User:Rune.welsh/Sandbox/List of metropolitan areas of Mexico

Location and extent of the 55 metropolitan areas in Mexico as of 2004. Shading is related to the areas population, where a darker tone indicates a larger population.

The following is a list of all metropolitan areas in Mexico as defined in 2004 by a joint task force of the National Population Council (CONAPO), the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) and the National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Data Processing (INEGI).

The task force identified a total of 55 metropolitan areas in the country. The state with most metropolitan areas is Veracruz with nine (eight being entirely in its territory and one shared with the neighbouring state of Tamaulipas). Three states do not have any: Baja California Sur, Campeche and Sinaloa. The only entity whose area is entirely within a metropolitan area is the Federal District.

Background

The first attempt to clasify metropolitan areas in Mexico in a systematic way was done by Luis Unikel in 1976, where he followed a definition set by an expert panel appointed the United Nations in 1966.

Definition and criteria for delimitation

Extent of the urban spread in the Federal District. Note that the southern part is mostly undeveloped, however the District's entire area is included by the definition of metropolitan area. A similar situation occurs in many other metro areas, especially in the north of the country.

In the 2004 definition of metropolitan areas, municipalities were classified as being either core or external per their relationship with the main city.

Core municipalities

Core municipalities contain the main city and are considered to be the source of the metropolitan area. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy one of the following criteria:

• Municipalities which are physically joined by a continuous urban spread with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants.
• Municipalities with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants which also have a high degree of physical and functional integration with neighbouring municipalities of predominantly urban character. These are said to be in conurbation.
• Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 1 million inhabitants.
• Single municipalities which contain a city of at least 250,000 inhabitants and share conurbation processes with a city across the border with the United States.

External muncipalities

External municipalities are not in conurbation with the main city, but instead are functionally related to it. To be identified as such, a municipality must satisfy all the following geographical and statistical criteria:

• The main settlement of the municipality (usually where municipal president is located) must not be more than 10 km away from the main city and linked to it by a paved, two-line highway.
• At least 15% of the working age population must be employed in the core municipalities. Alternatively, 10% of the employed population in the external municipality must live in core municipalities.
• At least 75% of the employed population must work in activities other than agriculture.
• Must have a mean population density of 20 inhabitants per hectare.

In addition some cases were identified where legislation (either local or federal) considered a municipality part of a metropolitan area for the purposes of urban planning and policy. These were also included in the external muncipality count as part of the study.

	Metropolitan area	State(s)	Core municipalities	External municipalities	Total
1	Aguascalientes	Aguascalientes	1	1	2
2	Tijuana	Baja California	2	-	2
3	Chihuahua	Chihuahua	1	2	3
4	Ciudad Juárez	Chihuahua	1	-	1
5	Monclova–Frontera	Coahuila	2	1	3
6	Piedras Negras	Coahuila	2	-	2
7	Saltillo	Coahuila	2	1	3
8	La Laguna	Coahuila, Durango	3	1	4
9	Colima–Villa de Álvarez	Colima	2	-	2
10	Tecomán	Colima	2	-	2
11	Tuxtla Gutiérrez	Chiapas	2	-	2
12	Valle de México	Federal District, Hidalgo, Mexico	51	24	75
13	León	Guanajuato	1	1	2
14	Moroleón–Uriangato	Guanajuato	2	-	2
15	San Francisco del Rincón	Guanajuato	2	-	2
16	Acapulco	Guerrero	2	-	2
17	Pachuca	Hidalgo	2	5	7
18	Tula	Hidalgo	1	4	5
19	Tulancingo	Hidalgo	3	-	3
20	Guadalajara	Jalisco	6	2	8
21	Ocotlán	Jalisco	2	-	2
22	Puerto Vallarta	Jalisco, Nayarit	2	-	2
23	Toluca	Mexico	7	5	12
24	Morelia	Michoacán	1	1	2
25	Zamora–Jacona	Michoacán	2	-	2
26	La Piedad	Michoacán, Guanajuato	2	-	2
27	Cuautla	Morelos	3	2	5
28	Cuernavaca	Morelos	6	-	6
29	Tepic	Nayarit	2	-	2
30	Monterrey	Nuevo León	11	-	11
31	Oaxaca	Oaxaca	18	-	18
32	Puebla–Tlaxcala	Puebla, Tlaxcala	23	-	23
33	San Martín Texmelucan	Puebla	2	-	2
34	Querétaro	Querétaro	3	-	3
35	Cancún	Quintana Roo	1	1	2
36	Rioverde–Ciudad Fernández	San Luis Potosí	2	-	2
37	San Luis Potosí–Soledad de G.S.	San Luis Potosí	2	-	2
38	Guaymas	Sonora	1	1	2
39	Villahermosa	Tabasco	2	-	2
40	Matamoros	Tamaulipas	1	-	1
41	Nuevo Laredo	Tamaulipas	1	-	1
42	Reynosa–Río Bravo	Tamaulipas	1	1	2
43	Tampico	Tamaulipas, Veracruz	5	-	5
44	Apizaco	Tlaxcala	8	-	8
45	Tlaxcala	Tlaxcala	11	-	11
46	Acayucan	Veracruz	2	1	3
47	Coatzacoalcos	Veracruz	2	1	3
48	Minatitlán	Veracruz	4	2	6
49	Córdoba	Veracruz	3	1	4
50	Xalapa	Veracruz	4	2	6
51	Orizaba	Veracruz	9	2	11
52	Poza Rica	Veracruz	4	-	4
53	Veracruz	Veracruz	2	1	3
54	Mérida	Yucatán	3	2	5
55	Zacatecas–Guadalupe	Zacatecas	2	-	2

List by population

The following table shows the 55 metropolitan areas ordered by decreasing population. At the time of the study it was found that nine areas had a population of 1 million inhabitants or more; 14 had a population between 500,000 and 999,999 and 32 had a population between 100,000 and 499,999. In total, all metropolitan areas concentrated 51,502,972 inhabitants or 52.8% of the country's population in the year 2000. Figures in the table below use the data from the XII General Population and Housing Census (2000).

Also listed is the extension of each metropolitan area. In total they occupy 142,337 km², that is, 7.2% of the country's area (1,972,550 km²).

Fix this text ->It is important to realize that some municipalities, especially in the north, tend to be occupy a large extension of land but have a low population count, however this land may not be covered in its entirety by a city or another form of urban development. This may lead to the counter-intuitive result of some large metropolitan areas having a comparatively low population. To help to understand this fact the population density of each area is provided and the five largest and the five densest areas are highlighted in the table below.

Rank	Metropolitan area	Population	Area (km²)	Density (inhab/km²)
1	Valley of Mexico	18 396 677	7 815	2 354
2	Guadalajara	3 699 136	2 734	1 353
3	Monterrey	3 299 302	5 560	593
4	Puebla–Tlaxcala	1 885 321	1 338	1 409
5	Toluca	1 451 801	1 991	729
6	Tijuana	1 274 240	1 621	786
7	León	1 269 179	1 767	718
8	Ciudad Juárez	1 218 817	3 569	341
9	La Laguna	1 007 291	5 022	200
10	San Luis Potosí–Soledad de G.S.	850 828	1 742	488
11	Mérida	803 920	1 547	519
12	Acapulco	791 558	3 544	223
13	Querétaro	787 341	1 650	477
14	Tampico	746 417	5 293	141
15	Cuernavaca	738 326	772	956
16	Aguascalientes	707 516	1 685	419
17	Chihuahua	696 495	18 091	38
18	Morelia	659 940	1 456	453
19	Veracruz	642 680	1 120	573
20	Saltillo	637 273	13 995	45
21	Villahermosa	600 580	2 235	268
22	Reynosa–Río Bravo	524 692	4 713	111
23	Xalapa	510 410	444	1 149
24	Tuxtla Gutiérrez	494 763	1 174	421
25	Oaxaca	460 350	474	971
26	Poza Rica	443 419	2 544	174
27	Cancún	431 128	3 010	143
28	Matamoros	418 141	4 659	89
29	Pachuca	375 022	1 181	317
30	Orizaba	367 021	504	728
31	Cuautla	358 405	910	393
32	Tepic	342 840	2 160	158
33	Minatitlán	323 389	2 923	110
34	Nuevo Laredo	310 915	1 220	254
35	Coatzacoalcos	307 724	495	621
36	Monclova–Frontera	282 853	5 047	56
37	Córdoba	276 553	466	593
38	Tlaxcala	249 453	353	706
39	Puerto Vallarta	244 536	1 472	166
40	Zacatecas–Guadalupe	232 965	1 263	184
41	La Piedad	229 372	1 846	124
42	Zamora–Jacona	216 048	460	469
43	Colima–Villa de Álvarez	210 766	1 033	204
44	Tulancingo	193 638	679	285
45	Guaymas	180 316	8 571	21
46	Tula	169 901	586	290
47	Apizaco	158 948	370	429
48	Piedras Negras	151 149	1 379	109
49	San Francisco del Rincón	145 017	710	204
50	San Martín Texmelucan	143 720	195	737
51	Rioverde–Ciudad Fernández	128 935	3 596	35
52	Tecomán	127 863	1 201	106
53	Ocotlán	125 027	1 089	114
54	Acayucan	102 992	830	124
55	Moroleón–Uriangato	100 063	273	366

Notes and references

www.conapo.gob.mx/prensa/2005/102005.pdf www.cmq.edu.mx/docinvest/document/DI32145.pdf

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