Municipalities of Vietnam

Map of Centrally-run cities in Vietnam (since 2025)

On the first tier, Vietnam is divided into 28 provinces (Vietnamese: tỉnh) and 6 cities (centrally-run cities or municipalities; Vietnamese: thành phố trực thuộc trung ương, lit. 'city under direct central control', abbreviated TPTTTƯ or TPTTTW in Vietnamese context). Cities are the highest-ranked classification of subdivisions in Vietnam^[1] and are mechanically at the same level as provinces, but are more populous and developed in nature. The cities are largely divided into wards (phường) and communes (xã), with the former being urban areas while the latter being rural. Some Vietnamese cities also have special zones (đặc khu), which are basically island divisions.

Current cities

Cities of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

City	Vietnamese name	Class	Region	Established	Population (2025 estimate)	Population density	Area (km^2)	Divisions
Hanoi	Hà Nội	Special	Red River Delta	1945	8,807,523	2,621	3,359.84	List
Ho Chi Minh City	Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh	Special	Southeast	1955	14,002,598	2,068	6,772.59	List
Can Tho	Cần Thơ	I	Mekong Delta	2004	4,199,824	660	6,360.83	List
Da Nang	Đà Nẵng	I	South Central Coast	1997	3,065,628	258	11,859.59	List
Haiphong	Hải Phòng	I	Red River Delta	1955	4,664,124	1,460	3,194.72	List
Hue	Huế	I	North Central Coast	2025	1,128,620	228	4,947.11	List

Future and proposed cities

• Khánh Hòa province (2030)^[2][3]
• Bắc Ninh province (2026)

See also

• Provinces of Vietnam

References

1. ISO 3166-2:VN
2. Bùi, Toàn. "Khánh Hòa được định hướng là thành phố trực thuộc Trung ương". VnExpress (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 2023-04-09.
3. "DANH MỤC các tỉnh định hướng trở thành THÀNH PHỐ TRỰC THUỘC TRUNG ƯƠNG; ĐÔ THỊ loại I, II, III". Xây dựng chính sách, pháp luật. 2024-12-02.