This article details the list of the most populous settlements in Malaysia. Malaysia designates all populated regions into three categories: a district, municipality, or city. While district boundaries are limited to individual state-drawn district boundaries, some municipalities and cities are made up of several smaller component districts whose elevated status forms a local government. Thus, this list does not include component districts and only includes overall administrative localities defined by their respective local governments.

This table lists all cities, municipalities and districts in Malaysia whose population exceeds 250,000 people, according to statistics published in the 2020 Malaysian census by the Malaysian Department of Statistics (DOSM). There are 34 populated regions in Malaysia whose population exceeds 250,000 people. All 13 states and the Federal Territories have at least one city, municipality or district whose population exceeded 250,000 people.

This table displays:

1. The settlement name;
2. The state in which the settlement is located;
3. The settlement's population as of 2020, as estimated in the 2020 census conducted by the DOSM;
4. The settlement's population as of 2010, as estimated in the 2010 census conducted by the DOSM;
5. The settlement's population difference between 2010 and 2020;
6. The land area of the settlement's defined boundaries in square kilometres (km²);
7. The population density of the settlement in people per square kilometres (/km²), as estimated by the settlement's 2020 population figures.
   

More information City, municipality or district, State ...

List of the largest cities, municipalities, districts in Malaysia (in accordance to population figures of over 250,000 people)
City, municipality or district	State	Government census figures				Land area	Density (2020)	Area ref.
		2020	2010	Diff.	Pop. ref.
Kuala Lumpur†	Federal Territories	1,982,112	1,588,750	+24.76%	[1]	243 km2	8,156/km2	[2]
Kajang	Selangor	1,047,356	795,522	+31.66%	[3]	788 km2	1,329/km2	[4]
Seberang Perai	Penang	946,092	818,097	+15.65%	[5]	751 km2	1,265/km2	[6]
Petaling Jaya	Selangor	902,086	613,977	+46.93%	[3]	97 km2	9,300/km2	[7]
Klang*	Selangor	902,025	744,062	+21.23%	[3]	573 km2	1,574/km2	[8]
Johor Bahru#	Johor	858,118	497,067	+72.64%	[9]	373 km2	2,300/km2	[10]
Shah Alam#	Selangor	812,327	541,306	+50.07%	[3]	290 km2	2,801/km2	[11]
George Town#	Penang	794,313	708,127	+12.17%	[5]	306 km2	2,596/km2	[12]
Subang Jaya	Selangor	771,687	708,296	+8.95%	[3]	162 km2	4,764/km2	[13]
Selayang	Selangor	764,327	542,409	+40.91%	[3]	546 km2	1,400/km2	[14]
Ipoh#	Perak	759,952	657,892	+15.51%	[15]	643 km2	1,182/km2	[16]
Seremban#[note 1]	Negeri Sembilan	681,541	515,490	+32.21%	[18]	923 km2	738/km2	[19]
Iskandar Puteri[note 2]	Johor	575,977	529,074	+8.87%	[9]	403 km2	1,429/km2	[10]
Kuantan#	Pahang	548,014	427,515	+28.19%	[21]	324 km2	1,691/km2	[22]
Sungai Petani	Kedah	545,053	443,488	+22.90%	[23]	913 km2	597/km2	[24]
Ampang Jaya	Selangor	531,904	468,961	+13.42%	[3]	144 km2	3,964/km2	[8]
Kota Kinabalu#	Sabah	500,425	452,058	+10.70%	[25]	352 km2	1,422/km2	[26]
Malacca City#[note 3]	Melaka	453,904	–	–	[28]	270 km2	1,681/km2	[29]
Sandakan	Sabah	439,050	396,290	+10.79%	[25]	2,275 km2	193/km2	[26]
Alor Setar#	Kedah	423,868	405,523	+4.52%	[23]	666 km2	636/km2	[30]
Tawau	Sabah	420,806	397,673	+5.82%	[25]	6,149 km2	68/km2	[26]
Batu Pahat	Johor	401,210	209,461	+91.54%	[9]	1,873 km2	214/km2	[31]
Kota Bharu	Kelantan	396,193	314,964	+25.79%	[32]	116 km2	3,415/km2	[33]
Kuala Terengganu#	Terengganu	375,424	337,533	+11.23%	[34]	605 km2	621/km2	[35]
Kuching#	Sarawak	349,147	325,132	+7.39%	[36]	431 km2	810/km2	[37][38]
Sepang	Selangor	324,585	207,354	+56.54%	[3]	619 km2	524/km2	[39]
Kulim	Kedah	319,056	281,260	+13.44%	[23]	774 km2	412/km2	[24]
Muar*	Johor	314,776	201,148	+56.49%	[9]	1,376 km2	229/km2	[31]
Pasir Gudang	Johor	312,437	46,571	+570.88%	[9]	360 km2	868/km2	[10]
Kuala Langat	Selangor	307,418	220,214	+39.60%	[3]	858 km2	358/km2	[40]
Kulai	Johor	294,156	234,532	+25.42%	[9]	747 km2	394/km2	[10]
Kangar#	Perlis	284,853	225,590	+26.27%	[41]	795 km2	358/km2	[42]
Kuala Selangor	Selangor	281,717	205,257	+37.25%	[3]	1,195 km2	236/km2	[43]
Padawan	Sarawak	260,058	273,485	−4.91%	[36]	984 km2	264/km2	[44]

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Distribution

There are 34 settlements in Malaysia with a population of over 250,000 people. All 13 states and the Federal Territories have at least one settlement in the list. West Malaysia has more settlements that fit this criterion than East Malaysia, with 29 settlements against the East's five. The states with the least amount of settlements in this list are Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Perak, Perlis, Terengganu and the Federal Territories, with one locality each respectively, while the state with the highest amount of settlements with a population above 250,000 is Selangor, with 10 settlements in the list.

More information Population, States ...

Population	States														Regions		Total
	JHR	KDH	KTN	MLK	NSN	PHG	PNG	PRK	PLS	SBH	SWK	SGR	TRG	FT	WM	EM
1,000,000+	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1	–	1	2	–	2
750,000–999,999	1	–	–	–	–	–	2	1	–	–	–	5	–	–	9	–	9
500,000–749,999	1	1	–	–	1	1	–	–	–	1	–	1	–	–	5	1	6
250,000–499,999	4	2	1	1	–	–	–	–	1	2	2	3	1	–	13	4	17
Total	6	3	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	2	10	1	1	29	5	34

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The DOSM does not provide any definitions related to metropolitan areas in Malaysia, nor have any statistical calculations that concern build-up areas surrounding an urban centre. However, several major urban regions, such as the Klang Valley, the George Town Conurbation and the Johor Bahru Conurbation (Southern Conurbation), have been well-described as metropolitan areas since the early-2010s by local media and government authorities in the latest edition of the National Physical Plan. Despite this, there remains some ambiguity in defining the actual boundaries of other smaller counterparts.

There are 12 metropolitan areas in Malaysia. Perlis and Kelantan are the only states without one. The George Town Conurbation, the only urban region that spans three different states (Penang, Kedah and Perak), is also the only metropolitan area where the core city is not its most populated settlement (George Town has a population of 794,313, while Seberang Perai has a population of 946,092).

This table displays:

1. The metropolitan area rank by population as of 2020, as estimated with individual local authority population figures by the DOSM;
2. The name of the metropolitan area;
3. The core city of the metropolitan area;
4. The metropolitan area's population as of 2020, as estimated in the 2020 census conducted by the DOSM;
5. The metropolitan area's population as of 2010, as estimated in the 2010 census conducted by the DOSM;
6. The metropolitan area's population difference between 2010 and 2020;
7. The land area of the metropolitan area's defined boundaries in square kilometres (km²);
8. The population density of the metropolitan area in people per square kilometres (/km²);

• List of capitals in Malaysia
• List of cities in Malaysia