Cities That Start With C

141 cities Places Checked 9 Oct 2026

These cities that start with C are the world's big cities with 300,000 or more people, 141 in all, ranked by population. A separate list covers 91 US cities that start with C, followed by capital cities.

C has 141 cities, and Chinese names form a clear cluster near the top. Chengdu and Changsha are both large, and many others share the Ch opening. Outside China, Cairo and Cape Town bring Africa into the picture, and Chennai represents India.

US cities with C are familiar names. Chicago and Cleveland are easy for young readers, while Cincinnati is a fun spelling test with its doubled n. Notice how often C makes a hard K sound here, but a soft S sound in Cincinnati.

Big cities starting with C: 141
Largest: Chengdu China
Largest in the US: Chicago Illinois

Cities that start with C around the world

#	City	Country	Population
1	Chengdu	China	13.6 million
2	Cairo	Egypt	9.6 million
3	Chongqing	China	7.5 million
4	Cape Town	South Africa	4.8 million
5	Changchun	China	4.7 million
6	Chennai	India	4.7 million
7	Chattogram	Bangladesh	3.9 million
8	Casablanca	Morocco	3.7 million
9	Changzhou	China	3.3 million
10	Changsha	China	3.1 million
11	Caracas	Venezuela	3.0 million
12	Chicago	United States	2.7 million
13	Cali	Colombia	2.4 million
14	Coimbatore	India	2.1 million
15	Cordoba	Argentina	2.1 million
16	Curitiba	Brazil	1.9 million
17	Conakry	Guinea	1.9 million
18	Camayenne	Guinea	1.9 million
19	Chaozhou	China	1.8 million
20	Caloocan	Philippines	1.7 million
21	Changshu	China	1.7 million
22	Ciudad Juarez	Mexico	1.5 million
23	Can Tho	Vietnam	1.5 million
24	Cixi	China	1.5 million
25	Changde	China	1.5 million
26	Calgary	Canada	1.3 million
27	Callao	Peru	1.2 million
28	Changzhi	China	1.2 million
29	Chelyabinsk	Russia	1.2 million
30	Copenhagen	Denmark	1.2 million
31	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl	Mexico	1.1 million
32	Campinas	Brazil	1.0 million
33	Changwon	South Korea	1.0 million
34	Chiba	Japan	979,768
35	Ciudad Guayana	Venezuela	978,202
36	Chandigarh	India	970,602
37	Cebu City	Philippines	965,332
38	Chihuahua	Mexico	925,762
39	Cartagena	Colombia	914,552
40	Columbus	United States	913,175
41	Charlotte	United States	911,311
42	Campo Grande	Brazil	906,092
43	Cancun	Mexico	888,797
44	Cheongju-si	South Korea	852,147
45	Cochabamba	Bolivia	841,276
46	Chenzhou	China	822,534
47	Culiacan	Mexico	808,416
48	Cankaya	Turkey	792,189
49	Chuzhou	China	782,671
50	Cucuta	Colombia	777,106
51	Cagayan de Oro	Philippines	741,617
52	Changning	China	694,900
53	Cotonou	Benin	679,012
54	Camama	Angola	667,094
55	Cheonan	South Korea	658,831
56	Calumbo	Angola	652,270
57	Colombo	Sri Lanka	648,034
58	Chongming	China	637,921
59	Cuenca	Ecuador	636,996
60	Chisinau	Moldova	635,994
61	Comilla	Bangladesh	634,654
62	Chunian	Pakistan	634,236
63	Contagem	Brazil	627,123
64	Cuiaba	Brazil	618,124
65	Chizhou	China	615,274
66	Coyoacan	Mexico	614,447
67	Cuttack	India	610,189
68	Chiclayo	Peru	609,400
69	Cimahi	Indonesia	581,994
70	Calamba	Philippines	575,046
71	Cho Lon	Vietnam	561,000
72	Cuautitlan Izcalli	Mexico	555,163
73	Chuxiong	China	555,081
74	Cabinda	Angola	550,000
75	Calabar	Nigeria	540,000
76	Cuauhtemoc	Mexico	531,831
77	Cangzhou	China	527,681
78	Carrefour	Haiti	511,345
79	Cheboksary	Russia	492,331
80	Ciudad Lopez Mateos	Mexico	489,160

US cities that start with C

City	State	Population
Chicago	Illinois	2.7 million
Columbus	Ohio	913,175
Charlotte	North Carolina	911,311
Colorado Springs	Colorado	456,568
Cleveland	Ohio	365,379
Corpus Christi	Texas	316,239
Cincinnati	Ohio	311,097
Chula Vista	California	265,757
Chandler	Arizona	260,828
Chesapeake	Virginia	235,429
Columbus	Georgia	206,922
Cypress	Texas	200,839
Chattanooga	Tennessee	181,099
Cape Coral	Florida	175,229
Clarksville	Tennessee	166,722
Corona	California	164,226
Cary	North Carolina	159,769
Columbia	South Carolina	142,416
Carrollton	Texas	133,168
Charleston	South Carolina	132,609
Cedar Rapids	Iowa	130,405
Coral Springs	Florida	129,485
Columbia	Missouri	129,330
Concord	California	128,667
Chico	California	121,345
Clearwater	Florida	117,292
Carlsbad	California	114,746
Costa Mesa	California	113,204
Cambridge	Massachusetts	110,402
Centennial	Colorado	109,741
Corona	New York	109,698
College Station	Texas	107,889
Clovis	California	104,180
Chinatown	California	100,574
Clinton Township	Michigan	99,753
Columbia	Maryland	99,615
Compton	California	98,462
Carson	California	93,281
Chinatown	New York	90,000
Carmel	Indiana	88,713
Concord	North Carolina	87,696
Canarsie	New York	87,366
Citrus Heights	California	87,056
Canton	Michigan	86,825
Clifton	New Jersey	86,334
Champaign	Illinois	86,096
Chino	California	85,595
Cicero	Illinois	83,886
Cranston	Rhode Island	81,073
Chino Hills	California	78,309

Capital cities that start with C

Capital	Country
Cairo	Egypt
Canberra	Australia
Cape Town	South Africa
Caracas	Venezuela
Castries	Saint Lucia
Chișinău	Moldova
City of San Marino	San Marino
Colombo	Sri Lanka
Conakry	Guinea
Copenhagen	Denmark

Filter all 141 cities that start with C

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Questions people ask

What is the biggest city that starts with C?

Chengdu in China, with about 13.6 million people in the GeoNames count.

What US cities start with C?

The largest are Chicago, Illinois, Columbus, Ohio, Charlotte, North Carolina, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Cleveland, Ohio.

What capital cities start with C?

Cairo (Egypt), Canberra (Australia), Cape Town (South Africa), Caracas (Venezuela), Castries (Saint Lucia), Chișinău (Moldova).

Which country has the most big cities starting with C?

China, with 23 of the cities on this list.

Source: the GeoNames database: world cities with 300,000 or more people and US cities with 50,000 or more. Population figures are the latest GeoNames counts and can lag behind new census results.

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