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 (2010 Census)	Ref.
George Town	Penang	Penang Island City Council	1957-01-011 January 1957	708,127	Jurisdiction expanded in 2015 to encompass the entirety of Penang Island^[1]^[2]
Kuala Lumpur	Federal Territories	Kuala Lumpur City Hall	1972-02-011 February 1972	1,588,750
Ipoh	Perak	Ipoh City Council	1988-05-2727 May 1988	657,892
Kuching	Sarawak	Kuching North City Hall Kuching South City Council	1988-08-011 August 1988	325,132	Kuching is officially made up of two local government entities
Johor Bahru	Johor	Johor Bahru City Council	1994-01-011 January 1994	497,067
Kota Kinabalu	Sabah	Kota Kinabalu City Hall	2000-02-022 February 2000	452,058
Shah Alam	Selangor	Shah Alam City Council	2000-10-1010 October 2000	641,306
Malacca City	Malacca	Melaka City Council	2003-04-1515 April 2003	484,885
Alor Setar	Kedah	Alor Setar City Council	2003-12-2121 December 2003	405,523
Miri	Sarawak	Miri City Council	2005-05-2020 May 2005	234,541
Petaling Jaya	Selangor	Petaling Jaya City Council	2006-06-2020 June 2006	613,977
Kuala Terengganu	Terengganu	Kuala Terengganu City Council	2008-01-011 January 2008	337,553
Iskandar Puteri	Johor	Iskandar Puteri City Council	2017-11-2222 November 2017	529,074
Seberang Perai	Penang	Seberang Perai City Council^[3]	2019-09-1616 September 2019	818,197
Seremban	Negeri Sembilan	Seremban City Council	2020-01-011 January 2020	620,100	Seremban and Nilai were merged to form Seremban city.
Subang Jaya	Selangor	Subang Jaya City Council	2020-10-2020 October 2020	708,296
Pasir Gudang	Johor	Pasir Gudang City Council	2020-11-2222 November 2020	46,571
Kuantan	Pahang	Kuantan City Council	2021-02-2121 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Locations of cities

Locations of cities in Malaysia

Population

Kuala Lumpur is by far the largest urban area. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Malaysia. George Town, the capital city of Penang, is the second-largest city in Malaysia and the heart of Malaysia's second-largest conurbation. To the south, the twin cities of Johor Bahru and Iskandar Puteri form 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.