List of cities in the United Kingdom

Examples of major urban areas in the United Kingdom; Liverpool, Edinburgh, Newcastle upon Tyne; and London.

This is a list of cities in the United Kingdom that are officially designated such as of 12 November 2022^[update].^[1][2] It lists those places that have been granted city status by letters patent or royal charter.^[3][4]

There are currently a total of 76 such cities in the United Kingdom: 55 in England, eight in Scotland, seven in Wales, and six in Northern Ireland.^[3] Of these, 24 in England, two in Wales, and two in Northern Ireland have Lord Mayors; four in Scotland have Lord Provosts.^[a] In some cases, the area holding city status does not coincide with the built up area or conurbation of which it forms part. In Greater London, for example, the City of London and that of Westminster each hold city status separately, but no other local authority in the London Region has been granted city status, nor has the Greater London Authority.

In other cases, such as the cities of Canterbury and Lancaster, the status applies to a local government district which extends over a number of towns and rural areas outside the main settlement proper.^[5] In England, the status sometimes applies to civil parishes, such as the city of Ripon; though the status may not apply to the local government district which share their name. For example, the civil parishes of Lichfield and Chichester each hold city status, but the Lichfield District and the Chichester District, in which they are situated, respectively, do not.

The list does not include places like Luton or Northampton which, despite having populations of over 200,000, have not been awarded city status and thus formally remain as towns. As of 2022, there are currently 5 ceremonial counties which contain 3 cities – Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hampshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. Outside the UK within British overseas cities of the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, there are currently five. The number has increased as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, with longstanding cities Gibraltar, Hamilton in Bermuda and Jamestown in St Helena being joined by Stanley in the Falkland Islands and Douglas in the Isle of Man.

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