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San Diego — UN urban centre

1,915,114

San Diego: 1,915,114 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #260 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 2295; 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: 32.72, -117.0856. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975308,888Estimate
1980499,235Estimate
1985748,622Estimate
1990989,247Estimate
19951,189,623Estimate
20001,315,987Estimate
20051,442,336Estimate
20101,562,240Estimate
20151,667,485Estimate
20201,805,344Estimate
20251,915,114Estimate
20302,006,367Projection
20352,086,028Projection
20402,145,748Projection
20452,200,466Projection
20502,234,848Projection

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.