The 18 biggest cities in England and how much their population is expected to grow by 2032

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has forecast how much the population in cities across the nation will change between 2022 and 2032.

England’s population as a whole is predicted to grow by 6.4% during this period, and the UK’s by 5.9%.

But the population of several English cities is expected to rise much more rapidly, according to the ONS forecast, published at the end of June 2025.

We’ve looked at the figures for the 18 biggest cities in England by population, to show how much they are expected to grow by 2032.

There are a few caveats, as defining England’s biggest cities is an inexact science, depending on where you draw the city limits.

The ONS data is for local administrations, and according to those figures Doncaster is bigger than Newcastle, which the Centre for Cities says is England’s fourth biggest city.

Manchester, meanwhile, is smaller than Leeds, based on the ONS figures. That’s despite the Centre for Cities putting Manchester’s population at more than 2.5 million, which is only just below Birmingham’s.

And Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole are lumped together in the ONS figures, bumping up the population, since the local authority covers all three areas.

But the figures do provide a useful guide to both the biggest cities in England now and how their population is expected to grow.

Below are the 18 biggest cities in England, based on the latest ONS data, and how much their population is expected to grow by 2032.

If you could live in any other city than the one where you live now, which would it be? Let us know in the comments section.