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San Diego โ€” UN urban centre population

Modelled live estimate ยท UN 2025โ€“2026 annual growth
1,915,114
Recorded base: 1,915,114 ยท 2025 annual estimate

San Diego has a recorded base population of 1,915,114 for the UN urban centre definition (2025 annual estimate). UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025; the moving counter uses UN 2025โ€“2026 annual growth, not new population observations.

At a glance

Population definitionUN urban centre
Recorded population1,915,114
Country share0.56% of 341,784,857 (World Bank 2025)
World share0.023% of 8,215,424,893 (World Bank 2025)
Country database rank#10 of 223 UN urban centre records
World database rank#215 of 5,233 UN urban centre records

Separate UN urban-centre definition

San Diego UN urban centre: 1,915,114 people (2025), equal to the displayed UN urban centre figure of 1,915,114. Separate GeoNames settlement record: 1,404,452; the UN value is larger (different boundaries; GeoNames population date unavailable). UN WUP 2025 Degree of Urbanisation; not a municipal/province boundary. Association: name/country/coordinates matched; boundary relationship unverified. No containment claim is made.

Administrative units of San Diego

3 administrative records listed; completeness not established. 3 of 3 population values available; population values and dates not independently verified.

Available-value subtotal: 172,808; not a reconciled total. Shares use the displayed UN urban centre denominator 1,915,114; mixed/unknown dates are not comparable. An em dash means missing, not zero.

UnitPopulationShareMembership
Mira Mesa70,0003.66%Not independently verified
Rancho Penasquitos60,0003.13%Not independently verified
La Jolla42,8082.24%Not independently verified

Comparable database records

Same definition label: UN urban centre. Dates/boundaries may still differ; this is not a harmonised international city ranking. Ratios use 1,915,114 as denominator.

PlacePopulationvs San Diego
Lisbon1,913,798โˆ’0.1%
Bucharest1,909,536โˆ’0.3%
Sialkot1,907,978โˆ’0.4%
Beni1,923,700+0.4%
Malang1,899,616โˆ’0.8%

About these numbers

Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025. Reference: 2025 annual estimate. Live method: exponential projection from modelling anchor 2025-01-01 using UN 2025โ€“2026 annual growth (+0.95% per year). This anchor is a modelling convention, not an observed population date. Tiles, ranks and comparisons use the recorded base figure 1,915,114, not the ticking estimate. Country/world denominators are World Bank values and can differ in date and method from local/UN values. Ranks cover only records with the same definition label in this database, not all cities in the world.

Harmonised UN urban-centre ranking ยท Embed

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Urban and administrative population explained โ†’

Interpretation reviewed 12 October 2026. Underlying reference years are stated on the page; this is not a fresh census or dataset refresh.