Cities That Start With S

195 cities Places Checked 9 Oct 2026

These cities that start with S are the world's big cities with 300,000 or more people, 195 in all, ranked by population. A separate list covers 106 US cities that start with S, followed by capital cities.

Nothing outnumbers S on the city list, with 195 entries. Shanghai and Shenzhen lead it, and the Sh opening is common across many Chinese names. Sao Paulo in Brazil, Seoul in South Korea and Sydney in Australia show the global reach.

The US list is full of Spanish San names, including San Antonio and San Diego, which reflect the Spanish history of the American Southwest. Seattle is a short, easy alternative. With so many options, S rarely leaves anyone stuck.

Big cities starting with S: 195
Largest: Shanghai China
Largest in the US: San Antonio Texas

Cities that start with S around the world

#	City	Country	Population
1	Shanghai	China	24.9 million
2	Shenzhen	China	17.5 million
3	Sao Paulo	Brazil	12.4 million
4	Seoul	South Korea	10.3 million
5	Shenyang	China	7.0 million
6	Suzhou	China	6.7 million
7	Sydney	Australia	5.6 million
8	Singapore	Singapore	5.6 million
9	Saint Petersburg	Russia	5.4 million
10	Santiago	Chile	4.8 million
11	Surat	India	4.6 million
12	Shijiazhuang	China	3.9 million
13	Shantou	China	3.8 million
14	Shiyan	China	3.5 million
15	Surabaya	Indonesia	3.0 million
16	Salvador	Brazil	2.7 million
17	Shaoxing	China	2.3 million
18	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic	2.2 million
19	Sapporo	Japan	2.0 million
20	Songjiang	China	2.0 million
21	Sanaa	Yemen	1.9 million
22	Shangqiu	China	1.9 million
23	Santa Cruz de la Sierra	Bolivia	1.8 million
24	Sharjah	United Arab Emirates	1.8 million
25	Soweto	South Africa	1.7 million
26	Semarang	Indonesia	1.7 million
27	Santiago de Queretaro	Mexico	1.6 million
28	San Antonio	United States	1.5 million
29	Stockholm	Sweden	1.5 million
30	Suqian	China	1.4 million
31	South Tangerang	Indonesia	1.4 million
32	San Diego	United States	1.4 million
33	Saitama	Japan	1.3 million
34	Shiraz	Iran	1.2 million
35	Shubra al Khaymah	Egypt	1.2 million
36	Suwon	South Korea	1.2 million
37	Sadr City	Iraq	1.2 million
38	Srinagar	India	1.2 million
39	Santiago de los Caballeros	Dominican Republic	1.2 million
40	Shymkent	Kazakhstan	1.2 million
41	Samara	Russia	1.2 million
42	Sofia	Bulgaria	1.2 million
43	Shangrao	China	1.1 million
44	Sendai	Japan	1.1 million
45	Sokoto	Nigeria	1.0 million
46	Sanya	China	1.0 million
47	Shaoguan	China	1.0 million
48	Shivaji Nagar	India	1.0 million
49	San Jose	United States	997,368
50	Sholapur	India	997,281
51	Sargodha	Pakistan	975,886
52	Sale	Morocco	972,299
53	Sanhe	China	965,075
54	Sultanah	Saudi Arabia	946,697
55	Setagaya	Japan	940,071
56	Salem	India	917,414
57	Sao Luis	Brazil	917,237
58	Seongnam-si	South Korea	914,832
59	Sialkot	Pakistan	911,817
60	Sulaymaniyah	Iraq	878,146
61	Soshanguve	South Africa	872,309
62	Samarinda	Indonesia	865,306
63	Saratov	Russia	844,858
64	San Francisco	United States	827,526
65	Sakai	Japan	826,161
66	San Pedro Sula	Honduras	801,259
67	Seattle	United States	780,995
68	Shangyu	China	770,000
69	Sorocaba	Brazil	762,172
70	Shaoyang	China	753,194
71	Sao Bernardo do Campo	Brazil	743,372
72	Shah Alam	Malaysia	740,750
73	Shizuishan	China	739,400
74	Serang	Indonesia	735,651
75	Sao Jose dos Campos	Brazil	727,078
76	San Luis Potosi	Mexico	722,772
77	Sagamihara	Japan	720,780
78	Saltillo	Mexico	709,671
79	Subang Jaya	Malaysia	708,296
80	Santo Domingo Oeste	Dominican Republic	701,269

US cities that start with S

City	State	Population
San Antonio	Texas	1.5 million
San Diego	California	1.4 million
San Jose	California	997,368
San Francisco	California	827,526
Seattle	Washington	780,995
South Boston	Massachusetts	571,281
Sacramento	California	524,943
Staten Island	New York	468,730
Santa Ana	California	310,227
Stockton	California	305,658
Saint Paul	Minnesota	303,176
St. Louis	Missouri	279,695
St. Petersburg	Florida	257,083
Scottsdale	Arizona	236,839
Spokane	Washington	229,447
San Bernardino	California	216,108
Salt Lake City	Utah	215,548
Sunrise Manor	Nevada	189,372
Shreveport	Louisiana	187,593
Santa Clarita	California	182,371
Spring Valley	Nevada	178,395
Santa Rosa	California	178,127
Salem	Oregon	175,535
Sioux Falls	South Dakota	171,544
Springfield	Missouri	170,188
Salinas	California	157,380
Sunnyvale	California	155,805
Springfield	Massachusetts	154,341
Savannah	Georgia	147,780
Syracuse	New York	144,142
Surprise	Arizona	143,148
Sterling Heights	Michigan	132,052
Stamford	Connecticut	128,874
Simi Valley	California	126,788
Santa Clara	California	126,215
Sunset Park	New York	126,000
Sheepshead Bay	New York	122,534
Springfield	Illinois	114,394
South Fulton	Georgia	107,436
Sandy Springs	Georgia	105,330
Santa Maria	California	105,093
San Mateo	California	103,536
South Bend	Indiana	101,516
San Angelo	Texas	99,893
Spring Hill	Florida	98,621
South Gate	California	96,401
Sparks	Nevada	96,094
Spokane Valley	Washington	94,919
Santa Monica	California	93,220
San Marcos	California	92,931

Capital cities that start with S

Capital	Country
Saint John's	Antigua and Barbuda
San José	Costa Rica
San Salvador	El Salvador
Sana'a	Yemen
Santiago	Chile
Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic
Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina
Seoul	South Korea
Singapore	Singapore
Skopje	North Macedonia
Sofia	Bulgaria
South Tarawa	Kiribati
St. George's	Grenada
Stockholm	Sweden
Sucre	Bolivia
Suva	Fiji
São Tomé	São Tomé and Príncipe

Filter all 195 cities that start with S

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Questions people ask

What is the biggest city that starts with S?

Shanghai in China, with about 24.9 million people in the GeoNames count.

What US cities start with S?

The largest are San Antonio, Texas, San Diego, California, San Jose, California, San Francisco, California, Seattle, Washington.

What capital cities start with S?

Saint John's (Antigua and Barbuda), San José (Costa Rica), San Salvador (El Salvador), Sana'a (Yemen), Santiago (Chile), Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).

Which country has the most big cities starting with S?

China, with 30 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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