Zurich had 436,551 residents at the end of 2024, making it Switzerland’s largest city.
That total refers to the municipality of Zurich in the canton of Zurich, not the broader urban or metropolitan area. The urban area has roughly 1.45 million residents, while the metropolitan region extends farther and includes about 2.1 million people in commonly cited estimates.
Zurich’s history reaches back more than 2,000 years. The Romans established a settlement called Turicum, likely at a strategic crossing near the northern end of Lake Zurich and the Limmat River. In the Middle Ages it became an important commercial center, and in 1519 Huldrych Zwingli made Zurich a major center of the Protestant Reformation.
A frequent mistake is to assume Bern is the largest Swiss city because it is the federal capital. Bern is Switzerland’s seat of government, but Zurich is larger and is the country’s leading financial, commercial, transport, and economic hub. Zurich’s main railway station and airport are also among Switzerland’s busiest transport facilities.