Cities of Malaysia

This is a list of **cities of Malaysia**. In Malaysia, there are 18 areas with city status (_bandar raya_) by law. However, there are also highly urbanised and populated areas that do not have city status but are sometimes referred to as cities. City status is granted to a place within a local government area. Other populated areas which do not have city status are municipalities or towns.

## Cities of Malaysia

The following is a list of places in Malaysia in order by the date they were given city status.

|Name|State/FT|Local government(s)|Chartered|Population|!Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|George Town||Penang Island City Council|<span style="display:none">1957-01-01</span>1 January 1957|708,127|Jurisdiction expanded in 2015 to encompass the entirety of Penang Island|
|Kuala Lumpur|Federal Territories|Kuala Lumpur City Hall|<span style="display:none">1972-02-01</span>1 February 1972|1,588,750||
|Ipoh||Ipoh City Council|<span style="display:none">1988-05-27</span>27 May 1988|657,892||
|Kuching||Kuching North City Hall Kuching South City Council || align="right" | <span style="display:none">1988-08-01</span>1 August 1988 ||align="right" | 325,132 || Kuching is officially made up of two local government entities||||
|Johor Bahru||Johor Bahru City Council|<span style="display:none">1994-01-01</span>1 January 1994|497,067||
|Kota Kinabalu||Kota Kinabalu City Hall|<span style="display:none">2000-02-02</span>2 February 2000|452,058||
|Shah Alam||Shah Alam City Council|<span style="display:none">2000-10-10</span>10 October 2000|641,306||
|Malacca City||Melaka City Council|<span style="display:none">2003-04-15</span>15 April 2003|484,885||
|Alor Setar||Alor Setar City Council|<span style="display:none">2003-12-21</span>21 December 2003|405,523||
|Miri||Miri City Council|<span style="display:none">2005-05-20</span>20 May 2005|234,541||
|Petaling Jaya||Petaling Jaya City Council|<span style="display:none">2006-06-20</span>20 June 2006|613,977||
|Kuala Terengganu||Kuala Terengganu City Council|<span style="display:none">2008-01-01</span>1 January 2008|337,553||
|Iskandar Puteri||Iskandar Puteri City Council|<span style="display:none">2017-11-22</span>22 November 2017|529,074||
|Seberang Perai||Seberang Perai City Council|<span style="display:none">2019-09-16</span>16 September 2019|818,197||
|Seremban||Seremban City Council|<span style="display:none">2020-01-01</span>1 January 2020|620,100|Seremban and Nilai were merged to form Seremban city.|
|Subang Jaya||Subang Jaya City Council|<span style="display:none">2020-10-20</span>20 October 2020|708,296||
|Pasir Gudang||Pasir Gudang City Council|<span style="display:none">2020-11-22</span>22 November 2020|46,571||
|Kuantan||Kuantan City Council|<span style="display:none">2021-02-21</span>21 February 2021|427,515||

- Former city within Malaysia
|Name|State|Local government|Chartered|Ref.|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Singapore|Singapore|Singapore City Council|22 September 1951|Expelled from the Malaysian Federation on 9 August 1965|

### Subsequent cities

The royal charters for Kuala Lumpur, Kuching, Kota Kinabalu, Shah Alam, Malacca City, Alor Setar and Miri were from the Malaysian head of state, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, while Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri and Subang Jaya were granted by their respective state sultans. Malacca City was declared a "historical city" prior to being granted city status in 2003.

Kuala Lumpur, the largest city, is the national capital and a federal territory. But as of 2012, most government ministries have relocated to the new administrative capital of Putrajaya.

### Criteria

Among the latest (2008) basic criteria for city status on a local government is that it has a minimum population of 500,000 and an annual income of not less than RM 100 million.

## Population

Kuala Lumpur is by far the largest urban area. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Malaysia. Johor Bahru, the capital city of Johor, is the second-largest city in Malaysia and the heart of Malaysia's second-largest conurbation. To the north, George Town, Penang forms the core of the third-largest metropolitan area in the country. Other metropolitan areas with a population of more than 500,000 include Ipoh, Kuching, and Kota Kinabalu.