Random City Generator
Pick a continent or the whole world, tap Generate, and get a big city with its country and population.
393 to pick from. Tap Spin.
Picked
393 to pick from. Tap Spin.
Options
Recent picks
How it works
- Choose a continent or leave it on all.
- Tap Generate to get a city of over 1 million people.
- Read the country and population, then open the country page.
Every pick starts from your browser's cryptographic random number generator, so each option has the same chance unless you set a weight. The pool behind this tool holds 393 options. How the randomness works.
Ways to use it
Story setting prompt
A creative writing class drops their characters into whatever big city comes up. A detective story in Lagos reads very differently from one in Osaka.
Trivia warm-up
Spin a city and guess its country before revealing the answer.
Travel bucket list
Generate five cities in Asia and research one food from each.
Map pin challenge
Kids find each city on a world map and stick a pin in it. Older kids can add the country's capital as a second pin.
Language lesson
Learn how to say hello in the main language of each city you get.
Questions people ask
What counts as a major city here?
Every city on the list has a population of over 1 million people. Numbers usually reflect the city itself, not the whole metro area around it.
Why is city population hard to compare?
Some countries count only the city limits while others count the larger urban area. The same place can show very different numbers depending on the boundary.
Can I get cities from South America only?
Yes. Set the continent filter to South America and every result stays on that continent.
Is a capital always the biggest city?
No. Plenty of countries have a larger city than their capital. Canberra and Sydney in Australia are a well-known example. Toronto is bigger than Ottawa in Canada, too.