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Houston — UN urban centre

3,955,046

Houston: 3,955,046 people. Reference: 2025 annual estimate · World rank #115 of 12,138 source urban centres. Source: UN DESA, World Urbanization Prospects 2025 (CC BY 3.0 IGO). Source identifier: 6237; 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: 29.7464, -95.4677. National context uses World Bank estimates, a separate series and geography; no national share is inferred here.

UN population series

YearPeopleMethod
1975106,945Estimate
1980200,144Estimate
1985292,699Estimate
1990526,804Estimate
1995909,993Estimate
20001,229,002Estimate
20051,618,990Estimate
20102,207,141Estimate
20152,807,762Estimate
20203,440,006Estimate
20253,955,046Estimate
20304,282,090Projection
20354,654,323Projection
20404,967,488Projection
20455,233,130Projection
20505,479,773Projection

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.