It depends on the country, but in some cases it isn't only a question of size and population. In Britain, there are some large places that are still towns, and some quite small places that are cities. There was a time when a city needed to have a cathedral. This is no longer the case, but a British town does need to be granted a royal charter from the Queen before it can be classed as a city. A town cannot simply decide to call itself a city.

The only difference is in size. Towns are smaller and cities are bigger. ;)

In the United States this can be an incredibly complex question. The short answer is that in ordinary speech a town is smaller than a city. There are no precise definitions but 3,000-10,000 would likely be called a "small town," 10,000-50,000 a "town," 50,000 and up a "city." Cities are sometimes affectionally called "towns" as a sort of diminutive--"New York, New York, a heck of a town/The Bronx is up and the Battery's down." In every city or town, big or small, the center is called "downtown." The long answer is that words like "town" and "city" may have specific legal meanings--all of which relate to state law and therefore are different in each of the 50 states! For example, in most states, "towns" are limited size and there is "unincorporated space" in between. There is land that does not belong to any town. In the New England states, however, all of the land area is divided up into "towns" or "townships." Every square inch of land belongs to some town, and the instant you leave one town you are in another town.

Hi Paz! The only difference is that cities are bigger than towns. :)