Jerusalem was the largest city in Israel with over one million inhabitants as of the end of 2024. It was followed by Tel Aviv with almost half a million residents. Haifa was the third-largest city in the country, with just under 300,000 inhabitants.

Israel IL: Population in Largest City data was reported at 3,905,583.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 3,802,958.000 Person for 2016. Israel IL: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 1,701,658.000 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 3,905,583.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 738,158.000 Person in 1960. Israel IL: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

In 2022, the average number of people per household in the city of Bnei Brak in Israel was 4.37. This city topped the list of people per household among large cities in Israel (200,000 or more people). In comparison, the national average number of people per household was 3.19, which put Bnei Brak, a city with a predominantly Orthodox Jewish population. The city of Tel Aviv-Yafo ends the list with an average of 2.21 persons per household.

In 2023, Jerusalem was the city with the largest population of Muslim residents in Israel, reaching 379,600 people. This represented about 38 percent of the city's total population. The town with the second-highest number of Muslims was Rahat, with 78,500 members of the religion. Rahat is a predominantly Bedouin city in southern Israel. Umm al-Fahm and Nazareth, both located in northern Israel, make up a sizeable portion of the Muslim community in Israel.

Jerusalem was the city with the largest population of Ultra-Orthodox Jewish residents in Israel in 2022, reaching 290,090 people. The community accounted for almost 30 percent of the city's total population. The town with the second-highest number of Ultra-Orthodox Jews was Bnei Brak, with 202,960 residents. Beit Shemesh and Modi'in Illit also made up a sizable portion of the Ultra-Orthodox community in Israel.

The two countries with the greatest shares of the world's Jewish population are the United States and Israel. The United States had been a hub of Jewish immigration since the nineteenth century, as Jewish people sought to escape persecution in Europe by emigrating across the Atlantic. The Jewish population in the U.S. is largely congregated in major urban areas, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, with the New York metropolitan area being the city with the second largest Jewish population worldwide, after Tel Aviv, Israel. Israel is the world's only officially Jewish state, having been founded in 1948 following the first Arab-Israeli War. While Jews had been emigrating to the holy lands since the nineteenth century, when they were controlled by the Ottoman Empire, immigration increased rapidly following the establishment of the state of Israel. Jewish communities in Eastern Europe who had survived the Holocaust saw Israel as a haven from persecution, while the state encouraged immigration from Jewish communities in other regions, notably the Middle East & North Africa. Smaller Jewish communities remain in Europe in countries such as France, the UK, and Germany, and in other countries which were hotspots for Jewish migration in the twentieth century, such as Canada and Argentina.

The world's Jewish population has had a complex and tumultuous history over the past millennia, regularly dealing with persecution, pogroms, and even genocide. The legacy of expulsion and persecution of Jews, including bans on land ownership, meant that Jewish communities disproportionately lived in urban areas, working as artisans or traders, and often lived in their own settlements separate to the rest of the urban population. This separation contributed to the impression that events such as pandemics, famines, or economic shocks did not affect Jews as much as other populations, and such factors came to form the basis of the mistrust and stereotypes of wealth (characterized as greed) that have made up anti-Semitic rhetoric for centuries. Development since the Middle Ages The concentration of Jewish populations across the world has shifted across different centuries. In the Middle Ages, the largest Jewish populations were found in Palestine and the wider Levant region, with other sizeable populations in present-day France, Italy, and Spain. Later, however, the Jewish disapora became increasingly concentrated in Eastern Europe after waves of pogroms in the west saw Jewish communities move eastward. Poland in particular was often considered a refuge for Jews from the late-Middle Ages until the 18th century, when it was then partitioned between Austria, Prussia, and Russia, and persecution increased. Push factors such as major pogroms in the Russian Empire in the 19th century and growing oppression in the west during the interwar period then saw many Jews migrate to the United States in search of opportunity.

In 2022, internal migration from Jerusalem to the orthodox city of Bet Shemesh accounted for 18.1 percent of all migration from the city that year. It was closely followed by migration to Tel Aviv-Yafo, which stood at 6.2 percent. In recent years, the city has taken on a more religious character. Many leisure and nightlife facilities in the town are closed on Saturdays for religious reasons; therefore, the municipality is becoming less appealing to non-religious people. In addition, a religious population leaves Jerusalem for other cities due to a higher cost of living. In the 2022 elections for the 25th Knesset in Israel, the ultra-religious party United Tora Judaism constituted the  most popular party  among the residents of Jerusalem. 

Jerusalem is still a leading tourist city 

While Jerusalem's popularity as a place to live is waning somewhat, the city is still a top tourist destination. Both international and domestic tourism are thriving in the city. In 2022, the  number of foreign guests in hotels in Jerusalem  reached over 673,000. This was a significant increase compared to the previous year. Tourists from abroad are interested in visiting the city due to its religious and historical importance, with sites sacred to many religions. In addition, the number of Israeli guests in hotels in Jerusalem  is also high. In the same year, 713,000 Israelis stayed in hotels in the city, a slight rise compared to 2021. Among the famous sites in the city are the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Western Wall, and the Dome of the Rock.