List of towns and cities in Norway

Map of Norway with important cities

Kristiansand

This is a list of towns and cities in Norway.

The Norwegian word for town or city is by. Cities were formerly categorized as kjøpstad (market town) or ladested (small seaport),^[1] each with special rights. The special trading rights for cities were abolished in 1857, and the classification was entirely rescinded in 1952 and replaced by the simple classification by.

Overview

From 1 January 1965 the focus was moved from the individual cities to their corresponding municipalities. Norwegian municipalities were classified as bykommune (urban municipality) or herredskommune (rural municipality). The distinction was rescinded by The Local Government Act of 1992. The municipalities were ordered by so-called municipality numbers, four-digit codes based on ISO 3166-2:NO which in 1946 were assigned to each municipality. Urban municipalities got a municipality number in which the third digit was a zero.^[1]

Between 1960 and 1965 many Norwegian municipalities were merged. For instance when the urban municipality Brevik merged with the urban municipality Porsgrunn and the rural municipality Eidanger, the new municipality was called Porsgrunn and retained its municipality number. As a result, Brevik was no longer considered an urban municipality/town. On another note, when the urban municipality Hønefoss was merged with the rural municipalities Hole, Norderhov, Tyristrand and Ådal to form the new municipality Ringerike, Ringerike retained the old municipality number of Hønefoss.^[2] The same thing happened to Egersund and Florø.

Before 1996, the city status was awarded by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Now the issue is decided by each municipality council and is formally accepted by the state. Since 1997 a municipality must have a minimum of 5,000 inhabitants in order to declare city status for one of its settlements. In 1999 the municipality council of Bardu declared city status for Setermoen, only to be rejected because the municipality fell short of the population limit. One exception is Honningsvåg in Nordkapp, where the municipality actually has less than 5,000 inhabitants but declared city status before the limit was implemented by law in 1997.^[3]

Because of the new laws, Norway witnessed a rapid rise in the number of cities after 1996. A number of relatively small settlements are now called by, such as Brekstad with 1,828 inhabitants and Kolvereid with 1,448 inhabitants.^[4] Among the cities of today which got this status before 1996, Tvedestrand with 1,983^[4] inhabitants is the smallest. On another note, the laws of 1996 allowed some settlements which lost their city status in the 1960s to regain it.

Oslo, founded in 1000, is the largest city and the capital of Norway.

Cities and towns in Norway

Note that in most cases the population listed here is that of the municipality, including other villages, not just the urban centre.

City or town status since before 1996

Oslo The capital of Norway and among the fastest growing cities in Europe

Bergen, The capital of Hordaland, Norway

Trondheim, The capital of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway

Stavanger, The oil capital and capital of Rogaland

Kristiansand, The biggest city in Vest-Agder

Tromsø, The capital of Troms

Sandnes, The secound largest city in Rogaland after Stavanger

Drammen, The largest city and capital of Buskerud

Skien

Bodø

Ålesund

City/town	Municipality	County	City/town status	Population
Arendal	Arendal	Aust-Agder	1723	39,826
Bergen	Bergen	Hordaland[5]	1070	271,949
Bodø	Bodø	Nordland	1816	46,049
Drammen	Drammen	Buskerud	1811	64,597
Egersund	Eigersund	Rogaland	1798	13,418
Farsund	Farsund	Vest-Agder	1795	9,392
Flekkefjord	Flekkefjord	Vest-Agder	1842	8,918
Florø	Flora	Sogn og Fjordane	1860	8,296
Fredrikstad	Fredrikstad	Østfold	1567	75,583
Gjøvik	Gjøvik	Oppland	1861	27,500
Grimstad	Grimstad	Aust-Agder	1816	19,809
Halden[6]	Halden	Østfold	1665	28,063
Hamar	Hamar	Hedmark	1248	31,593
Hammerfest	Hammerfest	Finnmark	1789	9,261
Harstad	Harstad	Troms	1904	23,242
Haugesund	Haugesund	Rogaland	1854	31,738
Holmestrand	Holmestrand	Vestfold	1752	9,515
Horten	Horten	Vestfold	1858	24,671
Hønefoss	Ringerike	Buskerud	1852	13,930
Kongsberg	Kongsberg	Buskerud	1624	23,997
Kongsvinger	Kongsvinger	Hedmark	1854	17,380
Kristiansand	Kristiansand	Vest-Agder	1641	90,562
Kristiansund	Kristiansund	Møre og Romsdal	1742	22,661
Larvik	Larvik	Vestfold	1671	41,221
Lillehammer	Lillehammer	Oppland	1842	25,070
Mandal	Mandal	Vest-Agder	1921	13,840
Molde	Molde	Møre og Romsdal	1742	24,421
Moss	Moss	Østfold	1720	28,800
Namsos	Namsos	Nord-Trøndelag	1845	12,426
Narvik	Narvik	Nordland	1902	18,512
Notodden	Notodden	Telemark	1913	12,359
Oslo	Oslo	Oslo	1000	634,463
Porsgrunn	Porsgrunn	Telemark	1842	33,550
Risør	Risør	Aust-Agder	1630	6,938
Sandefjord	Sandefjord	Vestfold	1845	42,333
Sandnes	Sandnes	Rogaland	1860	78,624
Sarpsborg	Sarpsborg	Østfold	1016	50,115
Skien	Skien	Telemark	1000	72,537
Stavanger	Stavanger	Rogaland	1125	130,754
Steinkjer	Steinkjer	Nord-Trøndelag	1857	20,672
Søgne	Søgne	Vest-Agder	1913	12,509
Tromsø	Tromsø	Troms	1794	72 681
Trondheim	Trondheim	Sør-Trøndelag	997	182,035
Tønsberg	Tønsberg	Vestfold	900	38,914
Vadsø	Vadsø	Finnmark	1833	6,187
Vardø	Vardø	Finnmark	1789	2,396
Vennesla	Vennesla	Vest-Agder	1964	13,116
Ålesund	Ålesund	Møre og Romsdal	1848	41,385

City status since after 1996

City	Municipality	County	Town status	Population
Alta	Alta	Finnmark	1999	17,440
Askim	Askim	Østfold	1996	14,703
Brekstad	Ørland	Sør-Trøndelag	2005	1,865
Brevik	Porsgrunn	Telemark	1845-1963 later regained	2,700
Brumunddal	Ringsaker	Hedmark	2010	8,890
Bryne	Time	Rogaland	2001	9,627
Brønnøysund	Brønnøy	Nordland	1923-1963 regained 2000	5,000
Drøbak	Frogn	Akershus	1842-1961 regained 2006	13,358
Elverum	Elverum	Hedmark	1996	18,992
Fauske	Fauske	Nordland	1998	6,000
Fagernes	Nord-Aurdal	Oppland	2007	1,762
Finnsnes	Lenvik	Troms	2000	5,500
Fosnavåg	Herøy	Møre og Romsdal	2000	3,598
Førde	Førde	Sogn og Fjordane	1997	9,248
Hokksund	Øvre Eiker	Buskerud	2002	8,000
Honningsvåg	Nordkapp	Finnmark	1996	2,575
Jørpeland	Strand	Rogaland	1998	6,168
Kirkenes	Sør-Varanger	Finnmark	1998	6,000
Kolvereid	Nærøy	Nord-Trøndelag	2002	1,448
Kopervik	Karmøy	Rogaland	1866-1964 regained 1996	9,000
Kragerø	Kragerø	Telemark	1666-1959 later regained	10,505
Langesund	Bamble	Telemark	1765-1963 regained 1997	5,500
Leirvik	Stord	Hordaland	1997	11,342
Leknes	Vestvågøy	Nordland	2002	9,239
Levanger	Levanger	Nord-Trøndelag	1836-1961 later regained	9,239
Lillesand	Lillesand	Aust-Agder	1830-1961 later regained	8,952
Lillestrøm	Skedsmo	Akershus	1997	14,000
Lyngdal	Lyngdal	Vest-Agder	2001	7,216
Mo i Rana	Rana	Nordland	1923-1963 later regained	17,750
Mosjøen	Vefsn	Nordland	1875-1961 later regained	10,000
Mysen	Eidsberg	Østfold	1996	6,084
Måløy	Vågsøy	Sogn og Fjordane	2004	3,003
Odda	Odda	Hordaland	2004	7,468
Orkanger	Orkdal	Sør-Trøndelag	2014	7 812
Otta	Sel	Oppland	2000	2,750
Rjukan	Tinn	Telemark	1996	3,386
Sandnessjøen	Alstahaug	Nordland	1999	5,716
Sandvika	Bærum	Akershus	2003	108,144
Sauda	Sauda	Rogaland	1999	4,878
Ski	Ski	Akershus	2004	26,588
Skudeneshavn	Karmøy	Rogaland	1857-1964 later regained	5,000
Sortland	Sortland	Nordland	1997	9,509
Stathelle	Bamble	Telemark	1774-1963 regained 1997	8,000
Stavern[7]	Larvik	Vestfold	1946-1988 regained 1999	3,000
Stjørdalshalsen	Stjørdal	Nord-Trøndelag	1997	10,779
Tananger[8]	Sola	Rogaland	2010	5,500
Ulsteinvik	Ulstein	Møre og Romsdal	2000	5,156
Verdalsøra	Verdal	Nord-Trøndelag	1998	7,396
Vinstra	Nord-Fron	Oppland	2013	2,553
Åkrehamn	Karmøy	Rogaland	2002	10,070
Åndalsnes	Rauma	Møre og Romsdal	1996	3,000

Former towns

City	Municipality	County	Town status
Holmsbu	Hurum	Buskerud	1847–1964
Hvitsten	Vestby	Akershus	1837–1964
Hølen	Vestby	Akershus	1837–1943
Røros[9]	Røros	Sør-Trøndelag	1683-
Setermoen	Bardu	Troms	1999 (later rejected)
Sogndal	Sokndal	Rogaland	1798–1944
Son	Vestby	Akershus	1604-1963
Åsgårdstrand	Horten	Vestfold	1650-1964

See also

• List of cities in Europe
• List of urban areas in Norway by population
• Lists of villages in Norway

Notes and references

• Soot-Ryen, Tron (28 June 2006). "Norges nye byer". NRK P1 (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2007-07-04.

1. Statistics Norway (2003). "About the statistics: Population changes in municipalities 1951-1999".
2. Dag Jukvam / Statistics Norway (1999). "Historisk oversikt over endringer i kommune- og fylkesinndelingen" (PDF).
3. Kommunal Rapport (23 June 2005). "Byer i Norge".
4. Population count applies to the tettsted (urban settlement), which is a continuous built-up area with less than 50 metres between the houses. Statistics Norway (2007). "Urban settlements. Population and area, by municipality. 1 January 2007".
5. Bergen was a separate county until 1 January 1972.
6. Previously known as Fredrikshald
7. Previously known as Fredriksvern
8. Previously known as Krim Jacobs Hamn
9. Røros chose to be referred to as bergstad (mining town).

External links

• Map with Norwegian cities
• City Population: Norway (statistics & map)- Municipalities & Urban Settlements