List of municipalities in Thailand

Thailand is a country in Southeast Asia with many cities and towns. The country has special ways to organize its cities called "thesaban." There are three sizes of city areas: city municipalities, towns, and townships. As of November 2024, there are 33 city municipalities in Thailand.

The capital city, Bangkok, and the special city of Pattaya are not part of these regular city groups. They are managed in their own way. Most city areas are within the main district of their province, but Chiang Mai is different—it covers more than one district.

Thailand’s cities grow, so the government often updates their official boundaries to match the real size of the city. These updates are made official by royal decree and published in the Royal Thai Government Gazette. The updated area is called “khet mueang,” which means urban area.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai are the biggest cities, each with over one million people. Thailand’s urbanization rate is about 52%, meaning more than half of the country’s people live in cities and towns. Different government offices count people in different ways, so population numbers can vary depending on who is counting.

City municipalities

The table below shows information about city municipalities in Thailand from 2020. These numbers usually only include the main part of each city, not the whole area around it. Some cities, like Koh Samui and some cities close to Bangkok such as Nonthaburi, Pak Kret, Samut Prakan, Nakhon Pathom, and Samut Sakhon, are exceptions because their populations are counted for their smaller, specific areas.

Largest cities by urban population

This section shows the 10 biggest cities in Thailand by how many people live in them. The numbers come from the Department of Local Administration and show how big each city is now, including any growth since it became a city.

Bangkok and Chiang Mai are special because they cover more than one area and are the only cities with over one million people. Pattaya is also large, even though it is its own area inside another district called Bang Lamung. It has grown to include nearby smaller areas. Chiang Mai is the only city that includes areas next to its main district.

Gallery of cityscapes

• Pattaya

• Chiang Mai, the largest urban area in the north and second-largest urban area in the country

• Hat Yai, part of the largest urban area (conurbation) in the south (Greater Hat Yai-Songkhla)

Town municipalities

Department of Local Administration (DLA) figures. The towns in bold characters are capitals.

Township municipalities

There were 2,266 township municipalities as of 20 December 2017.