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Fresno, 
United States
685,330 people lived in Fresno in 2025. It is the 785th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 29th largest in the United States.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Fresno governs, so it may be far from the number the city publishes about itself. How the UN measures a city.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Fresno grew
Where Fresno had 10 people in 1980, it had 90.5 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 712,176 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1990 and 1995. The UN first counts it as a city in 1980, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: one column every five years, 1975 to 2050; its height is the number of people. Hatched columns are the UN's projection. The thin strip beneath says how sure the UN is of each figure: the stronger the colour, the surer. A blank means the place was not on the UN's list of cities that year.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Fresno through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Fresno in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
United States · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Fresno is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of the United States in 2025, 348 in all, led by New York City, each drawn with an area that matches its people. Countries next door are outlines only.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Fresno covered 281 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 90 km² of it. That is 131 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 11 by 11 metres. Since 1980, its built-up land has grown to 6.3 times its size, and its people are 9.1 times as many.
How to read this: the outer pale square stands for all the land the city covers, and the solid square inside it for the part with buildings, roads and the like on it. All three squares share a scale, so you can compare them by eye. A hatched one is a year the UN has projected.
Of every 100 people in the United States
Its share of the United States
Of every 1,000 people in the United States in 2025, 2 lived in Fresno, which is 685,330 people.
How to read this: shrink the United States to 1,000 people and this is what you get. The coloured squares are the ones who would live in Fresno; the grey ones are everybody else, in other cities, in towns and out in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 781 Cuito Angola689,795
- 782 Sorocaba Brazil689,775
- 783 Zurich Switzerland689,657
- 784 Zhoukou China689,599
- 785 Fresno685,330
- 786 Beni Suef Egypt684,414
- 787 Okara Pakistan683,747
- 788 Akola India683,391
- 789 Vapi India682,459
In the United States, 2025
- 595 Saint Petersburg877,183
- 653 Detroit809,894
- 732 Columbus731,335
- 764 Milwaukee701,928
- 785 Fresno685,330
- 817 St. Louis663,392
- 873 West Palm Beach617,035
- 898 El Paso605,731
- 965 Norfolk567,473
How to read this: the figure in front of a name is where that city stands among the 12,138 cities the UN counted in 2025, and each bar is its people, on one scale per list. Numbers are missing where a city has fewer than 300,000 people and so has no page of its own.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Fresno are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1980 to 2025, then projection to 2050. Projected years are drawn hatched, and the UN publishes no range of uncertainty for a city. What a city means here, how the UN measures one, and why that number can differ from the one Fresno publishes about itself: how the figures here are put together.
Sources: UN WUP 2025 · Natural Earth · flag-icons. Every source, its licence and how to cite it →
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries