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List of cities and towns in Poland

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Map of Poland

This is a list of cities and towns in Poland, consisting of four sections: the full list of all 107 cities in Poland by size, followed by a description of the principal metropolitan areas of the country, the table of the most populated cities and towns in Poland, and finally, the full alphabetical list of all 107 Polish cities and 861 towns combined.

As of 30 April 2022, there are altogether 2471 municipalities (gmina) in Poland:

  • 1513 of them are rural gminas containing exclusively rural areas, each of them forms a part of one of the 314 regular powiats, but never as its seat,
  • the remaining 968 contain a locality classified either as a city or a town, among them:
    • 666 towns are managed together with their rural surroundings under a single local government in the form of an eponymous urban-rural gmina typically seated in such town (though not always; currently, Gmina Nowe Skalmierzyce is the only urban-rural gmina seated elsewhere than in the town); such mixed municipalities always form part of a regular powiat, sometimes seated in such town, in such case being usually an eponymous one (though there are some exceptions; e.g. Warsaw West County is seated in the town Ożarów Mazowiecki while Gdańsk County is seated in the town Pruszcz Gdański, although their names would suggest otherwise; in addition, two binominal "hyphen" counties seated in such towns have been named so due to long-established animosity between a pair of towns similar in size, in order to placate both competing populations, namely Strzelce-Drezdenko County and Ropczyce-Sędziszów County; finally, the mountainuous Bieszczady County has been named after the mountain range rather than its seat)
    • 302 cities and towns are standalone as an urban gmina; nevertheless some of them be also a seat of an eponymous rural gmina surrounding it (the latter thus being often doughnut-shaped), despite not being a part of its territory;
      • 195 standalone towns, each of them forming a part of a regular powiat and sometimes being its seat, in the latter case usually an eponymous one, though there are three exceptions (two of them are binominal "hyphen" counties, with Czarnków-Trzcianka County named so due to a long-established animosity between a pair of towns similar in size, while Bieruń-Lędziny County acquired its name when the decision was taken to have its seat relocated from its original location in Tychy, a city with powiat rights, to one of these two conpeting towns; the third exception is the mountainuous Tatra County named after the mountain range rather than its seat)
      • 107 cities (governed by a city mayor or prezydent miasta), among them:
        • 41 cities form along with two or more other municipalities an eponymous regular powiat, seated always in the city
        • 66 cities hold status of a city with powiat rights (an independent city) which is an urban gmina operating also as a powiat in its own right within a voivodeship; nevertheless, it may be also a seat of a regular powiat, in such case usually an eponymous one (with two exceptions, namely the Łódź East County bearing the additional designation East because of bordering the city only to the west, as well as the mountainuous Karkonosze County seated in Jelenia Góra but named after the mountain range rather than its seat) despite not being included in the territory of the county (the latter thus being often doughnut-shaped)
          • 37 cities are over 100,000, including
            • 18 cities which serve as a seat for voivode or the voivodeship sejmik, thus being informally called voivodeship cities or capitals (in spite of only 16 voivodeships existing in Poland; the discrepancy is caused by the fact that both institutions are seated in a single capital city in only 14 of the 16 voivodeships, while in each of the remaining two they are divided equally between a pair of capital cities),
              • 11 of them are seats of an appeal court and other supra-voivodeship institutions,
                • They include the capital city of the country, the only Polish city with population exceeding 1,000,000, and the only one governed by a dedicated act of Parliament.

In some cases, a city with powiat rights may also be a seat of both an eponymous rural gmina and an eponymous regular powiat, despite belonging to neither, e.g. Siedlce, Skierniewice, Słupsk. No city in Poland constitutes a separate voivodeship in its own right, though 5 cities held such status in the past.

General principles

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All municipalities in Poland are governed regardless of their type under the mandatory mayor–council government system. Executive power in a rural gmina is exercised by a wójt, while the homologue in municipalities containing cities or towns is called accordingly either a city mayor (prezydent miasta) or a town mayor (burmistrz), all of them elected by a two-round direct election, while the town/city council is the legislative, budget-making and oversight body. Any local laws considered non-compliant with the national ones may be invalidated by the respective voivode, whose rulings may be appealed to an administrative court. Decisions in individual cases may in turn be appealed to quasi-judicial bodies named local government boards of appeal [pl], their ruling subject to appeal to an administrative court. A town or city mayor may be scrutinized or denied funding for his/her projects by the council, but is not politically responsible to it and does not require its confidence to remain in office; therefore, cohabitation is not uncommon. A recall referendum may however be triggered either in respect to the wójt/town mayor/city mayor or to the municipal council through a petition supported by at least 1/10 of eligible voters, but the turnout in the recall referendum must be at least 3/5 of the number of people voting in the original election in order for the referendum to be valid and binding. In addition, elected bodies of any municipality may be suspended by the Prime Minister of Poland in case of persisting law transgressions or negligence, resulting in such case in the municipality being placed under receivership. In a city with powiat rights, the city mayor additionally has the powers and duties of a powiat executive board and a starosta, while the city council has the powers and duties of a powiat (county) council; both nevertheless being elected under the municipal election rules rather than those applicable to county elections.

Cities

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In spite of no linguistic distinction between a city and a town in the Polish language (both translated miasto), a city may be recognized among other Polish urban municipalities through being managed by a city mayor (prezydent miasta, literally translated city president) instead of a town mayor (burmistrz) as the head of the city executive, thus being informally called miasto prezydenckie, with such privilege automatically awarded to municipalities either inhabited by more than 100,000 residents (currently 37) or those enjoying the status of a city with powiat rights (currently 66). As of 2022, all of the former group fit into the latter, though it was not always the case in the past. There is, however, a number of exemptions due to historic or political reasons, when a municipality meets neither of these two conditions but nevertheless has the city status, including the only 3 capitals of the former voivodeships of Poland (1975–1998) not meeting the abovementioned criteria, as well as 38 other municipalities which do not fit into any of the mentioned categories but have nevertheless been allowed to keep the earlier awarded status due to unspecified historical reasons. Among the 37 cities over 100,000, 18 are seats of voivode or voivodeship sejmik, thus carrying the informal designation of a voivodeship city. 11 of them are seats of an appeal court and other supra-voivodeship institutions.

The 107 Polish cities belong to the following size ranges in terms of the number of inhabitants (cities with powiat rights are indicated with italics; the seats of either a voivode or a voivodeship legislature are marked in bold, the seats of an appeal court are marked with an asterisk*):

The biggest towns (e.g. Tarnowskie Góry, Rumia, Piaseczno) are larger than a number of cities.

Principal metropolitan areas

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Only a single officially incorporated multi-purpose metropolitan union exists in Poland, the sui generis Metropolis GZM, established by a dedicated act of Parliament of Poland within the Silesian Voivodeship, currently composed of 41 contiguous municipalities, with some of them containing also rural areas. Its total population is 2,279,560. The metropolis largely coincides with the metropolitan area of the Katowice urban area, which is a part of the wider polycentric transnational Katowice-Ostrava metropolitan area.

A de facto metropolitan area is, however, also formed in some aspects by Warsaw metropolitan area, consisting of the capital city of Warsaw, a city with powiat rights, and the 9 neighbouring counties: Warsaw West County, Nowy Dwór County, Legionowo County, Wołomin County, Mińsk County, Otwock County, Piaseczno County, Pruszków County and Grodzisk Mazowiecki County. Warsaw forms together with these counties a NUTS 2 area separate as an exception from the remainder of its home region, the Mazovian Voivodeship. In addition, identical area is policed by the Capital City Police Headquarters separate from the Mazovian Voivodeship Police Headquarters, with a status equal to that of voivodeship police headquarters. Attempts to establish a formally incorporated metropolitan union have been fiercely resisted by the citizens and the city mayor of Warsaw who have considered them a form of concealed gerrymandering, potentially leading to a political takeover of the city government through aiming to counterbalance the profoundly liberal city population with the conservative population of the neighbouring areas.

A third widely known metropolitan area is the metropolitan area of Tricity in Pomeranian Voivodeship, urban area of which consists of the eponymous cities of Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia. The designation has been used informally or semi-formally only. A strategic cooperation declaration, the Tricity Charter (Polish: Karta Trójmiasta), was signed by the three city mayors on 28 March 2007. The only incorporated common management authority in the Tricity metro is the Gdańsk Bay Public Transport Metropolitan Union (Polish: Metropolitarny Związek Komunikacyjny Zatoki Gdańskiej) which is, despite the name, an inter-municipal union and not a metropolitan one.

Largest cities and towns by population

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Poland contains:

  • 1 city over 1,000,000
  • 4 cities from 500,000 to 999,999:
  • 6 cities from 250,000 to 499,999:
  • 26 cities from 100,000 to 249,999:
  • 45 cities and 1 town from 50,000 to 99,999
  • 25 cities and 69 towns from 25,000 to 49,999
  • 221 towns from 10,000 to 24,999
  • 187 towns from 5,000 to 9,999
  • 220 towns from 2,500 to 4,999
  • 140 towns from 1,000 to 2,499
  • 9 towns below 1,000.

Below is the table of the most populated cities and towns in Poland. The table ranks cities by population based on data from the Central Statistical Office of Poland.[1][2]

Population at various dates
Name Voivodeship 1 Jan
2022 		1 Jan
2021 		30 June
2020 		Dec.
2007 		1999 1970 1960 1950 1900 Change
2007 – 2020
Warsaw  Masovian 2,063,056 1,794,166 1,793,579 1,706,624 1,618,468 1,315,648 1,139,189 822,036 756,400 4.92%
Kraków  Lesser Poland 802,583 779,966 780,981 766,583 740,666 583,444 481,296 343,638 120,300 1.63%
L|o|dz|Łódź  Łódź 664,071 672,185 677,286 753,192 806,728 762,699 709,698 620,273 351,600 -9.82%
Wrocław  Lower Silesian 642,687 641,928 643,782 632,930 643,877 526,000 430,522 308,925 422,700 1.60%
Poznań  Greater Poland 529,410 532,048 533,830 567,932 578,235 471,900 408,132 320,670 126,000 -5.83%
Gdańsk (part of Tricity urban area)  Pomeranian 470,621 471,525 458,717 458,988 365,600 286,940 194,633 140,600 2.66%
Szczecin  West Pomeranian 395,513 400,990 410,811 416,988 338,000 269,318 178,907 210,700 -2.17%
Bydgoszcz  Kuyavian-Pomeranian 339,053 346,739 361,222 386,855 282,200 232,007 162,524 52,200 -3.61%
Lublin  Lublin 332,852 336,339 339,547 351,806 356,251 238,500 181,304 116,629 53,600 -3.42%
Białystok  Podlaskie 295,683 297,585 294,143 285,000 168,500 120,921 68,503 66,000 1.16%
Katowice (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 286,960 291,774 317,220 345,934 305,000 269,926 175,496 31,700 -7.71%
Gdynia (part of Tricity urban area)  Pomeranian 243,918 245,867 250,242 253,521 191,500 147,625 103,458 900 -1.56%
Częstochowa  Silesian 214,342 219,278 242,300 257,812 188,189 164,906 112,198 53,700 -9.02%
Radom  Masovian 206,946 210,532 224,857 232,262 159,480 130,116 80,298 30,100 -6.00%
Rzeszów  Podkarpackie 198,609 196,821 166,454 162,049 83,105 62,526 28,133 18,300 17.88%
Toruń  Kuyavian-Pomeranian 196,935 201,106 206,619 211,955 129,872 104,906 80,637 29,600 -2.50%
Sosnowiec (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 194,818 198,996 222,586 244,102 145,000 131,654 96,448 86,700 -10.16%
Kielce  Świętokrzyskie 191,448 194,218 205,902 212,383 126,950 89,500 61,332 23,200 -5.37%
Gliwice (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 175,102 178,186 197,393 212,164 172,000 135,300 119,968 52,400 -9.52%
Olsztyn  Warmian-Masurian 169,793 171,853 175,710 171,131 94,753 67,887 43,831 24,300 -2.12%
Zabrze (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 168,946 171,691 189,062 200,177 197,840 190,049 172,355 26,000 -8.82%
Bielsko-Biała  Silesian 168,319 170,303 175,690 178,963 106,200 75,527 17,400 -2.86%
Bytom (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 161,139 164,447 184,765 205,560 187,500 182,578 173,955 51,400 -10.56%
Zielona Góra  Lubusz 140,403 141,280 117,523 118,182 73,485 54,291 31,634 21,000 20.17%
Rybnik  Silesian 135,994 137,782 141,080 144,582 43,700 34,099 27,222 7,200 -2.11%
Ruda Śląska (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 135,008 137,030 144,584 159,665 143,122 131,667 33,962 14,800 -4.99%
Elbląg  Warmian-Masurian 127,390 119,097 126,710 129,782 127,077 128,012 126,748 129,553 52,500 -2.68%
Tychy (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 125,781 127,307 129,776 133,178 71,500 49,914 4,900 -1.68%
Gorzów Wielkopolski  Lubusz 120,087 123,341 125,411 126,019 74,782 58,671 32,825 33,600 -1.43%
Dąbrowa Górnicza (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 116,971 118,899 128,795 131,037 61,700 55,720 32,446 3,000 -7.32%
Płock  Masovian 116,962 118,989 126,968 131,011 71,900 42,798 33,128 27,000 -5.94%
Wałbrzych  Lower Silesian 108,222 110,603 123,635 136,923 125,200 117,209 93,842 16,400 -9.93%
Włocławek  Kuyavian-Pomeranian 106,928 109,347 118,432 123,373 82,599 66,820 54,536 23,000 -7.22%
Tarnów  Lesser Poland 105,922 108,177 116,118 118,297 85,929 70,835 37,405 31,700 -6.58%
Chorzów (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 105,628 107,443 113,678 121,708 151,946 147,037 129,456 57,900 -5.16%
Koszalin  West Pomeranian 104,994 106,880 107,376 109,941 65,200 44,410 18,940 20,400 -0.31%
Kalisz  Greater Poland 97,905 99,761 108,031 106,641 81,454 69,946 55,542 22,000 -7.21%
Legnica  Lower Silesian 97,300 99,072 104,754 109,335 76,000 64,185 39,010 54,900 -5.16%
Grudziądz  Kuyavian-Pomeranian 92,552 94,076 99,090 102,434 75,668 64,965 45,327 32,700 -4.77%
Jaworzno (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 89,350 90,759 96,600 99,800 63,600 53,089 20,229 17,500 -5.67%
Słupsk  Pomeranian 88,835 90,320 97,419 102,370 68,939 53,383 33,115 27,300 -6.92%
Jastrzębie-Zdrój  Silesian 86,632 88,425 93,939 102,294 24,500 1,700 -5.53%
Nowy Sącz  Lesser Poland 83,116 83,762 84,468 83,911 41,300 34,179 26,216 -0.95%
Jelenia Góra  Lower Silesian 77,366 78,778 86,220 93,407 55,900 49,617 34,996 -17.1%
Siedlce  Masovian 77,354 78,258 76,939 76,056 39,280 32,587 25,322 1.7%
Mysłowice (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 74,085 74,601 74,912 76,231 44,700 40,228 35,720 -2.88%
Konin  Greater Poland 71,427 73,176 80,140 83,462 40,794 17,638 12,145 -14.5%
Piła  Greater Poland 71,846 72,949 74,687 79,568 43,992 33,785 21,085 18,405 -9.80%
Piotrków Trybunalski  Łódź 71,252 72,785 78,475 81,433 59,843 52,782 42,289 -12.5%
Lubin  Lower Silesian 70,815 72,142 76,306 82,711 28,900 5,471 2,743 -14.4%
Inowrocław  Kuyavian-Pomeranian 70,713 72,561 75,681 79,517 54,911 47,267 38,005 -11.1%
Ostrów Wielkopolski  Greater Poland 70,982 71,829 72,360 74,635 49,705 42,579 32,787 11,800 -4.10%
Suwałki  Podlaskie 69,206 70,126 69,786 69,281 68,815 25,572 19,868 15,456 11,000 0%
Stargard  West Pomeranian 67,293 67,753 70,217 74,166 44,640 33,650 20,684
Gniezno  Greater Poland 66,769 67,968 69,732 71,460 50,926 44,080 36,039
Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski  Świętokrzyskie 66,258 67,975 73,111 79,047 50,147 38,108 20,273
Siemianowice Śląskie (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 65,684 66,587 71,621 75,218 67,401 62,411 52,994
Głogów  Lower Silesian 65,400 66,627 68,297 74,294 20,558 9,179 3,825
Pabianice  Łódź 63,023 64,445 69,842 74,689 62,402 56,222 48,817
Leszno  Greater Poland 62,200 63,323 64,057 62,597 33,985 29,157 22,572
Żory  Silesian 62,848 62,670 62,008 63,683 8,700 6,795 5,037
Zamość  Lublin 62,021 63,223 66,375 67,099 35,114 27,638 21,558 11,300
Pruszków  Masovian 62,750 62,489 55,621 53,295 43,366 38,016 27,583
Łomża  Podlaskie 62,019 62,795 63,036 64,915 25,800 19,876 14,839
Ełk  Warmian-Masurian 61,677 62,125 56,698 56,464 27,400 21,952 13,665
Tarnowskie Góry  Silesian 61,842 61,756 60,975 63,126 34,400 28,612 23,115
Tomaszów Mazowiecki  Łódź 60,529 61,645 66,232 69,389 55,011 48,546 39,391
Chełm  Lublin 60,231 61,588 67,782 70,759 39,135 31,108 20,550
Mielec  Podkarpackie 59,509 60,229 61,005 64,455 27,000 22,132 9,205
Kędzierzyn-Koźle  Opole 58,899 60,383 65,161 69,875
Przemyśl  Podkarpackie 58,721 60,442 66,867 68,345 53,509 47,442 32,948
Stalowa Wola  Podkarpackie 58,545 60,179 64,988 71,805 30,100 22,932 7,167
Tczew  Pomeranian 59,111 59,828 60,271 61,124 41,000 33,696 24,619 12,808
Biała Podlaska  Lublin 56,498 57,194 57,783 58,599 26,500 20,148 13,345
Bełchatów  Łódź 55,583 56,740 61,496 61,018 9,250 7,327 5,146
Świdnica  Lower Silesian 55,413 56,564 59,998 65,016 47,673 39,078 27,805 28,439
Będzin  Silesian 55,183 56,191 58,639 60,084 42,800 39,478 34,410
Zgierz  Łódź 54,974 55,985 58,164 58,862 43,025 36,666 26,169
Piekary Śląskie (part of Katowice urban area)  Silesian 54,226 54,860 59,061 61,753 36,400 32,226 22,944
Racibórz  Silesian 53,632 54,529 56,919 64,093 40,600 32,523 26,447 25,250
Legionowo  Masovian 53,205 53,809 51,058 51,301 20,836 19,835
Ostrołęka  Masovian 51,012 51,893 54,109 55,511 22,187 15,216 10,409

Cities and towns alphabetically

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Augustów
Białystok
Bielsko-Biała
Bydgoszcz
Bytom
Chorzów
Częstochowa
Dąbrowa Górnicza
Elbląg
Gdańsk
Gdynia
Gliwice
Głogów
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Grudziądz
Inowrocław
Jastrzębie-Zdrój
Jelenia Góra
Kalisz
Katowice
Kielce
Konin
Koszalin
Kraków
Legnica
Lublin
Łódź
Mysłowice
Nowy Sącz
Olsztyn
Opole
Piotrków Trybunalski
Płock
Poznań
Radom
Rzeszów
Ruda Śląska
Rybnik
Siedlce
Słupsk
Sosnowiec
Świebodzin
Szczecin
Tarnów
Toruń
Tychy
Wałbrzych
Warsaw
Włocławek
Wrocław
Zabrze
Zielona Góra

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ 2016 population - GUS – Baza Demografia: Wyniki badań bieżących: Stan i struktura ludności: Ludność: 2016: Ludność stan w dniu 31 XII (Central Statistical Office: Demography Database: Population as of 31 December 2016).
  2. ^ 2007 population - GUS – Baza Demografia: Wyniki badań bieżących: Stan i struktura ludności: Ludność: 2007: Ludność stan w dniu 31 XII (Central Statistical Office: Demography Database: Population as of 31 December 2007).

See also

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