TLDR
The smallest town in Russia is Verkhoyansk, in Yakutia. Russian sources put it at about 828 people in the 2021 census, and recent estimates are lower still, around 745. Chekalin in Tula Oblast is a close second at roughly 935 in 2021 (about 884 in recent estimates). Innopolis, once the record holder with 96 residents in 2016, now has close to 4,000 and has dropped out of the ranking.
Table of contents
- The quick-reference table
- What counts as a city in Russia
- The 10 smallest cities in Russia
- Why the sources disagree: Verkhoyansk, Chekalin and Innopolis
- Why these towns are so small
- Small regional capitals
The quick-reference table
Figures are from the 2021 All-Russia Population Census unless marked. Russian lists round and mix census and estimate years, so expect small differences between sources.
| Rank | Town | Region | Population | Source year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Verkhoyansk | Sakha (Yakutia) | about 828 | 2021 census |
| 2 | Chekalin | Tula Oblast | about 935 | 2021 census |
| 3 | Vysotsk | Leningrad Oblast | about 1,100 | approx. |
| 4 | Primorsk | Kaliningrad Oblast | about 1,436 | 2021 census |
| 5 | Ostrovnoy | Murmansk Oblast | about 1,487 | approx. |
| 6 | Artemovsk | Krasnoyarsk Krai | about 1,500 | approx. |
| 7 | Kurilsk | Sakhalin Oblast | about 1,600 | approx. |
| 8 | Kedrovy | Tomsk Oblast | about 1,818 | 2021 census |
| 9 | Plyos | Ivanovo Oblast | about 1,900 | approx. |
| 10 | Solvychegodsk | Arkhangelsk Oblast | about 1,900 | approx. |
What counts as a city in Russia
Russian has one word, gorod, for both “city” and “town,” and it is a legal status, not a size. A settlement becomes a gorod when regional or federal authorities grant it, and it usually keeps the status even after it shrinks. That is how a place with fewer residents than a large apartment block can be listed alongside Moscow.
This ranking counts only places with official gorod status. It leaves out thousands of villages and urban-type settlements that are smaller, and it leaves out places that look like towns but carry a different legal label.
The 10 smallest cities in Russia
1. Verkhoyansk, Sakha (Yakutia)
About 828 people in the 2021 census. Cossacks built an ostrog here in 1638, and the town got its status in 1817. Verkhoyansk is the one most people know for weather: a temperature of -67.8 °C was recorded on January 15, 1885, one of the lowest ever measured in an inhabited place. Winter here is a logistics problem, not a season.
2. Chekalin, Tula Oblast
About 935 in the 2021 census, down from 1,319 in 1989. The town sits on the left bank of the Oka, 190 meters above sea level, and dates to 1565 under the name Likhvin. It was renamed in the mid-1940s after Alexander Chekalin, a Soviet partisan. Locals reportedly kept the town status by vote, and Russian travel writers note that chickens still wander the streets.
3. Vysotsk, Leningrad Oblast
Roughly 1,100 residents; sources range from about 1,070 to 1,130. Vysotsk received town status in 1948. Before that it was Trangsund, once Swedish and later Finnish, and the port was built by the Finns. It sits on the Gulf of Finland.
4. Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast
About 1,436 in 2021. Founded by Germans in 1268 as Bischofshausen, it is the smallest town in Kaliningrad Oblast. It briefly lost town status in 2005 and regained it three years later.
5. Ostrovnoy, Murmansk Oblast
About 1,487 people. Ostrovnoy is a closed administrative-territorial entity, a naval base town. You reach it by boat from Murmansk, roughly 14 hours, or by air, and you need a permit.
6. Artemovsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai
Around 1,500. It started as the village Olkhovka in 1700 and became Artemovsk in 1939. Mining drove a population that Russian sources say once approached 13,000, then collapsed.
7. Kurilsk, Sakhalin Oblast
About 1,600 residents on Iturup, the largest of the Kuril Islands. The Soviet Union renamed it in 1947 to remove its Japanese name, Shana. The island is disputed with Japan. Measured by land area rather than population, the town is also the smallest in Russia, at roughly 3 km², as covered in the ranking of the smallest cities in Russia by area.
8. Kedrovy, Tomsk Oblast
1,818 in 2021, down from around 3,100 in 2003. Kedrovy got town status in 1987 and exists mainly to serve oil-field workers on rotation. There is no tourism worth the name.
9. Plyos, Ivanovo Oblast
About 1,900 residents, and the odd one on this list: Plyos is a Volga resort town with a famous painter’s legacy (Isaac Levitan worked here). Russian sources say it leads small towns for tourists per resident. Its gorod status dates to 1778.
10. Solvychegodsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast
Between roughly 1,830 and 1,950 depending on the source. Founded in the 15th century by salt producers, it later became the seat of the Stroganov family, who funded the expedition that opened up Siberia for Moscow.
Why the sources disagree: Verkhoyansk, Chekalin and Innopolis
Search for “smallest town in Russia” and you get three answers.
Verkhoyansk appears with 745 in an ITMO University article and with 828 in 2021 census figures quoted by Russian outlets. The difference is the year: one is a later estimate, the other a census count. Either way it is below Chekalin.
Chekalin held the “smallest” label for years, and many pages still say so. Its figure drifts from 935 to 884 depending on whether the page quotes the 2021 census or a more recent estimate.
Innopolis is the confusing one. This Tatarstan town, built from scratch near Kazan as a tech hub and given town status in 2015, had only 96 residents in the 2016 count. Briefly it was the smallest town in Russia on paper. It has since grown to about 3,955, so it no longer belongs on a smallest-towns list. Some pages still carry the 2016 number.
When ranking, use one census year across the whole list. Mixed years are why these pages contradict each other.
Why these towns are so small
Four causes cover almost every entry.
- Depopulation. Rural Russia has been losing people for decades. A Moscow Times report on a recent study found nearly 130 small towns facing extinction.
- Closed industries. Artemovsk and Kedrovy grew around mining and oil, then shrank when jobs went.
- Climate and distance. Verkhoyansk and Kurilsk are hard to reach, and the cold or isolation does the rest.
- Special status. Ostrovnoy is closed to outsiders by design, and Plyos keeps its status because it is a historic resort, not because it is growing.
Small regional capitals
Capitals are not tiny, but they are the smallest in the country. In the 2021 census, Naryan-Mar had 25,795, Magas 15,279 and Anadyr 15,079, so all three fall far below the 50,000 cutoff for the main population ranking. They sit well above the top 10 here.
