Largest Cities and Localities by Population in Ecuador

134 cities and localities in Ecuador with 10,000 or more inhabitants, ranked by population at the census of November 30, 2022 (by National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, Ecuador).

Rank	City or Locality	Population
1	Guayaquil	2,650,288
2	Quito	1,763,275
3	Cuenca	361,524
4	Santo Domingo de los Colorados	334,826
5	Durán (Eloy Alfaro)	295,211
6	Machala	288,072
7	Manta	258,697
8	Calderón	249,941
9	Portoviejo	244,129
10	Loja	203,496
11	Quevedo	177,792
12	Ambato	177,316
13	Riobamba	177,213
14	Milagro	159,970
15	Ibarra	157,941
16	Esmeraldas	155,487
17	Conocoto	121,984
18	La Auroraincl. San Antonio	116,593
19	La Libertad	112,154
20	Babahoyo	98,251
21	SangolquíRumiñahui	96,647
22	Latacunga	77,267
23	Montecristi	71,066
24	Tumbaco	70,789
25	Pasaje	60,147
26	Santa Rosa	56,842
27	Tulcán	56,719
28	Huaquillas	56,021
29	Nueva Loja (Lago Agrio)	55,627
30	La Puntilla	55,357
31	Chone	54,629
32	Santa Elena	54,565
33	El Carmen	52,366
34	Puerto Francisco de OrellanaCiudad Coco	51,281
35	Playas (General Villamil)	48,156
36	Buena Fé (San Jacinto de Buena Fé)	46,779
37	Daule	46,438
38	Jipijapa	45,382
39	San Antonio de Pichincha	45,380
40	Cayambe	44,559
41	El Empalme (Velasco Ibarra)	41,778
42	Cumbayá	41,740
43	Otavalo	41,718
44	Ventanas	41,531
45	El Triunfo	41,042
46	La Troncal	39,600
47	Naranjal	39,323
48	José Luis Tamayo (Muey)	35,833
49	Azogues	35,763
50	La Concordia	35,474
51	Salinas	35,066
52	Vinces	35,064
53	Naranjito	34,664
54	PuyoPastaza	33,325
55	Balzar	32,744
56	La Maná	31,740
57	Quinindé (Rosa Zárate)	31,120
58	Posorja	30,886
59	Guaranda	30,755
60	Tena	29,724
61	Pomasqui	28,724
62	San Lorenzo	28,491
63	Jaramijó	28,397
64	Pedernales	27,068
65	Catamayo	27,026
66	El Guabo	26,635
67	AtuntaquiAntonio Ante	25,115
68	Pedro Carbo	24,882
69	Machachi	24,188
70	Valencia	22,996
71	Yaguachi (San Jacinto de Yaguachi)	22,972
72	San Carlos	22,529
73	MacasMorona	22,398
74	Bahía de CaráquezSucre	22,209
75	Arenillas	21,524
76	CalcetaBolivar	20,011
77	Atacames	18,948
78	Piñas	18,482
79	Zamora	17,584
80	Samborondón	17,068
81	SalcedoSan Miguel	16,751
82	Lomas de Sargentillo	16,603
83	Shushufindi	16,328
84	Montalvo	16,248
85	Pujilí	16,152
86	Chaupitenaincl. Tena, Santa Isabel	16,066
87	La Joya de los Sachas	16,023
88	Santo Domingo de Cutuglahua (Cutuglahua)	15,356
89	Virgen de Fátima	15,066
90	Anconcito	15,033
91	Llano Chico	14,741
92	San GabrielMontúfar	14,497
93	Baños de Agua Santa	14,100
94	Gualaceo (Santiago de Gualaceo)	13,843
95	San Antonio de Ibarra	13,626
96	El Salitre	13,571
97	Ricaurte	13,378
98	Izamba	13,365
99	Guayllabamba	13,336
100	Yantzaza	13,335
101	Cariamanga	13,175
102	Cañar	13,148
103	Tabacundo	13,019
104	Pifo	12,868
105	Balao	12,850
106	San Juan	12,819
107	Puerto Ayora	12,696
108	Puerto López	12,598
109	Macará	12,454
110	Santa Ana de Vuelta Larga	11,918
111	Charapotó	11,879
112	Rocafuerte	11,848
113	Tonsupa	11,526
114	Cumandá	11,442
115	Pelileo	11,403
116	Huachi Grande	11,335
117	Tosagua	11,317
118	Santa Rosa	11,310
119	Yaruquí	11,276
120	Santa Lucía	10,924
121	Sucúa	10,846
122	Amaguaña	10,628
123	Tarifa	10,584
124	Cotacachi	10,526
125	La Unión	10,480
126	San Vicente	10,404
127	Palestina	10,392
128	Crucita	10,318
129	Camilo Ponce Enríquez	10,015
130	Nobol	10,010
131	Zaruma	10,005
132	Saquisilí	9,883
133	Píllaro	9,816
134	Puerto Baquerizo MorenoSan Cristóbal	7,290

Source: National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, Ecuador (2022 census), via City Population by Thomas Brinkhoff.

Why don't these match official city populations?Official figures typically count only the population within administrative boundaries. UN urban area figures cover the entire built-up area, which can include multiple cities and towns.Show moreShow less

Tokyo

33,338,852

Urban area

9,953,160

23 wards

Essen

2,709,375

Urban area

573,618

City of Essen

Ankara

3,630,865

Urban area

5,186,002

Metropolitan municipality

What counts as an urban area? The UN uses satellite imagery to map built-up land, and treats each continuous stretch of built-up land as an urban area. This means that urban areas can extend beyond official city boundaries, and may include multiple cities and towns within a single urban area.

Can an urban area be smaller than its city? Yes. While most cities have urban areas larger than their administrative boundaries, some cities have extensive administrative limits that include sparsely populated areas.

32 urban areas in Ecuador with 50,000 or more inhabitants, ranked by the UN's population estimates for 2026.

Rank	Urban Area	Population Estimate (2026)	Yearly Change	Land Area (km²)	Density (P/km²)	World Rank	Projections (2030)	Projections (2050)
1	Guayaquil	3,187,080	+0.92%	314	10,143	155	3,304,098	3,641,317
2	Quito	2,557,064	+0.87%	387	6,601	196	2,645,662	2,907,330
3	Cuenca	484,493	+0.46%	89	5,444	1,154	493,378	540,234
4	Santo Domingo de los Tsachilas	359,249	+0.67%	57	6,303	1,605	368,927	406,089
5	Manta	290,388	+0.91%	62	4,699	2,017	300,917	353,482
6	Ambato	278,151	+1.25%	70	3,974	2,108	292,068	344,433
7	Salinas [Santa Elena]	263,677	+1.33%	62	4,280	2,242	277,741	319,026
8	Machala	261,524	+0.32%	41	6,379	2,260	264,861	272,436
9	Portoviejo	230,607	+0.77%	46	5,013	2,574	237,741	261,492
10	Quevedo	187,433	+0.70%	33	5,680	3,256	192,645	211,745
11	Riobamba	186,771	+0.62%	36	5,188	3,268	191,377	229,787
12	City of Loja	173,647	+0.64%	28	6,158	3,527	178,092	196,427
13	Ibarra	170,736	+1.53%	39	4,356	3,596	181,184	248,702
14	Milagro	163,694	+0.56%	24	6,821	3,736	167,367	182,569
15	Esmeraldas	144,995	+0.90%	18	7,880	4,256	150,229	172,541
16	Babahoyo	105,521	+1.01%	13	7,994	5,926	109,773	119,424
17	Cumbaya	104,432	+2.40%	41	2,547	5,994	114,467	143,859
18	Latacunga	88,119	+0.77%	23	3,831	7,145	90,819	103,787
19	Barrio Codesa	85,797	+0.92%	16	5,362	7,346	88,947	115,323
20	Daule	83,546	+1.25%	8.00	10,443	7,554	87,725	105,596
21	El Carmen	73,084	+1.12%	11	6,525	8,619	76,349	86,570
22	Nueva Loja	71,210	+0.88%	18	3,956	8,824	73,728	84,560
23	Chone	66,341	+0.67%	9.00	7,371	9,464	68,131	77,914
24	Puerto Francisco de Orellana	66,261	+1.02%	14	4,733	9,475	68,959	88,961
25	Puerto Hondo	61,184	+1.70%	12	5,015	10,254	65,353	80,969
26	Tulcán	59,586	+1.42%	12	4,884	10,500	62,962	75,810
27	Quinindé	58,455	+0.66%	7.00	8,351	10,672	59,996	72,406
28	Otavalo	57,502	+2.49%	12	4,957	10,842	63,231	83,151
29	Pasaje	56,893	+0.43%	12	4,741	10,978	57,874	60,152
30	Vinces	54,856	+1.18%	8.00	6,857	11,348	57,445	69,147
31	Huaquillas	51,364	+1.15%	10	4,939	11,989	53,730	54,869
32	Cayambe	50,617	+0.83%	14	3,615	12,058	52,288	63,199

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2025). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2025 Revision, Online Edition.

Data topics

Reference

Tools

Largest Cities and Localities by Population in Ecuador

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