List of cities and towns in Malaysia by population

The following is a list of cities and towns in Malaysia by population according to various sources and methods of calculations.

Explanation

The population situation for Malaysian cities is very confusing, even to Malaysians, and is in a constant definition revamp that just confuses more. There are LGAs (Local government areas), in urbanised areas mostly town and city councils, which do not fit cleanly into districts or correspond to them, haphazardly, and furthermore, in 2013 the Malaysian government released population figures for 2010 Census for only 12 cities/towns that fail to correspond with LGAs or Districts data. Therefore, all the Malaysian statistical agency published manners of data are presented here, in addition to 3rd party information.

Population by local government areas

The following is a list of 50 largest cities or towns based on the population within the local government area according to the 2010 census.

Sortable table

Rank	Local government area	Total population	Notes	Status
1	Kuala Lumpur	1,588,750		City
2	Seberang Perai	818,197	Includes Butterworth, Bukit Mertajam	Municipality
3	Kajang	795,522		Municipality
4	Klang	744,062		Municipality
5	Subang Jaya	708,296		Municipality
6	George Town	708,127	All of Penang Island	City
7	Ipoh	657,892		City
8	Shah Alam	641,306		City
9	Petaling Jaya	613,977		City
10	Selayang	542,409		Municipality
11	Johor Bahru Tengah	529,074	Most areas of Johor Bahru District except Johor Bahru (city).	Municipality
12	Johor Bahru	497,067		City
13	Malacca City	484,855		City
14	Muar	471,148		Municipality
15	Ampang Jaya	468,961		Municipality
16	Kota Kinabalu	452,058		City
17	Sungai Petani	456,605		Municipality
18	Kuantan	427,515		Municipality
19	Alor Setar	405,523		City
20	Tawau	397,673	The largest town in Sabah.	Municipality
21	Sandakan	396,290		Municipality
22	Kuala Terengganu	337,553		City
23	Kota Bharu	314,964		Municipality
24	Seremban	314,502		Municipality
25	Kulim	281,260		Municipality
26	Padawan	273,485	Part of Kuching.	Municipality
27	Taiping	245,182		Municipality
28	Kulai	235,072	Kulai District, including Senai	District
29	Miri	234,541	2nd largest city in Sarawak	City
30	Kangar	225,590		Municipality
31	Kuala Langat	220,214		District
32	Kubang Pasu	214,479		District
33	Bintulu	212,994		Development Board
34	Manjung	211,113		Municipality
35	Batu Pahat	209,461		Municipality
36	Sepang	207,354		Municipality
37	Kuala Selangor	205,257		District
38	Nilai	200,988	Most areas of Seremban (district) except Seremban (town).	Municipality
39	Lahad Datu	199,830		District
40	Hulu Selangor	194,387		District
41	Kinabatangan	182,328		District
42	Pasir Mas	180,878		District
43	Penampang	176,667	Part of Greater Kota Kinabalu.	District
44	Alor Gajah	173,712		Municipality
45	Keningau	173,103		District
46	Kluang	167,833		Municipality
47	Kemaman	166,750		Municipality
48	Kuching North	165,642		City
49	Sibu	162,676		Municipality
50	Kuching South	159,490		City

Population by administrative districts

The following is a list of largest cities or towns by the population of the administrative districts according to the 2010 Malaysian General Census.

Sortable table

Rank	District	2010 Population	Area (km2)	Cities/Towns and notes	State
1	Petaling	1,812,633	458	Shah Alam, Petaling Jaya and Subang Jaya (part of Greater Kuala Lumpur)	Selangor
2	Kuala Lumpur	1,674,621	243	Part of Greater Kuala Lumpur	Federal Territory
3	Johor Bahru District	1,386,569	1,112	Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Skudai, Nusajaya (part of Iskandar Malaysia)	Johor
4	Hulu Langat	1,156,585	840	Kajang, Cheras, Ampang (part of Greater Kuala Lumpur)	Selangor
5	Klang	861,189	636	Klang, Port Klang (part of Greater Kuala Lumpur)	Selangor
6	Kinta	767,794	1,975	Ipoh, Batu Gajah	Perak
7	North-East Penang Island	738,500	121	Georgetown (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Penang
8	Gombak	682,226	628	Selayang, Rawang (part of Greater Kuala Lumpur)	Selangor
9	Kuching	617,887	1,863	Kuching	Sarawak
10	Seremban	555,935	959	Seremban, Nilai	Negeri Sembilan
11	Central Malacca	503,127	689	Malacca City, Ayer Keroh	Malacca
12	Kota Bharu	491,237	403	Kota Bharu	Kelantan
13	Muar	471,148	2,370	Muar	Johor
14	Kota Kinabalu	462,963	351	Kota Kinabalu	Sabah
15	Kuantan	461,906	3,067	Kuantan	Pahang
16	Kuala Muda	456,605	930	Sungai Petani (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Kedah
17	Batu Pahat	417,458	1,999	Batu Pahat, Yong Peng, Parit Raja	Johor
18	Tawau	412,375	6,125	Tawau	Sabah
19	Sandakan	409,056	2,266	Sandakan	Sabah
20	Central Seberang Perai	371,975	239	Bukit Mertajam (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Penang
21	Kota Setar	366,787	670	Alor Setar	Kedah
22	Kuala Terengganu	343,284	604	Kuala Terengganu	Terengganu
23	Larut & Matang	334,073	2,095	Taiping	Perak
24	Miri	300,543	4,707	Miri	Sarawak
25	Kluang	298,332	2,885	Kluang	Johor
26	North Seberang Perai	295,979	269	Butterworth (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Penang
27	Kulim	287,694	768	Kulim (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Kedah
28	Kulai District	253,394	753	Includes all administrative areas of Kulai District (part of Iskandar Malaysia)	Johor
29	Sibu	247,995	2,230	Sibu	Sarawak
30	Manjung	232,227	1,074	Sitiawan	Perak
31	Perlis	231,541	821	Kangar	Perlis
32	Kuala Langat	224,648	885	Banting	Selangor
33	Kubang Pasu	220,740	954	Jitra	Kedah
34	Sepang	211,361	612	Sepang, Kuala Lumpur International Airport	Selangor
35	Kuala Selangor	209,590	1,232	Kuala Selangor	Selangor
36	Hilir Perak	208,570	1,752	Teluk Intan	Perak
37	Lahad Datu	206,861	7,444	Lahad Datu	Sabah
38	South-West Penang Island	202,142	176	Bayan Lepas (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Penang
39	Hulu Selangor	198,132	1,764	Kuala Kubu Bharu	Selangor
40	Kota Tinggi	193,210	3,433	Kota Tinggi	Johor
41	Segamat	189,820	2,879	Segamat	Johor
42	Pasir Mas	189,292	572	Pasir Mas	Kelantan
43	Bintulu	189,146	7,220	Bintulu	Sarawak
44	Alor Gajah	182,666	674	Alor Gajah, Masjid Tanah	Malacca
45	Kerian	179,706	905	Parit Buntar	Perak
46	Batang Padang	179,494	2,738	Tanjung Malim, Tapah	Perak
47	Keningau	177,735	3,533	Keningau	Sabah
48	Kemaman	171,383	2,581	Chukai	Terengganu
49	South Seberang Perai	171,045	243	Nibong Tebal, Sungai Jawi (part of Greater Penang conurbation)	Penang
50	Temerloh	165,451	2,471	Temerloh	Pahang

Largest urban agglomerations

The following is a list of 10 largest urban agglomerations, metropolitan areas or conurbations based on 2010 population census within local government areas surrounding the urban agglomeration and based on Google Earth compared the population within districts boundaries as wells as figures obtained from other online web sources.

Sortable table

Rank	Area	Local government(s)	Total population (local government areas)	District(s)	Total population (districts)	Demographia	City Population (2000)	World Gazetteer
1	Greater Kuala Lumpur/ Klang Valley	Kuala Lumpur City Hall: 1,588,750 Petaling Jaya City Council: 613,977 Shah Alam City Council: 641,306 Selayang Municipal Council: 542,409 Klang Municipal Council: 744,062 Subang Jaya Municipal Council: 708,296 Ampang Jaya Municipal Council: 468,961 Kajang Municipal Council: 795,522	6,071,644	Kuala Lumpur: 1,674,621 Petaling: 1,812,633 Hulu Langat: 1,156,585 Klang: 861,189 Gombak: 682,226	6,187,254	6,094,000	4,815,400	-
2	Greater Penang Conurbation/ Greater Penang	Penang Island City Council: 708,127 Seberang Perai Municipal Council: 818,197 Sungai Petani Municipal Council: 443,488 Kulim Municipal Council: 281,260	2,251,072	North-East Penang Island: 520,202 Central Seberang Perai: 371,975 North Seberang Perai: 295,979 South-West Penang Island: 202,142 South Seberang Perai: 171,045 Kuala Muda: 456,605 Kulim: 287,694	2,305,642	1,450,000	1,266,800	-
3	Johor Bahru/ Iskandar Malaysia	Johor Bahru City Council: 497,067 Johor Bahru Tengah Municipal Council:529,074 Pasir Gudang Municipal Council: 46,571 Kulai Municipal Council: 234,532	1,277,244	Johor Bahru District: 1,386,569 Kulaijaya: 251,650	1,638,219	1,578,000	1,013,000	-
4	Ipoh	Ipoh City Council: 657,892 Batu Gajah District Council: 79,969	737,861	Kinta: 767,794	767,794	625,000	608,100	798,708
5	Kuching	Kuching North City Hall: 165,642 Kuching South City Council: 159,490 Padawan Municipal Council: 273,485 Samarahan District Council: 116,685	715,302	Kuching: 617,887	617,887	450,000	-	-
6	Greater Kota Kinabalu	Kota Kinabalu City Hall: 452,058 Penampang District Council: 176,667	628,725	Kota Kinabalu: 462,963 Penampang: 125,913 Putatan: 55,864	644,740	-	-	-
7	Malacca City	Historical Malacca City Council: 484,885	484,885	Central Malacca: 503,127	503,127	-	-	-
8	Kuantan	Kuantan Municipal Council: 427,515	427,515	Kuantan: 461,906	461,906	-	-	-
9	Alor Setar	Alor Setar City Council: 405,523	405,523	Kota Setar: 366,797	366,787	-	-	-
10	Kota Bharu	Kota Bharu Municipal Council: 314,964	314,964	Kota Bharu: 491,237	491,237	-	-	-

See also

• Cities of Malaysia
• List of capitals in Malaysia
• List of cities in Malaysia by population