Cardiff

Swansea

Newport

Bangor

St Asaph

St Davids

Wrexham

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Map of the seven cities in Wales.

Wales hasseven cities as of September 2022.Bangor is Wales' oldestcathedral city,^[1] whereasSt Davids is thesmallest city in the United Kingdom.^[1]Cardiff is thecapital city of Wales and its most-populous, followed bySwansea the second most-populous. Since 2000, Welsh towns have submitted bids to be awardedcity status as part ofjubilees of the reigningBritish monarch or for other events, such as themillennium celebrations, withNewport,St Asaph andWrexham awarded city status through these contests. Wrexham is the newest to hold the status, being awarded it in September 2022 as part of thePlatinum Jubilee Civic Honours of QueenElizabeth II.

Name in English	Name in Welsh	Principal area (Welsh name)	Year granted or confirmed	Image	Administrative population[1]	Urban population (2021)[2]
Cardiff	Caerdydd	City and County of Cardiff (Dinas a Sir Caerdydd)	1905[3]	Cardiff Castle	359,512 (county)	348,535 (built-up area)
Swansea	Abertawe	City and County of Swansea (Dinas a Sir Abertawe)	1969[4]	Swansea Beach andThe Tower, Meridian Quay	237,834 (county)	170,085 (built-up area)
Newport	Casnewydd	Newport (Casnewydd)	2002[5]	Celtic Manor Resort	159,658 (county borough)	130,890 (built-up area)
Wrexham	Wrecsam	Wrexham County Borough (Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam)	2022[6]	Wrexham city centre (Hope Street)	135,132 (county borough)	44,785 (built-up area)
Bangor	Bangor	Gwynedd	Cathedral city since 6th century.[1] Officially conferred in 1974[7]	Bangor fromPort Penrhyn	15,060	16,990
St Asaph	Llanelwy	Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)	2012[8]	Kentigern Arms	3,485
St Davids	Tyddewi	Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)	Cathedral city, officially conferred in 1994[9]	Porth Brâg	1,348

Since 2000, Welsh towns have competed in a contest to be awarded city status, as part of civic honours in notable celebrations, like themillennium celebrations or theJubilee of the reigning monarch. The 2000 contest was criticised for having no Welsh bid be successful.^[10][11][12]

• Newport —2000 (lost);^[10][11]2002 (won)^[5][13][14]
• St Asaph —2000 (lost);^[10]2002 (lost);^[5][13][14]2012 (won)^[8]
• Wrexham —2000 (lost);^[10][11]2002 (lost);^[5][13][14]2012 (lost);^[8]2022^[15][16][17] (won)

• Aberystwyth —2000 (lost);^[10]2002 (lost)^[5][13][14]
• Machynlleth —2000 (lost);^[10]2002 (lost)^[5][13][14]
• Newtown —2000 (lost);^[10]2002 (lost)^[5][13][14]

Merthyr Tydfil councillors voted against a proposal to bid for city status for 2022 which followed feedback.^[18]

In January 2024,Llanelli Town Council announced that they would submit a bid later that year, forLlanelli to potentially get city status.^[19] In March 2024, the Llanelli Chamber of Trade and Commerce launched the campaign and bid for city status.^[20]

• Llandaff – now within the city of Cardiff since 1922, it has been described and signposted locally as the "City of Llandaff" and "a city within a city".^[21] It is informally referred to as a "city" because it was the seat of theBishop of Llandaff, however the status is not formally recognised, nor was official city status awarded to it.^[22]

• List of built-up areas in Wales by population
• List of towns in Wales
• List of cathedrals in Wales

• Cities in Wales
• Geography of Wales
• Wales geography-related lists
• Wales politics-related lists

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