Topics
Xalapa, 
Mexico
542,213 people lived in Xalapa in 2025. It is the 1018th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 27th largest in Mexico.
That figure counts the whole built-up area, not the area Xalapa 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 Xalapa grew
For every 10 people in Xalapa in 1975, there were 44.3 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 567,838 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 1985 and 1990.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: each column is one of the UN's five-yearly estimates, 1975 through 2050, and taller means more people. Where a column is hatched the year has not happened yet. The strip under the columns is the UN's own confidence in each figure, palest where it is least sure; where it is blank the city was not on the list at all.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Xalapa through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Xalapa in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Mexico · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Xalapa is the dot in colour with a ring around it. The grey dots are the other cities of Mexico in 2025, 186 in all, led by Mexico 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, Xalapa covered 82 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 22 km² of it. That is 40 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 6 by 6 metres. Since 1975, its built-up land has grown to 2.3 times its size, and its people are 4.4 times as many.
How to read this: pale is the whole of the city's land; the stronger square inside it is what is actually built on. The three are drawn to the same scale, so a larger square really is more land, and hatching means the year is the UN's projection rather than a count.
Of every 100 people in Mexico
Its share of Mexico
Of every 1,000 people in Mexico in 2025, 4 lived in Xalapa, which is 542,213 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares, one for every 1,000th person in Mexico; the coloured squares live in Xalapa. The grey rest live in other cities, in towns or in the countryside.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 1014 Khabarovsk Russia543,422
- 1015 Salt Lake City United States542,449
- 1016 Djelfa Algeria542,414
- 1017 Leipzig Germany542,313
- 1018 Xalapa542,213
- 1019 Durango541,787
- 1020 Chengtougu China541,451
- 1021 Kendal Indonesia541,030
- 1022 Honolulu United States540,683
In Mexico, 2025
- 847 Morelia637,430
- 877 Reynosa615,168
- 901 Tampico603,035
- 947 Tuxtla Gutiérrez580,878
- 1018 Xalapa542,213
- 1019 Durango541,787
- 1023 Matamoros540,236
- 1101 Oaxaca de Juárez502,534
- 1152 Villahermosa481,525
How to read this: names are in order of size, the leading number being each city's rank among all 12,138 in 2025; the bars share a scale within a list. A jump in the ranks means a city under 300,000 people, which is not given a page here.
Apparatus
Sources and method
The figures for Xalapa are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1975 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 Xalapa 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