This is a
list of the largest cities and towns of England ordered by population. The populations are
2001 census figures from the
Office for National Statistics (ONS), using the Key Statistics for Urban Areas figures, that attempt to divorce the populations of towns and cities from the Local Authority district(s) that they are contained within. These have been sorted with populations greater than 100,000.
These figures are not the population of
local government areas such as
city or
borough council areas, for these see
List of English districts by population. 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 ONS 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.
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
London only and
not the entire
Greater London Urban Area identified by the ONS) as this would include places like
Watford and
Woking which are distinct and separate towns.
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.
Also, the
new towns
Telford and
Milton Keynes are given the Urban Area figures, as there are no appropriate Urban Subdivision figures given.
Notes :† – population is given for entire urban area, as the urban subdivision figure was not considered appropriate.
†† – 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
