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San Francisco — UN urban centre

3,163,486

San Francisco: 3,163,486 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #155 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 1233; territory: United States (USA). UN source workbook.

Method: Degree of Urbanisation (contiguous 1 km2 cells, density 1,500+ people/km2, total 50,000+). This is a source-defined urban centre, not a municipality or province. No association with a separate administrative entity is inferred from proximity or name.

Source centroid: 37.7908, -122.6252. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
19752,136,513Estimate
19802,303,392Estimate
19852,462,695Estimate
19902,643,725Estimate
19952,741,579Estimate
20002,836,968Estimate
20052,893,112Estimate
20102,963,104Estimate
20153,047,712Estimate
20203,122,361Estimate
20253,163,486Estimate
20303,219,679Projection
20353,244,669Projection
20403,265,085Projection
20453,281,086Projection
20503,290,101Projection

Largest UN urban centres · Fastest-growing urban centres

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This page is a structured reference entry. Its sources, geographic definition and reference dates determine what the figures mean; it is not independent reporting about the causes of change. Read the accompanying explanation before comparing different places or vintages.

Why an urban centre is not a municipality →

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