The largest cities in Iran are Tehran (about 9.0 million), Mashhad (3.3 million), Isfahan (2.0 million), Karaj (1.6 million), Tabriz (1.6 million), Shiraz (1.6 million), Ahvaz (1.2 million), Qom (1.2 million), Kermanshah (0.95 million), and Urmia (0.74 million). Together these ten cities anchor the urban life of a nation of roughly 85 million people, spread across a landscape of deserts, mountains, and ancient trade routes.
The Ten Largest Iranian Cities
Iran is one of the most urbanized countries in the Middle East, with the great majority of its population living in towns and cities. The ranking below lists the ten largest by city-proper population:
- Tehran — about 9.0 million; the capital and by far the largest city.
- Mashhad — 3.3 million; holy city in the northeast.
- Isfahan — 2.0 million; historic former capital in central Iran.
- Karaj — 1.6 million; fast-growing satellite city west of Tehran.
- Tabriz — 1.6 million; industrial hub of the northwest.
- Shiraz — 1.6 million; cultural city of poets and gardens.
- Ahvaz — 1.2 million; oil center in the southwest.
- Qom — 1.2 million; major religious and seminary city.
- Kermanshah — 0.95 million; western city near the Iraqi border.
- Urmia — 0.74 million; northwestern city beside its namesake lake.
The drop from Tehran to Mashhad is dramatic, and the gap narrows quickly after that, with several cities clustered around the 1.6 million mark.
Tehran: The Sprawling Capital
Tehran is in a class of its own. Sitting at the foot of the Alborz Mountains in the north of the country, its city proper holds around 9 million residents, while the wider metropolitan area is considerably larger. It is the political capital, the financial nerve center, and the seat of major universities, museums, and embassies. The Milad Tower and the snow-capped peaks above the city are familiar symbols. Rapid 20th-century growth turned a modest royal capital into one of western Asia's largest urban regions, with all the traffic and air-quality challenges that come with such scale.
Mashhad and Qom: Centers of Pilgrimage
Two of Iran's biggest cities owe much of their size to religion. Mashhad, the second-largest city, grew around the shrine of Imam Reza and draws millions of pilgrims every year, making it one of the holiest cities in Shia Islam. Qom, though smaller at around 1.2 million, is the country's foremost seminary city and a powerful center of religious scholarship. Both cities show how spiritual significance can shape urban development as strongly as commerce or industry.
Isfahan, Shiraz and Tabriz: Heritage and Industry
Isfahan was the dazzling capital of the Safavid Empire and earned the saying "Isfahan is half the world" for its blue-tiled mosques, bridges, and the vast Naqsh-e Jahan Square. Shiraz, in the south, is celebrated as the city of the poets Hafez and Saadi, of fragrant gardens, and of the nearby ruins of Persepolis. Tabriz, in the northwest, is an Azeri-speaking industrial and commercial hub whose covered bazaar is one of the oldest and largest in the world. These cities blend deep history with modern economic life.
Karaj, Ahvaz, Kermanshah and Urmia
The remaining cities round out Iran's urban map. Karaj sits just west of Tehran and has ballooned as a commuter and overflow city, now ranking fourth nationally. Ahvaz, in the oil-rich southwestern province of Khuzestan, is a center of petroleum and heavy industry and one of the hottest cities on Earth in summer. Kermanshah serves western Iran near the Zagros Mountains, while Urmia lies in the northwest beside Lake Urmia, historically one of the largest salt lakes in the region.
Urbanization in Iran
Iran's cities have grown rapidly over the past several decades, driven by rural-to-urban migration, industrialization, and population growth. More than two-thirds of Iranians now live in urban areas. Tehran alone accounts for roughly a tenth of the national population, and the top ten cities together represent a major share of the country's total residents. For more context on the nation as a whole, see our iran country guide.
A Country Built Around a Central Desert
Iran's interior is dominated by two great deserts, the Dasht-e Kavir and the Dasht-e Lut, and almost nobody lives in them. The Lut holds the record for the highest land surface temperature ever measured by satellite, above 70C.
The cities therefore ring the interior rather than occupying it, strung along the Zagros and Alborz mountain fringes where snowmelt provides water. Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz and Shiraz all sit in that pattern.
Where settlement did push into dry country, it was made possible by qanats, gently sloping underground channels that carry groundwater from the mountains to the plains without evaporation. Some have been running for more than two thousand years, and the Persian qanat is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Tehran Is Squeezed Against a Mountain
Tehran sits on a slope below the Alborz range, and the topography produces a sharp social gradient: the wealthy north sits higher, cooler and cleaner, while the south is lower, hotter and poorer. The difference in elevation across the city is several hundred metres.
That bowl also traps air. Tehran has among the worst urban air pollution in the world, bad enough that schools and offices close on the worst winter days, when a temperature inversion holds vehicle emissions over the city.
It became the capital only in 1796 under the Qajars, which makes it young by Iranian standards; Isfahan, Shiraz, Tabriz and Mashhad were all major cities long before Tehran was anything more than a village near the ruins of Rey.
Isfahan Is Half the World
The Persian saying Isfahan nesf-e jahan, Isfahan is half the world, dates from the seventeenth century when Shah Abbas made it his capital and rebuilt it on a monumental scale.
Naqsh-e Jahan Square is among the largest public squares in the world, framed by the Shah Mosque, the Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque, the Ali Qapu palace and the entrance to the bazaar, and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Eleven historic bridges cross the Zayanderud, several of them dating from the Safavid period.
The river itself has become a problem. Upstream diversion and drought have left the Zayanderud dry through Isfahan for extended periods, and farmers in the surrounding province have protested repeatedly over water allocation.
Mashhad Runs on Pilgrimage
Mashhad is the second-largest city and exists in its modern form because of the shrine of Imam Reza, the eighth Shia imam, who died there in 818. The complex around it is one of the largest religious buildings in the world by area.
It draws many millions of pilgrims a year, and the hotels, transport and catering that serve them are the city's principal industry, in the same way that Najaf and Karbala function in Iraq.
Qom, further west, is the other major religious centre, home to the largest Shia seminary in Iran and to the clerical establishment that has held political authority since 1979.
Earthquakes, Sanctions and the Shape of Growth
Iran sits on the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates and is among the most seismically active countries in the world. The Bam earthquake of December 2003 killed more than 26,000 people and destroyed the ancient mud-brick citadel, the Arg-e Bam, which has since been partly rebuilt.
Tabriz, in the north-west, has been destroyed by earthquakes repeatedly through its history and rebuilt each time; its covered bazaar, one of the oldest and largest in the Middle East, is a World Heritage Site.
The cities have also grown under decades of international sanctions, which has produced an unusually self-contained industrial base, a large domestic car industry, and a pattern of urban development financed internally rather than by foreign investment.
Common Questions About Iranian Cities
What is the largest city in Iran?
Tehran is the largest city in Iran and its capital, with a city-proper population of about 9 million and a metropolitan area that is larger still.
What is the second-largest city in Iran?
Mashhad is the second-largest, with roughly 3.3 million people. It is a major pilgrimage destination built around the shrine of Imam Reza.
How many people live in Iran?
Iran has a total population of approximately 85 million, the majority of whom live in cities and towns.
Which Iranian city was once the capital of the Persian Empire?
Isfahan served as the capital during the Safavid era and remains famous for its architecture, earning the nickname "half the world."
What is the largest city in Iran?
Tehran, with around nine million in the city and well over thirteen million in the metropolitan area. Mashhad is second at roughly three million, followed by Isfahan, Karaj and Shiraz.
Why is Tehran's air so polluted?
The city sits in a bowl against the Alborz mountains, which trap emissions under a winter temperature inversion. Combined with an ageing vehicle fleet running on domestically refined fuel, it produces some of the worst urban air quality anywhere, bad enough to close schools on the worst days.
Which Iranian city is the oldest?
Several compete, but Susa and Hamadan both have claims running back several thousand years. Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, was a Median capital and is often described as one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.