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Zacatecas, 
Mexico
271,829 people lived in Zacatecas in 2025. It is the 2140th largest of the world's 12,138 cities, and the 47th largest in Mexico.
The UN measures every city in the world the same way, by where the buildings are rather than where the boundary runs, so this figure and Zacatecas's own can differ widely. What counts as a city here.
Verified 2026-09-30 · 73 canaries
People · every five years · 1975 to 2050
How Zacatecas grew
For every 10 people in Zacatecas in 1985, there were 27.1 in 2025.
On the UN's projection it will have 302,410 people in 2050. It passed 250,000 people between 2010 and 2015. The UN first counts it as a city in 1985, when it passed 50,000 people.
projected (after 2025) · how sure the UN is: high moderate low
How to read this: read it left to right, 1975 to 2050, one column every five years, the height being people. Hatching marks the projected years. Below, a strip of the UN's confidence: strong colour where the census maps are recent and detailed, pale where they are not, blank where the place was not counted as a city.
People · your family's years · 1975 to 2050
Zacatecas through your family’s years
Put in the years your family were born. You’ll see how many people lived in Zacatecas in each of those years, and when each of them turned 30.
Mexico · every city · 2025
Where it is
How to read this: Mexico and its 186 cities in 2025, each a dot whose area is its number of people (the largest is Mexico City). Zacatecas is ringed, in colour; the other cities are grey. Neighbouring countries are outlines.
Area and built-up land · km²
How much land it covers
In 2025, Zacatecas covered 54 km², and buildings, roads and other built-up land covered 14 km² of it. That is 52 m² of built-up land for each person, about a square 7 by 7 metres. Since 1985, its built-up land has grown to 3.3 times its size, and its people are 2.7 times as many.
How to read this: each pale square is the city's whole area, the strong square inside it the part that is built on; one scale for all three, so a bigger square is more land. Hatched is the UN's projection.
Of every 100 people in Mexico
Its share of Mexico
Of every 1,000 people in Mexico in 2025, 2 lived in Zacatecas, which is 271,829 people.
How to read this: 1,000 squares stand for everyone in Mexico, one square for every 1,000th person. Count the coloured ones and you have Zacatecas's share; the grey remainder live somewhere else in the country.
Ranked by people · 2025
Cities of a similar size
In the world, 2025
- 2133 Nzérékoré Guinea272,866
- 2134 Dalla India272,778
- 2138 Guna India271,913
- 2139 Gunung Lingkas Indonesia271,868
- 2140 Zacatecas271,829
- 2141 Chengarchar Bangladesh271,704
- 2143 Thakurgaon Bangladesh271,454
- 2148 Kimberley South Africa271,078
- 2149 Jind India270,881
In Mexico, 2025
- 1913 Orizaba300,041
- 1942 Coatzacoalcos297,319
- 1960 Colima295,757
- 2065 Heroica Nogales281,580
- 2140 Zacatecas271,829
- 2267 Cabo San Lucas257,436
- 2419 Monclova242,237
- 3815 San José del Cabo158,693
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 Zacatecas are the UN's own, at five-year steps: an estimate for each of 1985 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 Zacatecas 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