Place profile

Ulsan

Area, population and population density of Ulsan, with reference dates, geographic scope, official sources and an outline preview.

Compare this place
Area
1,062.9 km²

Reference date:

Population
1,091,948

Reference date:

Population density
1,027.3 people/km²

Calculated from the population and area above; their reference dates may differ.

On a familiar scale
≈ the size of Changhua County (reference rung)

The closest rung on the Taiwan reference ladder; see the sources below.

Land per resident
973 m² of land per resident

The inverse of population density, from the same area and population figures.

Outline of Ulsan
The outline is fitted to this frame, not a map for measuring distances. Outlying islands may make the main landmass appear smaller.

Scope and definitions

Ulsan Metropolitan City's full administrative territory, including its coastal waters for administrative purposes. Population is resident registration population (주민등록인구) as at 2025-12-31, from this ministry's own annual administrative-area-and-population report — a different series from the Statistics Korea register-based census (등록센서스) that the South Korea and Seoul pages use, though the two series are usually close. Area is this same report's official administrative-area figure at 2025-12-31, not a figure computed from the map outline. This ministry's own administrative-area total for South Korea (100,517.62 km² at 2025-12-31) differs by about 0.06% from the 100,459.9 km² cadastral figure the South Korea and Seoul pages use, a small gap between two different official area series rather than an error. 🔴 The outline is drawn from Natural Earth, not OpenStreetMap: Ulsan's OSM administrative relation encloses about 2,184 km², roughly double the 1,062.91 km² official land area, because the relation follows a maritime administrative boundary far out into the sea — the same failure mode already rejected for Jeju and Bali provinces on this site. The Natural Earth admin-1 feature instead measures about 1,036 km² (about 2.5% under the official figure), which is within the tolerance already accepted for Macao and Singapore, so it draws the outline while the official figure is still used for the area and density numbers.

Average administrative density does not describe population distribution in every neighborhood. Compare population definitions and reference dates alongside the numbers.

Place guide

How should this Ulsan profile be read?

Ulsan Metropolitan City is 1,062.91 km² with 1,091,948 people as at 2025-12-31. Unlike its neighbours on this page, the outline is drawn from Natural Earth rather than OpenStreetMap.

Why the OSM relation was rejected

Ulsan’s OpenStreetMap administrative relation encloses about 2,184 km², roughly double the 1,062.91 km² official land area, because it follows a maritime administrative boundary that extends well out into the sea. That is the same failure mode already documented and rejected for Jeju and Bali provinces on this site: a boundary that is real for jurisdiction but would draw as a shape dominated by empty water.

The Natural Earth admin-1 feature for Ulsan instead measures about 1,036 km², about 2.5% under the official figure. That gap is within the range already accepted for Macao and Singapore’s outlines on this site, so it was used to draw the shape while the official 1,062.91 km² still drives the area and density figures.

The population figure

Population is resident registration population (주민등록인구) at 2025-12-31 from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s annual report, the same series used for the other new Korean cities on this site and a different universe from the register-based census on the South Korea and Seoul pages.

Because the shape and the area number come from different sources here, the outline should be read as a close approximation of Ulsan’s boundary, not a precise trace of the coastline the 1,062.91 km² describes.

Questions people ask

About Ulsan’s area and population

How big is Ulsan?

Ulsan covers 1,062.9 km² (reference date 2025-12-31). On the Taiwan reference ladder: ≈ the size of Changhua County.

What is the population of Ulsan?

1.1 million — 1,091,948 as of 2025-12-31. The scope of that count is set out under “Scope and definitions” on this page.

What is the population density of Ulsan?

About 1,027.3 people per km², derived from the area and population above, whose reference dates may differ. An administrative average does not describe how crowded any particular neighbourhood is.

What do these Ulsan figures include?

Ulsan Metropolitan City's full administrative territory, including its coastal waters for administrative purposes. Population is resident registration population (주민등록인구) as at 2025-12-31, from this ministry's own annual administrative-area-and-population report — a different series from the Statistics Korea register-based census (등록센서스) that the South Korea and Seoul pages use, though the two series are usually close. Area is this same report's official administrative-area figure at 2025-12-31, not a figure computed from the map outline. This ministry's own administrative-area total for South Korea (100,517.62 km² at 2025-12-31) differs by about 0.06% from the 100,459.9 km² cadastral figure the South Korea and Seoul pages use, a small gap between two different official area series rather than an error. 🔴 The outline is drawn from Natural Earth, not OpenStreetMap: Ulsan's OSM administrative relation encloses about 2,184 km², roughly double the 1,062.91 km² official land area, because the relation follows a maritime administrative boundary far out into the sea — the same failure mode already rejected for Jeju and Bali provinces on this site. The Natural Earth admin-1 feature instead measures about 1,036 km² (about 2.5% under the official figure), which is within the tolerance already accepted for Macao and Singapore, so it draws the outline while the official figure is still used for the area and density numbers.

Data sources

Outline source: Natural Earth · Public domain

Read the methodology and data notes