By INE’s projection for 30 June 2026, the largest municipality in Guatemala is Guatemala (Guatemala City) with 1,242,219 people, and the second largest is Mixco with 558,989, just ahead of Villa Nueva with 518,596. One caveat decides how you read that: INE counts municipios (whole municipalities), not urban areas. Mixco and Villa Nueva are separate municipalities of Guatemala department, and INE counts each one on its own rather than inside a Guatemala City total. If you want the largest municipality outside Guatemala department, it is San Pedro Carchá in Alta Verapaz (285,176), fifth overall, and Quetzaltenango ranks seventh (217,976).
In short: Guatemala City municipality 1,242,219; Mixco 558,989; Villa Nueva 518,596; San Juan Sacatepéquez 297,376; San Pedro Carchá 285,176 (INE projection, 30 June 2026). Eight of the top 19 are municipalities of Guatemala department. These are projections built from the 2018 census, not new counts. The rank order is our sort of INE’s figures; INE does not publish a ranking of its own.
How this list is built
INE (Instituto Nacional de Estadística) publishes a workbook, Estimaciones y Proyecciones Municipales 2015-2035, with a population figure for every one of Guatemala’s 340 municipalities for each year, each at 30 June. The table below takes the 2026 column and sorts it from largest to smallest. The national total in the same workbook is 18,312,373 for 2026.
Three things follow from that method:
- A municipality is not a town. Each row is a whole municipality, so a figure such as Santo Tomás Chichicastenango’s is for the municipality, not for the market town alone.
- Guatemala department’s municipalities are separate rows. Guatemala, Mixco, Villa Nueva, San Juan Sacatepéquez, Villa Canales, Amatitlán, San Miguel Petapa and Chinautla are all municipalities of Guatemala department, each counted on its own. Added together, the three largest (Guatemala, Mixco and Villa Nueva) come to 2,319,804 in 2026, about 12.7% of INE’s national total. That is our sum of three rows, not an INE figure for a metropolitan area.
- 2026 is a projection. The workbook is a series of estimates and projections; the 2018 census is the count INE’s methodology names as its main input.
The 30 largest municipalities in 2026
The change column is our calculation from the workbook’s own 2018 and 2026 columns.
| Rank | Municipality | Department | 2018 (INE series) | 2026 (INE projection) | Change 2018-2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guatemala (Guatemala City) | Guatemala | 1,175,737 | 1,242,219 | +5.7% |
| 2 | Mixco | Guatemala | 476,736 | 558,989 | +17.3% |
| 3 | Villa Nueva | Guatemala | 450,250 | 518,596 | +15.2% |
| 4 | San Juan Sacatepéquez | Guatemala | 271,448 | 297,376 | +9.6% |
| 5 | San Pedro Carchá | Alta Verapaz | 236,555 | 285,176 | +20.6% |
| 6 | Cobán | Alta Verapaz | 214,811 | 250,434 | +16.6% |
| 7 | Quetzaltenango | Quetzaltenango | 189,514 | 217,976 | +15.0% |
| 8 | Jalapa | Jalapa | 181,460 | 202,833 | +11.8% |
| 9 | Escuintla | Escuintla | 161,706 | 178,203 | +10.2% |
| 10 | Jutiapa | Jutiapa | 159,684 | 173,744 | +8.8% |
| 11 | Villa Canales | Guatemala | 163,736 | 171,094 | +4.5% |
| 12 | Santo Tomás Chichicastenango | Quiché | 144,765 | 160,245 | +10.7% |
| 13 | Amatitlán | Guatemala | 144,305 | 159,961 | +10.8% |
| 14 | San Miguel Petapa | Guatemala | 140,605 | 158,631 | +12.8% |
| 15 | Momostenango | Totonicapán | 131,617 | 152,629 | +16.0% |
| 16 | Huehuetenango | Huehuetenango | 121,768 | 151,149 | +24.1% |
| 17 | Santa Cruz Barillas | Huehuetenango | 116,671 | 138,411 | +18.6% |
| 18 | Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa | Escuintla | 120,130 | 134,608 | +12.1% |
| 19 | Chinautla | Guatemala | 120,175 | 128,085 | +6.6% |
| 20 | Chiquimula | Chiquimula | 113,337 | 127,235 | +12.3% |
| 21 | Coatepeque | Quetzaltenango | 114,522 | 126,985 | +10.9% |
| 22 | Totonicapán | Totonicapán | 114,452 | 125,874 | +10.0% |
| 23 | Chimaltenango | Chimaltenango | 108,843 | 124,073 | +14.0% |
| 24 | Joyabaj | Quiché | 99,287 | 121,553 | +22.4% |
| 25 | Tecpán Guatemala | Chimaltenango | 104,831 | 120,468 | +14.9% |
| 26 | Playa Grande Ixcán | Quiché | 102,932 | 119,712 | +16.3% |
| 27 | Puerto Barrios | Izabal | 106,744 | 117,139 | +9.7% |
| 28 | Retalhuleu | Retalhuleu | 105,241 | 117,065 | +11.2% |
| 29 | Malacatán | San Marcos | 105,476 | 115,233 | +9.3% |
| 30 | Chisec | Alta Verapaz | 101,330 | 114,563 | +13.1% |
Source: INE, Estimaciones y Proyecciones Municipales 2015-2035, sheet Resultado Municipal (population at 30 June). The country-wide figures and every department are on our Guatemala population page.
What the ranking shows
- The capital grows slowest of the top ten. Guatemala municipality is projected to grow 5.7% between 2018 and 2026, while Mixco (+17.3%) and Villa Nueva (+15.2%) grow about three times as fast in INE’s series.
- Alta Verapaz has two of the top six. San Pedro Carchá and Cobán together come to 535,610 in 2026 (our sum), and Chisec, also in Alta Verapaz, closes the top 30.
- Fastest growth in the top 30: Huehuetenango (+24.1%), Joyabaj (+22.4%) and San Pedro Carchá (+20.6%).
- Quetzaltenango is the largest outside Guatemala and Alta Verapaz departments, at 217,976, ahead of Jalapa (202,833) and Escuintla (178,203).
For the second and third places, see the Mixco and Villa Nueva pages; Quetzaltenango has its own page too. The eight Guatemala-department municipalities in the table are all in the department described on our Guatemala department page.
Census count versus INE’s projection series
The 2018 census and INE’s projection workbook give different numbers for the same municipality in the same year:
| Municipality | 2018 census count | INE series, 2018 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guatemala | 923,392 | 1,175,737 | +252,345 (+27.3%) |
| Mixco | 465,773 | 476,736 | +10,963 (+2.4%) |
| Villa Nueva | 433,734 | 450,250 | +16,516 (+3.8%) |
| San Juan Sacatepéquez | 218,156 | 271,448 | +53,292 (+24.4%) |
| Amatitlán | 116,711 | 144,305 | +27,594 (+23.6%) |
| Whole country | 14,901,286 | 16,346,950 | +1,445,664 (+9.7%) |
Census counts: INE, Resultados del XII Censo Nacional de Población y VII de Vivienda, Cuadro A1.2. Differences are our arithmetic.
The census is a count; the workbook is INE’s projection series, which starts from a reconciled base population of 16,346,950 at 30 June 2018. INE’s methodology document estimates that the 2018 census missed 9.0% of the population (10.4% of men, 7.6% of women) and builds that omission into the base. For the whole country the two 2018 figures differ by 9.7%. For Guatemala City’s municipality the gap is 27.3%, for San Juan Sacatepéquez 24.4% and for Amatitlán 23.6%, far more than the national rate, while Mixco and Villa Nueva differ by under 4%. The methodology’s passages on census omission give national and age-group rates only, not municipal ones, so quote either figure with its label: census 2018 or INE projection.
Our Guatemala population page sets out how INE’s series differs from the World Bank’s estimate. For the size of the country itself, see how big is Guatemala.
Sources
- INE, Estimaciones y Proyecciones Municipales 2015-2035 (xlsx), ine.gob.gt, read 12 November 2026.
- INE, Resultados del XII Censo Nacional de Población y VII de Vivienda (Cuadro A1.2, population by municipality), censo2018.ine.gob.gt, read 12 November 2026.
- INE, Estimaciones y proyecciones nacionales de población, methodology (census omission and the 30 June 2018 base population), ine.gob.gt, read 25 September 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the largest cities in Guatemala, and what is the second largest?
Counted by municipality, INE’s projection for 30 June 2026 puts Guatemala (the municipality of Guatemala City) first at 1,242,219, Mixco second at 558,989 and Villa Nueva third at 518,596. Mixco and Villa Nueva are in the same department as the capital but are separate municipalities, so which place is the second largest city depends on whether you count them apart from Guatemala City, as INE does.
Is Quetzaltenango the second largest city in Guatemala?
Not by INE’s municipal figures. Quetzaltenango’s 2026 projection is 217,976, which places it seventh, behind Guatemala, Mixco, Villa Nueva, San Juan Sacatepéquez, San Pedro Carchá and Cobán.
Which is the largest municipality outside Guatemala department?
San Pedro Carchá in Alta Verapaz, at 285,176 in INE’s 2026 projection, followed by its neighbour Cobán at 250,434. Both are larger than Quetzaltenango on this measure.
Why does the 2018 census give Guatemala City fewer people than INE's projection for 2018?
The 2018 census counted 923,392 people in the municipality of Guatemala; INE’s projection workbook gives 1,175,737 for the same municipality in 2018. INE’s projections start from a reconciled base that adds the people it estimates the census missed (9.0% nationally). The gap for Guatemala municipality is larger than that national rate, and INE’s methodology document, in the passages on census omission, does not break the adjustment down by municipality.
Does INE publish a ranking of cities?
No. INE publishes a population figure for each of the 340 municipalities in its projection workbook. The rank numbers on this page are a sort of INE’s 2026 column; the workbook has no figures for urban areas or metropolitan areas.
