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):1 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):2 24 cities with the smallest same-name built-up area (many cities have much countryside and multiple settlements within their boundaries)
Census population:3 24 cities around 100,000 residents and fewer since the 2001 census
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.
^1 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 note2), wider council areas can hold the title on behalf of a city urban area much like a charter trust (see note5), 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 note2) 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.
^2 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 note5), 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.
^3 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 note2) or former district area (see note5). Rank column is for 2011 population only.
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[28]
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.
^5 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 401.28 sq mi (1,039.31 km2) 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.[29][30][31] Size of the parish is 5.56 sq mi (14.40 km2) and its population 20,115 (2011).[32][33]
^"Demographics"(PDF). Cheshire County Council. Archived from
the original(PDF) on June 26, 2008. Retrieved 27 September 2008.
^"Department for Culture Media and Sport - civic honours competitions". old.culture.gov.uk. Archived from
the original on 2016-04-28. Retrieved 2017-05-02. 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.