Where Is the Coldest City in the World?

Keep in mind that these are cities; there are smaller, permanently-inhabited settlements that are colder, but "city" doesn't really mean "remote village." We're looking at places that are designated as cities.

Without further ado, here is the list of world's coldest cities, as measured by average January temperature (more on that at the end of the list).

1. Yakutsk, Russia: -37 degrees F (-38 C)

Located in the north of Russia, this city of around 300,000 inhabitants has a credible claim to being the coldest city in the world. Located about 280 miles (450 km) south of the Arctic circle, it's actually something of a boom town with a thriving mining industry.

2. Norilsk, Russia: -16 F (-27 C)

Besides the aforementioned Yakutsk, Norilsk is the only other major settlement built on continuous permafrost. At 186 miles (299 km) north of the Arctic circle, it's the northernmost city on our list. Like Yakutsk, it's a mining town, and this industry has led to a severe pollution crisis.

3. Yellowknife, Canada: -15 F (-26 C)

The capital city (and only major settlement) of Canada's Northwest Territories, Yellowknife is a city of extremes. Besides its snowy and extremely cold winters, with temperatures falling as low as -60 F (51 C) — that was the record low temperature, set in 1947 — it also has the sunniest spring and summer of any Canadian city [source: CBC].

4. Fairbanks, Alaska: -8 F (-22 C)

For a city known for the extreme cold of its winters, it is surprisingly populous. Including the larger metropolitan area (which has a population of nearly 100,000), it's the second-largest city in Alaska. Initially it was gold that brought people to Fairbanks, with a vein of gold ore discovered in 1901.

5. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: -6 F (-23 C)

Ulaanbaatar has the distinction of being the world's coldest national capital city. It sits at a high latitude as well as a high elevation, at 4,300 feet (1,300 m) above sea level. In January of 1957, temperatures dropped to -47 F (-44 C), to set the record for coldest temperature.

6. Harbin, China: 1 F (-17 C)

Harbin is a large city in northeast China, and is known for the European and Russian influence on its culture and architecture. The total population of the city and the outlying metro area is around 9 to10 million inhabitants, and it also boasts a thriving tourist industry. Every year, people brave the cold weather to attend the spectacular ice sculpture festival.

7. International Falls, Minnesota: 5 F (-15 C)

A border city with Canada, International Falls has been called the "Icebox of the Nation," for its exceptionally cold winter months. Quite a bit smaller than the other cities on this list, it is nonetheless considered a city and not a town, even with a population of 5,802 in the 2020 census.

For the purposes of this article, we looked at the cities with the lowest average temperature in the month of January (the coldest month if you're in the northern hemisphere).

You could look at the average temperatures through all the winter months, of or the average annual temperature, but average January low temperature is how this quality is usually measured, and we'll stick with that.

Additionally, we've taken a look at the lowest temperature ever recorded in some of these places, which gives a view of just how frigid they can get. As you see, all of these places regularly experience extremely cold winters, even as average global temperatures continue to increase from the effects of human-caused climate disruption.

Valid questions! After all, what about Antarctica, the coldest continent? In the Southern Hemisphere, June or July would be the coldest month. Why are we focused on those places in the north?

Firstly, there's more inhabited land mass close to the North Pole, compared to the South Pole. We're looking at human habitations that can properly be called "cities," and there just aren't that many in the Southern Hemisphere that are large enough and cold enough to make it to this list.

Antarctica itself does indeed have some very cold temperatures, and there are permanent settlements way down there, but they're not the kind of anybody thinks of when they think of the word "city." So, we looked at average January temperatures in these Northern Hemisphere cities.