Metropolitan areas in Mexico are difficult to determine. Contrary to what happens in the Unites States or some European countries, cities usually are not well defined. The lowest level government unit are the municipios, which can be compared to American counties. This tend to include rural areas, so the actual size of cities within them is relatively unknown.

Metropolitan areas, as defined by the National Population Council (CONAPO) are municipalities that heavily interact with each other, usually around a core city. Not all of the area (and population) considered in Metropolitan areas are agglomerated into a same urban sprawl, but interact heavily with a main city o with other smaller ones. Municipios in the Northern states tend to cover larger areas than those in Central and Southern Mexico, and therefore include various cities.

Few metro areas expand beyond the limits of one state, namely: Mexico City (Distrito Federal, Mexico & Hidalgo), Puebla (Puebla & Tlaxcala), La Laguna (Coahuila & Durango), and Tampico (Tamaulipas & Veracruz).

Largest Metropolitan Areas of Mexico by Population 2005

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Population of the 30 biggest metropolitan areas in Mexico as reported in the 2005 Census ^*:

Rank	City	State	Population	Region
01	Mexico City	Distrito Federal	19.23 million	Center South
02	Guadalajara	Jalisco	4.10 million	West
03	Monterrey	Nuevo Leon	3.66 million	North East
04	Puebla	Puebla	2.11 million	East
05	Toluca	México	1.61 million	Center South
06	Tijuana	Baja California	1.48 million	North West
07	León	Guanajuato	1.43 million	Center
08	Ciudad Juárez	Chihuahua	1.31 million	North West
09	La Laguna	Coahuila	1.11 million	North East
10	San Luis Potosí	San Luis Potosí	0.96 million	Center
11	Querétaro	Querétaro	0.92 million	Center
12	Mérida	Yucatán	0.90 million	South East
13	Mexicali	Baja California	0.85 million	North West
14	Aguascalientes	Aguascalientes	0.81 million	Center
15	Tampico	Tamaulipas	0.80 million	Center
16	Cuernavaca	Morelos	0.79 million	Center
17	Acapulco	Guerrero	0.79 million	South
18	Chihuahua	Chihuahua	0.78 million	North East
19	Culiacán	Sinaloa	0.76 million	North West
20	Morelia	Michoacan	0.74 million	West
21	Saltillo	Coahuila	0.73 million	Northeast
22	Veracruz	Veracruz	0.70 million	East
23	Villahermosa	Tabasco	0.65 million	Southeast
24	Río Bravo	Tamaulipas	0.63 million	West
25	Cancún	Quintana Roo	0.59 million	Southeast
26	Tuxtla Gutiérrez	Chiapas	0.58 million	South
27	Xalapa	Veracruz	0.55 million	East
28	Oaxaca	Oaxaca	0.50 million	South
29	Matamoros	Tamaulipas	0.46 million	Northeast
30	Poza Rica	Veracruz	0.46 million	East

Metropolitan Areas of Mexico by GDP per Capita 2000

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The following list contains population as reported by CONAPO with data for the 2000 census. The National Population Council prepares information regarding the Human Development Index of all the municipalities in the country, which includes GDP per capita and is the source for this article. ^*

Ranking	Population Rank	Metro Area	Population	GDP per Capita
1	20	Saltillo	637,273	13,936
2	3	Monterrey	3,299,302	13,779
3	13	Querétaro	787,341	13,696
4	17	Chihuahua	696,495	13,489
5	8	Juárez	1,218,817	12,970
6	1	Valle de México	18,396,677	11,306
7	16	Aguascalientes	707,516	10,905
8	9	La Laguna	1,007,291	10,120
9	10	San Luis Potosí	850,828	9,606
10	6	Tijuana	1,274,240	9,590
11	4	Puebla	1,888,891	9,544
12	5	Toluca	1,451,801	9,383
13	11	Mérida	803,920	9,344
14	19	Veracruz	642,680	9,198
15	2	Guadalajara	3,699,136	8,849
16	15	Cuernavaca	738,326	8,150
17	14	Tampico	746,417	8,128
18	21	Villahermosa	600,580	7,976
19	12	Acapulco	791,558	7,759
20	7	León	1,269,179	7,550
21	18	Morelia	659,940	7,477

Metropolitan areas of Mexico

Conurbaciones de México