Wales has a hierarchy of settlements that ranges from tiny hamlets to bustling cities. Official designations are based on historical, cultural, and administrative criteria.
Wales currently has seven officially designated cities: Cardiff, Swansea, Newport, Bangor, St. Davids, St. Asaph, and Wrexham. Cardiff is the capital and largest city of Wales, while Swansea is the second largest city. Newport is an industrial and cultural hub. Bangor is the oldest cathedral city in Wales. St. Davids is the smallest city in the United Kingdom. St. Asaph and Wrexham are comparatively new cities, the former gaining city status in 2012, while the latter was so designated in 2022.
The UK's Rural/Urban Classification, used in Wales, defines settlements as Urban (population over 10,000), Town and Fringe, Village, and Hamlet and isolated dwellings.
However, localities in Wales are generally referred to as hamlets, villages, towns, or cities.
The smallest type of settlement, a hamlet typically consists of just a handful of houses, and usually lacks a church, shops, or other services.
Larger than hamlets, villages are often centred around a parish church. Traditionally, villages are rural, although there are some urban villages. Populations can vary widely, sometimes exceeding 10,000.
Towns are historically defined by having a market. Usually larger than villages, they offer more services and amenities. In modern classifications, towns are often settlements with populations over 10,000, but not granted city status.
Historically, a settlement was considered a city if it had a cathedral. In modern Britain, city status is granted by royal charter rather than by population size alone. Some Welsh cities are very small, such as St. Davids, with fewer than 2,000 residents, while others are large urban centres like Cardiff.
The settlement hierarchy in Wales reflects both historical traditions and modern administrative designations. Hamlets and villages embody rural life, towns serve as local service centres, and cities - whether tiny cathedral settlements or major urban hubs - carry symbolic and administrative importance. The fact that Wales' smallest city, St. Davids, has fewer than 2,000 residents, while Cardiff exceeds 350,000 illustrates that city status is not about size but about royal recognition and cultural significance.
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Recommended Resources
City Population: Major Cities in Wales
Hosted in Germany, City Population is a highly comprehensive, independently run reference site that compiles population statistics, maps, and time series for countries, administrative divisions, cities, urban agglomerations, and related units worldwide. Its Wales section is a structured index that lists Wales' principal unitary towns and districts, with area, census counts, and population estimates, with links to deeper pages, such as profiles, wards, maps, and charts for each.
https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/cities/wales/
The Wales Map is an interactive, highly detailed online map of Wales with over 600 linked points that lead to further information about Welsh towns, beaches, castles, stations, islands, and other destinations, designed to let users click through places and resources across Wales. Maintained by an individual, identified as Paul, who is associated with PR Design and Print, the map can be used to plan visits, explore attractions, or find local links, such as tourist boards, and so on.
https://thewalesmap.com/
On the official gateway to Wales, its culture, landscapes, history, and global connections, Wales.com is run by the Welsh government and serves as a hub for tourism. Its section on Welsh towns and cities features several blog-style articles on various localities in Wales, including each of Wales' designated cities, as well as other localities and geographical destinations. Each of its listings links to additional pages about various places to see and things to do within the locality.
https://www.wales.com/geography/towns-cities
