List of cities and towns in Estonia

The following is a list of the 47 cities and towns in Estonia. Before the Republic of Estonia became an independent nation in 1918, many of these locations were known in the rest of the world by their German names, which were occasionally quite different from the ones used in the Estonian. During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation of Estonia, placenames were transliterated into Russian (Cyrillic alphabet) in the Soviet central government's documents, which in turn led to the use of several incorrect back-transliterations from Russian (Cyrillic) alphabet into English (and other Latin alphabets) in some English-language maps and texts during the second half of the 20th century (for example, incorrect Pyarnu, Vilyandi, Pylva, instead of the correct Pärnu, Viljandi, Põlva).

This article is part of the Subdivisions of Estonia series

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NUTS:EE

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Tallinn is the capital and the most populous city of Estonia. There are 46 other linn, i.e. cities and towns in Estonia (as of 2022). The Estonian word linn means both 'city' and 'town'. More than 70% of the country's population lives in the cities and towns.

List

List of cities and towns^[1]

Rank	Town	Town rights	Population 2014[2]	Population 2018[3]	County (maakond)
1	Tallinn	1248	411,063	430,805	Harju
2	Tartu	13th c.	98,449	93,715	Tartu
3	Narva	1345	59,049	56,103	Ida-Viru
4	Pärnu[a]	1251	40,005	39,375	Pärnu
5	Kohtla-Järve	1946	37,198	34,394	Ida-Viru
6	Viljandi	1283	17,602	17,525	Viljandi
7	Rakvere	1302	15,400	15,413	Lääne-Viru
8	Maardu	1980	17,315	15,189	Harju
9	Kuressaare[a]	1563	13,152	13,276	Saare
10	Sillamäe	1957	14,122	12,989	Ida-Viru
11	Valga[a]	1584	12,437	12,334	Valga
12	Võru	1784	12,571	12,022	Võru
13	Jõhvi[a]	1938	10,525	10,398	Ida-Viru
14	Haapsalu[a]	1279	10,316	9,838	Lääne
15	Keila	1938	9,751	9,775	Harju
16	Paide[a]	1291	8,162	8,078	Järva
17	Elva[a]	1938	5,657	5,648	Tartu
18	Saue[a]	1993	5,656	5,640	Harju
19	Põlva[a]	1993	5,661	5,458	Põlva
20	Tapa[a]	1926	5,693	5,428	Lääne-Viru
21	Jõgeva[a]	1938	5,457	5,143	Jõgeva
22	Rapla[a]	1993	5,054	5,132	Rapla
23	Kiviõli[a]	1946	5,635	5,088	Ida-Viru
24	Türi[a]	1926	5,215	5,064	Järva
25	Põltsamaa[a]	1926	4,148	4,050	Jõgeva
26	Sindi[a]	1938	4,089	3,838	Pärnu
27	Paldiski[a]	1783	4,163	3,626	Harju
28	Kärdla[a]	1938	3,017	3,287	Hiiu
29	Kunda[a]	1938	3,267	3,034	Lääne-Viru
30	Tõrva[a]	1926	2,716	2,740	Valga
31	Narva-Jõesuu[a]	1993	2,655	2,644	Ida-Viru
32	Kehra[a]	1993	2,792	2,641	Harju
33	Loksa	1993	2,703	2,568	Harju
34	Räpina[a]	1993	2,363	2,173	Põlva
35	Otepää[a]	1936	1,875	2,167	Valga
36	Tamsalu[a]	1996	2,174	2,119	Lääne-Viru
37	Kilingi-Nõmme[a]	1938	1,707	1,671	Pärnu
38	Karksi-Nuia[a]	1993	1,515	1,554	Viljandi
39	Antsla[a]	1938	1,362	1,311	Võru
40	Võhma[a]	1993	1,282	1,282	Viljandi
41	Mustvee[a]	1938	1,348	1,269	Jõgeva
42	Lihula[a]	1993	1,252	1,214	Lääne
43	Suure-Jaani[a]	1938	1,036	1,064	Viljandi
44	Abja-Paluoja[a]	1993	1,063	1,057	Viljandi
45	Püssi[a]	1993	1,023	917	Ida-Viru
46	Mõisaküla[a]	1938	806	748	Viljandi
47	Kallaste[a]	1938	846	743	Tartu

1. The town does not constitute its own municipality, but has become part of a larger municipality (either parish (vald) or city (linn)).

Former towns

• Ahtme, 1953–1960, 1993–1995, merged with Kohtla-Järve
• Jaanilinn (Ivangorod), 1617–1649, merged with Narva, annexed to the Russian SFSR in 1945
• Mustla, 1938–1979, town rights revoked
• Nõmme, 1926–1940, merged with Tallinn
• Petseri (Pechory), 1776-onwards, annexed to the Russian SFSR in 1945
• Toompea, 1248/1265/1288–1785, 1796–1878, merged with Tallinn
• Vana-Pärnu, 1251–1617, merged with Pärnu

See also

• Estonia portal

• Populated places in Estonia
• Municipalities of Estonia
• Counties of Estonia
• List of villages in Estonia