Greater São Paulo

Metropolitan Area

A legally defined specific term, Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP), one definition for Metropolitan São Paulo, consists of 39 municipalities, including the state capital, São Paulo.

The RMSP of São Paulo is known as a financial and economic centre of Brazil, with a total population of 21,555,260 inhabitants (2025 population estimates). The largest municipalities are São Paulo, with a population of 11,451,245, Guarulhos with a population of 1,291,784 people, plus several municipalities with more than 500,000 inhabitants, such as São Bernardo do Campo (810,729 inh.) and Santo André (748,919 inh.) in the ABC Region. The ABC Region (from Santo André, São Bernardo do Campo and São Caetano do Sul) in the south of Grande São Paulo is an important location for industrial corporations, such as Volkswagen and Ford. It represents the "core" cities of the greater region.

Extended Metropolitan Area

The extended metropolitan area of São Paulo (Complexo Metropolitano Estendido de São Paulo) is an agglomeration of five contiguous metropolitan areas that have grown into one another and three microregions, dominated by São Paulo. It has more than 33 million inhabitants, which is 75% of the population of the entire state of São Paulo, and consists of the contiguous entities: