translation for "comuna", although with some controversy among translators. A comuna is similar to a "county" in Anglo-American usage and practice, and may be more universally understood as a "municipality".

Each commune or municipality is governed by a directly elected body known as a municipal council (concejo municipal) consisting of a mayor (alcalde) and a group of councillors (concejales), for a period of four years. The communal civil service administration is known as the municipality (municipalidad) and is headquartered at the mayor's office (alcaldía). According to Chilean law, a single municipality may administer one or more communes, though currently, the only such case is the municipality of Cabo de Hornos, which administers the communes of Antártica and Cabo de Hornos.^[1]

Chile's 346 communes are grouped into 56 provinces (pl.), which are themselves grouped into 16 regions (pl.).

List of communes by region and province

Traditionally, Chilean regions are listed in geographical order starting with the northernmost region, leaving the Santiago Metropolitan Region at the end. The following table lists all Chilean communes, providing a complete list of administrative divisions at all levels. Each commune's municipality website is given along with the area and population from the National Statistics Institute's most recent census conducted in 2002.

INE
Region! scope="col"

Natural Region	Region	Province	Commune	Area (km^2)^[2] ^[3]	2002 Population	2014^[4] Population	Website^[5]
North	Far North Chile	Arica and Parinacota (XV)	Arica	Camarones	3,927	1,220	783	link
				Arica	4,799	185,268	231,611	link
			Parinacota	Putre	5,903	1,977	2,073	link
				General Lagos	2,244	1,179	614	link
		Tarapacá (I)	Iquique	Iquique	2,835	166,204	196,437	link
				Alto Hospicio	593	50,215	106,078	link
			Tamarugal	Pozo Almonte	13,766	10,830	13,723	link
				Pica	8,934	6,178	6,626	link
				Huara	10,475	2,599	2,923	link
				Colchane	4,016	1,649	1,698	link
				Camiña	2,200	1,275	1,297	link
		Antofagasta (II)	Antofagasta	Taltal	20,405	11,100	12,937	link
				Sierra Gorda	12,866	2,356	3,040	link
				Mejillones	3,804	8,418	11,090	link
				Antofagasta	30,718	296,905	372,325	link
			El Loa	San Pedro de Atacama	23,439	4,969	7,212	link
				Ollagüe	2,964	318	315	link
				Calama	15,597	138,402	173,691	link
			Tocopilla	Tocopilla	4,039	23,986	27,378	link
				María Elena	12,197	7,530	5,340	link
	Near North Chile	Atacama (III)	Chañaral	Diego de Almagro	18,664	18,589	15,501	link
				Chañaral	5,772	13,543	13,746	link
			Copiapó	Tierra Amarilla	11,191	12,888	16,867	link
				Copiapó	16,681	129,091	168,946	link
				Caldera	4,667	13,734	17,263	link
			Huasco	Vallenar	7,084	48,040	52,824	link
				Huasco	1,601	7,945	10,083	link
				Freirina	3,578	5,666	6,823	link
				Alto del Carmen	5,939	4,840	6,194	link
		Coquimbo (IV)	Choapa	Salamanca	3,445	24,494	27,181	link
				Los Vilos	1,861	17,453	19,980	link
				Illapel	2,629	30,355	32,753	link
				Canela	2,197	9,379	9,914	link
			Elqui	Vicuña	7,610	24,010	26,561	link
				Paiguano	1,495	4,168	4,483	link
				La Serena	1,893	160,148	212,621	link
				La Higuera	4,158	3,721	4,568	link
				Coquimbo	1,429	163,036	226,223	link
				Andacollo	310	10,288	11,348	link
			Limarí	Río Hurtado	2,117	4,771	4,994	link
				Punitaqui	1,339	9,539	10,748	link
				Ovalle	3,835	98,089	119,014	link
				Monte Patria	4,366	30,276	33,641	link
				Combarbalá	1,896	13,483	15,199	link
Central	North Central Chile	Valparaíso (V)	Isla de Pascua	Isla de Pascua	164	3,791	6,148	link
			Los Andes	San Esteban	1,362	14,400	18,201	link
				Rinconada	123	6,692	10,084	link
				Los Andes	1,248	60,198	67,659	link
				Calle Larga	322	10,393	14,108	link
			Marga Marga	Villa Alemana	97	95,623	134,999	link
				Quilpué	537	128,578	165,284	link
				Limache	294	39,219	45,061	link
				Olmué	232	14,105	15,897	link
			Petorca	Zapallar	288	5,659	6,185	link
				Petorca	1,517	9,440	10,294	link
				Papudo	166	4,608	5,242	link
				La Ligua	1,163	31,987	33,853	link
				Cabildo	1,455	18,916	20,106	link
			Quillota	Quillota	302	75,916	92,482	link
				Nogales	405	21,633	23,708	link
				La Cruz	78	12,851	18,647	link
				La Calera	61	49,503	54,878	link
				Hijuelas	267	16,014	17,966	link
			San Antonio	Santo Domingo	536	7,418	9,177	link
				San Antonio	405	87,205	96,360	link
				El Tabo	99	7,028	9,863	link
				El Quisco	51	9,467	12,819	link
				Cartagena	346	16,875	20,035	link
				Algarrobo	176	8,601	10,359	link
			San Felipe	Santa María	166	12,813	15,484	link
				San Felipe	186	64,126	73,326	link
				Putaendo	1,474	14,649	16,306	link
				Panquehue	122	6,567	7,301	link
				Llaillay	349	21,644	24,519	link
				Catemu	362	12,112	13,863	link
			Valparaíso	Viña del Mar	122	286,931	321,760	link
				Valparaíso	402	275,982	295,075	link
				Quintero	148	21,174	27,213	link
				Puchuncaví	300	12,954	17,403	link
				Concón	76	32,273	47,447	link
				Juan Fernández	148	633	850	link
				Casablanca	953	21,874	28,338	link
		Metropolitana (RM)	Chacabuco	Tiltil	653	14,755	17,423	link
				Lampa	452	40,228	82,249	link
				Colina	971	77,815	117,573	link
			Cordillera	San José de Maipo	4,995	13,376	14,922	link
				Puente Alto	88	492,915	602,203	link
				Pirque	445	16,565	21,595	link
			Maipo	San Bernardo	155	246,762	294,019	link
				Paine	678	50,028	65,603	link
				Calera de Tango	73	18,235	24,097	link
				Buin	214	63,419	81,760	link
			Melipilla	San Pedro	788	7,549	9,476	link
				Melipilla	1,356	94,540	115,197	link
				María Pinto	395	10,343	12,725	link
				Curacaví	693	24,298	29,288	link
				Alhué	845	4,435	5,631	link
			Santiago	Vitacura	28	81,499	88,065	link
				Santiago	22	200,792	344,711	link
				San Ramón	7	94,906	99,615	link
				San Miguel	10	78,872	107,797	link
				San Joaquín	10	97,625	104,040	link
				Renca	24	133,518	150,546	link
				Recoleta	16	148,220	167,258	link
				Quinta Normal	12	104,012	114,297	link
				Quilicura	58	126,518	202,151	link
				Pudahuel	197	195,653	230,833	link
				Providencia	14	120,874	145,869	link
Peñalolén	54			216,060	241,576	link
Pedro Aguirre Cerda	10			114,560	122,093	link
Ñuñoa	17			163,511	216,452	link
Maipú	133			468,390	544,876	link
Macul	13			112,535	123,506	link
Lo Prado	7			104,316	112,579	link
Lo Espejo	7			112,800	119,842	link
Lo Barnechea	1,024			74,749	101,651	link
Las Condes	99			249,893	281,623	link
La Reina	23			96,762	101,459	link
La Pintana	31			190,085	211,536	link
La Granja	10			132,520	142,862	link
La Florida	71			365,674	388,119	link
La Cisterna	10			85,118	92,289	link
Independencia	7			65,479	81,755	link
Huechuraba	45			74,070	94,342	link
Estación Central	14			130,394	144,188	link
El Bosque	14			175,594	193,185	link
Conchalí	71			133,256	140,950	link
Cerro Navia	11			148,312	158,046	link
Cerrillos	21			71,906	84,437	link
Talagante	Talagante		126	59,805	70,043	link
	Peñaflor		69	66,619	88,139	link
	Padre Hurtado		81	38,768	54,541	link
	Isla de Maipo		189	25,798	34,563	link
	El Monte		118	26,459	34,986	link
O'Higgins (VI)	Cachapoal	San Vicente	476	40,253	46,643	link
		Requínoa	673	22,161	30,184	link
		Rengo	592	50,830	60,486	link
		Rancagua	260	214,344	232,639	link
		Quinta de Tilcoco	93	11,380	13,147	link
		Pichidegua	320	17,756	20,111	link
		Peumo	153	13,948	15,981	link
		Olivar	45	12,335	14,823	link
		Mostazal	524	21,866	26,170	link
		Malloa	113	12,872	13,816	link
		Machalí	2,586	28,628	50,141	link
		Las Cabras	749	20,242	23,773	link
		Graneros	113	25,961	33,227	link
		Doñihue	78	16,916	20,127	link
		Coltauco	225	16,228	19,503	link
		Coinco	98	6,385	7,160	link
		Codegua	287	10,796	13,952	link
	Cardenal Caro	Pichilemu	749	12,392	14,311	link
		Paredones	562	6,695	6,491	link
		Navidad	300	5,422	5,941	link
		Marchihue	660	6,904	7,565	link
		Litueche	619	5,526	6,251	link
		La Estrella	435	4,221	3,283	link
	Colchagua	Santa Cruz	420	32,387	37,303	link
		San Fernando	2,441	63,732	73,105	link
		Pumanque	441	3,442	3,471	link
		Placilla	147	8,078	9,213	link
		Peralillo	283	9,729	11,460	link
		Palmilla	237	11,200	13,158	link
		Nancagua	111	15,634	17,029	link
		Lolol	597	6,191	6,961	link
		Chimbarongo	498	32,316	37,172	link
		Chépica	503	13,857	15,980	link
South Central Chile	Maule (VII)	Cauquenes	Pelluhue	371	6,414	7,553	link
			Chanco	530	9,457	9,173	link
			Cauquenes	2,126	41,217	40,896	link
		Curicó	Vichuquén	426	4,916	5,146	link
			Teno	618	25,596	28,397	link
			Sagrada Familia	549	17,519	19,467	link
			Romeral	1,597	12,707	14,983	link
			Rauco	309	8,566	9,970	link
			Molina	1,552	38,521	42,128	link
			Licantén	273	6,902	7,267	link
			Hualañé	629	9,741	10,249	link
			Curicó	1,328	119,585	142,662	link
		Linares	Yerbas Buenas	262	16,134	18,160	link
			Villa Alegre	190	14,725	15,369	link
			San Javier	1,313	37,793	41,032	link
			Retiro	827	18,487	19,704	link
			Parral	1,638	37,822	38,809	link
			Longaví	1,454	28,161	29,562	link
			Linares	1,457	83,249	90,845	link
			Colbún	2,900	17,619	19,387	link
		Talca	Talca	232	201,797	231,860	link
			San Rafael	264	7,674	9,652	link
			San Clemente	4,504	37,261	41,366	link
			Río Claro	431	12,698	13,513	link
			Pencahue	957	8,315	8,845	link
			Pelarco	332	7,266	7,910	link
			Maule	238	16,837	45,676	link
			Empedrado	565	4,225	4,486	link
			Curepto	1,074	10,812	10,895	link
			Constitución	1,344	46,081	50,631	link
	Ñuble (XVI)	Diguillín	Chillán Viejo	292	22,084	31,502	link
			Chillán	511	161,953	178,871	link
			Bulnes	425	20,595	21,910	link
			El Carmen	664	12,845	12,942	link
			Pemuco	563	8,821	9,298	link
			Pinto	1,164	9,875	11,242	link
			Quillón	423	15,146	16,769	link
			San Ignacio	364	16,106	16,080	link
			Yungay	824	16,814	18,206	link
		Itata	Cobquecura	570	5,687	5,735	link
			Coelemu	342	16,082	16,910	link
			Ninhue	401	5,738	5,847	link
			Portezuelo	282	5,470	5,648	link
			Quirihue	589	11,429	13,303	link
			Ránquil	248	5,683	6,041	link
			Treguaco	313	5,296	5,346	link
		Punilla	Coihueco	1,777	23,583	25,763	link
			Ñiquén	493	11,421	11,689	link
			San Carlos	874	50,088	52,923	link
			San Fabián	1,568	3,646	4,030	link
			San Nicolás	491	9,741	11,348	link
	Biobío (VIII)	Arauco	Tirúa	624	9,664	10,433	link
			Los Álamos	599	18,632	23,252	link
			Lebu	561	25,035	26,509	link
			Curanilahue	994	31,943	34,802	link
			Contulmo	962	5,838	5,624	link
			Cañete	760	31,270	34,129	link
			Arauco	956	34,873	38,163	link
		Biobío	Yumbel	727	20,498	21,594	link
			Tucapel	915	12,777	14,300	link
			Santa Bárbara	3,380	12,943	12,985	link
			San Rosendo	92	3,918	3,956	link
			Quilleco	1,122	10,428	10,097	link
			Quilaco	1,124	4,021	4,118	link
Negrete			157	8,579	10,148	link
Nacimiento			935	25,971	28,305	link
Mulchén			1,925	29,003	30,479	link
Los Ángeles			1,748	166,556	193,252	link
Laja			340	22,404	24,006	link
Cabrero			640	25,282	28,918	link
Antuco			1,884	3,908	3,962	link
Alto Biobío			2,125	7,027	6,179	link
Concepción		Tomé	495	52,440	55,693	link
		Talcahuano	146	163,626	177,567	link
		Santa Juana	731	12,713	13,687	link
		San Pedro de la Paz	113	80,447	126,416	link
		Penco	108	46,016	51,346	link
		Lota	136	49,089	48,098	link
		Hualqui	531	18,768	24,793	link
		Hualpén	54	86,722	106,628	link
		Florida	609	10,177	9,045	link
		Coronel	279	95,528	113,850	link
		Concepción	222	216,061	228,848	link
		Chiguayante	72	81,302	97,909	link
South	South Chile	Araucanía (IX)	Cautín	Villarrica	1,291	45,531	54,427	link
				Vilcún	1,421	22,491	27,349	link
				Toltén	860	11,216	11,455	link
				Teodoro Schmidt	650	15,504	16,167	link
				Temuco	464	245,347	285,487	link
				Saavedra	401	14,034	13,104	link
				Pucón	1,249	21,107	27,221	link
				Pitrufquén	581	21,988	24,552	link
				Perquenco	331	6,450	7,220	link
				Padre Las Casas	401	58,795	84,684	link
				Nueva Imperial	1,160	29,994	33,247	link
				Melipeuco	1,107	5,628	5,848	link
				Loncoche	977	23,037	23,482	link
				Lautaro	901	32,218	36,648	link
				Gorbea	695	15,222	15,711	link
				Galvarino	568	12,596	12,632	link
				Freire	935	25,514	24,904	link
				Curarrehue	1,171	6,784	7,419	link
				Cunco	1,907	18,703	19,090	link
				Cholchol	428	10,065	11,731	link
				Carahue	1,341	25,696	26,606	link
			Malleco	Victoria	1,256	33,501	34,968	link
				Traiguén	908	19,534	19,892	link
				Renaico	267	9,128	10,499	link
				Purén	465	12,868	13,020	link
				Lumaco	1,119	11,405	11,379	link
				Los Sauces	850	7,581	7,853	link
				Lonquimay	3,914	10,237	10,940	link
				Ercilla	500	9,041	9,216	link
				Curacautín	1,664	16,970	17,263	link
				Collipulli	1,296	22,354	24,490	link
				Angol	1,194	48,996	54,995	link
		Los Ríos (XIV)	Ranco	Río Bueno	2,212	32,627	33,166	link
				Lago Ranco	1,763	10,098	10,810	link
				La Unión	2,137	39,447	43,093	link
				Futrono	2,121	14,981	16,403	link
			Valdivia	Valdivia	1,016	140,559	166,048	link
				Panguipulli	3,292	33,273	36,261	link
				Paillaco	896	19,237	20,798	link
				Mariquina	1,321	18,223	21,845	link
				Máfil	583	7,213	7,464	link
				Los Lagos	1,791	20,168	22,457	link
				Lanco	532	15,107	17,455	link
				Corral	767	5,463	5,748	link
		Los Lagos (X)	Chiloé	Quinchao	161	8,976	8,934	link
				Quemchi	440	8,689	9,109	link
				Quellón	3,244	21,823	29,951	link
				Queilén	224	5,138	5,551	link
				Puqueldón	97	4,160	4,053	link
				Dalcahue	1,239	10,693	15,005	link
				Curaco de Vélez	80	3,403	4,128	link
				Chonchi	1,362	12,572	15,086	link
				Castro	428	39,366	48,247	link
				Ancud	1,252	39,946	43,832	link
			Llanquihue	Puerto Varas	4,065	32,912	40,315	link
				Puerto Montt	1,673	175,938	239,534	link
				Maullín	861	15,580	15,788	link
				Los Muermos	1,246	16,964	16,692	link
				Llanquihue	421	16,337	18,036	link
				Frutillar	831	15,525	17,224	link
				Fresia	1,278	12,804	12,868	link
				Cochamó	3,911	4,363	4,159	link
				Calbuco	591	31,070	34,638	link
			Osorno	San Pablo	637	10,162	10,510	link
San Juan de la Costa	1,517			8,831	7,646	link
Río Negro	1,266			14,732	13,826	link
Puyehue	1,598			11,368	11,109	link
Purranque	1,459			20,705	21,478	link
Puerto Octay	1,796			10,236	9,680	link
Osorno	951			145,475	157,389	link
Palena	Palena		2,764	1,690	2,131	link
	Hualaihué		2,788	8,273	10,923	link
	Futaleufú		1,280	1,826	3,339	link
	Chaitén		8,471	7,182	3,533	link
Austral Chile	Aysén (XI)	Aysén	Guaitecas	787	1,539	1,733	link
			Cisnes	15,831	5,739	5,339	link
			Aysén	29,970	22,353	27,316	link
		Capitán Prat	Tortel	19,931	507	649	link
			O'Higgins	8,183	463	657	link
			Cochrane	8,931	2,867	3,336	link
		Coyhaique	Lago Verde	5,622	1,062	1,005	link
			Coihaique	7,320	50,041	59,862	link
		General Carrera	Río Ibáñez	5,997	2,477	2,367	link
			Chile Chico	5,922	4,444	5,070	link
	Magallanes (XII)	Antártica Chilena	Cabo de Hornos	15,854	2,262	2,782	link
			Antártica	1,250,000	130	184	link
		Magallanes	San Gregorio	6,884	1,158	342	link
			Río Verde	9,975	358	134	link
			Punta Arenas	17,846	119,496	129,555	link
			Laguna Blanca	3,696	663	587	link
		Tierra del Fuego	Timaukel	10,996	423	191	link
			Primavera	4,614	1,016	553	link
			Porvenir	6,983	5,465	7,296	link
		Última Esperanza	Torres del Paine	6,470	739	732	link
			Natales	48,974	19,116	21,392	link

See also

• Administrative divisions of Chile
• Regions of Chile
• Provinces of Chile
• List of towns in Chile
• List of cities in Chile

External links

• Municipalities in Chile, directory of official links for each municipality

Notes and References

1. http://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=185661 Law 19,726
2. Web site: es . National Statistics Institute . 30 December 2010.
3. Web site: es . Territorial division of Chile . PDF . 30 December 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101114052159/http://www.ine.cl/canales/chile_estadistico/territorio/division_politico_administrativa/pdf/DPA_COMPLETA.pdf . 14 November 2010 .
4. Web site: es . Comunas: Actualización Población 2002-2012 y Proyecciones 2013-2020 . National Statistics Institute . 20 April 2015.
5. Web site: Asociacion Chilena de Municipalidades . 7 February 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110419202659/http://www.munitel.cl/ . 19 April 2011 .