Cities That Start With R

42 cities Places Checked 9 Oct 2026

These cities that start with R are the world's big cities with 300,000 or more people, 42 in all, ranked by population. A separate list covers 44 US cities that start with R, followed by capital cities.

R offers 42 cities. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil tops the list, and Recife, also in Brazil, sits further down. Rome, the capital of Italy, and Rabat, the capital of Morocco, are short R names that suit younger learners.

Rostov-on-Don in Russia carries the name of its river, the Don, right in the city name, which is a nice talking point. In the US, Raleigh is the capital of North Carolina, Reno is in Nevada, and Richmond is the capital of Virginia, handy for state capital practice.

Big cities starting with R: 42
Largest: Rio de Janeiro Brazil
Largest in the US: Raleigh North Carolina

Cities that start with R around the world

#	City	Country	Population
1	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	6.7 million
2	Riyadh	Saudi Arabia	4.2 million
3	Rawalpindi	Pakistan	3.4 million
4	Rome	Italy	2.3 million
5	Rasapudipalem	India	1.7 million
6	Rabat	Morocco	1.7 million
7	Recife	Brazil	1.7 million
8	Rajkot	India	1.4 million
9	Ras Bayrut	Lebanon	1.3 million
10	Rostov-on-Don	Russia	1.1 million
11	Ranchi	India	1.1 million
12	Rangpur	Bangladesh	1.0 million
13	Raipur	India	1.0 million
14	Rosario	Argentina	948,312
15	Ruian	China	927,383
16	Rotterdam	The Netherlands	868,135
17	Rohini	India	860,000
18	Rajshahi	Bangladesh	763,580
19	Riga	Latvia	742,572
20	Ribeirao Preto	Brazil	698,642
21	Rizhao	China	661,943
22	Rasht	Iran	594,590
23	Reynosa	Mexico	589,466
24	Ryazan	Russia	538,962
25	Rahim Yar Khan	Pakistan	517,000
26	Ruiru	Kenya	490,120
27	Raleigh	United States	482,295
28	Rach Gia	Vietnam	459,860
29	Ramgundam	India	452,261
30	Rajpur Sonarpur	India	424,368
31	Rio Branco	Brazil	419,452
32	Rajamahendravaram	India	376,333
33	Rohtak	India	374,292
34	Rustenburg	South Africa	373,695
35	Ras Al Khaimah	United Arab Emirates	351,943
36	Randburg	South Africa	337,053
37	Ribeirao das Neves	Brazil	329,794
38	Roodepoort	South Africa	326,416
39	Ramiros	Angola	323,576
40	Reading	United Kingdom	318,014
41	Riverside	United States	317,261
42	Rosetta	Egypt	301,795

US cities that start with R

City	State	Population
Raleigh	North Carolina	482,295
Riverside	California	317,261
Reno	Nevada	264,165
Richmond	Virginia	226,610
Rochester	New York	209,802
Rancho Cucamonga	California	175,236
Rockford	Illinois	148,278
Roseville	California	130,269
Round Rock	Texas	115,997
Rochester	Minnesota	112,225
Richardson	Texas	110,815
Richmond	California	109,708
Rialto	California	103,132
Renton	Washington	100,242
Roanoke	Virginia	100,011
Richmond Hill	New York	98,984
Roswell	Georgia	94,501
Redding	California	91,582
Reading	Pennsylvania	87,879
Rio Rancho	New Mexico	87,521
Redwood City	California	85,288
Racine	Wisconsin	77,742
Rapid City	South Dakota	73,569
Rochester Hills	Michigan	73,424
Rock Hill	South Carolina	71,548
Riverview	Florida	71,050
Redlands	California	71,035
Rancho Cordova	California	71,017
Ridgewood	New York	69,317
Redondo Beach	California	68,166
Rockville	Maryland	66,980
Reseda	California	65,000
Rogers	Arkansas	63,159
Rocklin	California	61,213
Redmond	Washington	60,598
Rowlett	Texas	60,236
Rancho Penasquitos	California	60,000
Royal Oak	Michigan	59,008
Reston	Virginia	58,404
Rocky Mount	North Carolina	55,806
Rosemead	California	54,908
Rogers Park	Illinois	54,402
Richland	Washington	54,248
Revere	Massachusetts	53,422

Capital cities that start with R

Capital	Country
Rabat	Morocco
Ramallah	Palestine
Reykjavik	Iceland
Riga	Latvia
Riyadh	Saudi Arabia
Rome	Italy
Roseau	Dominica

Filter all 42 cities that start with R

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Questions people ask

What is the biggest city that starts with R?

Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, with about 6.7 million people in the GeoNames count.

What US cities start with R?

The largest are Raleigh, North Carolina, Riverside, California, Reno, Nevada, Richmond, Virginia, Rochester, New York.

What capital cities start with R?

Rabat (Morocco), Ramallah (Palestine), Reykjavik (Iceland), Riga (Latvia), Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Rome (Italy).

Which country has the most big cities starting with R?

India, with 9 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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