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Capitals of the world
Guatemala City, capital of Guatemala: facts and figures
Guatemala City is the capital of Guatemala. It has about 2,900,000 residents, which makes it the 52nd most populous capital of the 172 in DailyGeo's atlas, and it sits 1,497 m above sea level. Its nearest neighbouring capital is San Salvador, 177 km away.
Key figures
| Figure | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | Guatemala |
| Continent | North America |
| City population | 2,900,000 residents |
| World rank by population | 52nd of 172 |
| Elevation | 1,497 m |
| Founded | 1524 |
| Time zone | America/Guatemala |
| Coordinates | 14.63° N, 90.51° W |
| Country population | 18,687,881 residents |
| Country GDP | 123.3 billion US dollars |
| GDP per capita | $6,598 |
| Life expectancy | 72.7 years |
| Internet users | 60.2 % |
| Big Mac price | GTQ 34.00 (about $4.46) |
Climate through the year
Guatemala City averages 17.2 °C from December to February and 19.1 °C from June to August. January is the coldest month of the year and April the warmest, and the city receives 1,278 mm of precipitation in an average year.
| Month | Mean temperature |
|---|---|
| January | 16.9 °C |
| February | 17.8 °C |
| March | 19.2 °C |
| April | 20.4 °C |
| May | 20.3 °C |
| June | 19.1 °C |
| July | 18.9 °C |
| August | 19.2 °C |
| September | 18.9 °C |
| October | 18.3 °C |
| November | 17.5 °C |
| December | 17.0 °C |
What makes it stand out
- Elevation: 2nd highest capital in North America (1,497 m).
- Prices: cheapest capital for a Big Mac in North America ($4.46).
Nearest capitals
Distances are great-circle distances between city centres, which is what the Capitals game measures when it tells you how far a guess was from the answer. San Salvador is the closest capital to Guatemala City.
| Capital | Country | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| San Salvador | El Salvador | 177 km |
| Belmopan | Belize | 346 km |
| Tegucigalpa | Honduras | 363 km |
| Managua | Nicaragua | 540 km |
| San José | Costa Rica | 872 km |
How to remember it
Reading a figure once rarely fixes it in memory. Attach Guatemala City to a place and a number you already know: it is 177 km from San Salvador, and it is the 52nd largest capital in the atlas. Then practise retrieving it. DailyGeo Capitals gives you one mystery capital a day with distance, direction, language and population clues, the memorising method explains the review schedule, and the capitals index lists all 172.
To see how Guatemala compares with every other country on figures like these, the most expensive Big Mac index ranks them on geopolitix, a country-ranking game by the same maker as DailyGeo.
Sources
- City population and coordinates: DailyGeo's own game data, the same figures the Capitals game plays with. Population follows the urban area rather than the commune, which is why no density is quoted.
- Temperature and rainfall: ten-year means (2015 to 2024) computed from ERA5 reanalysis, retrieved through Open-Meteo. Hersbach, H., et al. (2020). The ERA5 global reanalysis. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society.
- Elevation: terrain height at the city's coordinates in the Copernicus DEM, read through Open-Meteo rather than taken from a curated claim.
- Time zone: resolved from the same coordinates.
- Country figures: the World Bank, latest reported year for each series: Country GDP, GDP per capita, Country population, Life expectancy, Internet users.
- Big Mac price: The Economist's Big Mac index, from its published dataset. The index covers about 55 economies, so most capitals here have no figure.
- Founding date: Wikidata, earliest recorded founding claim.
- This capital elsewhere: Wikipedia, UNdata, Wikidata.
- Method and limits: How this data was collected explains how each figure was collected and what it does not cover.
The short answer
Guatemala City is the capital of Guatemala, in North America, with about 2,900,000 residents, averaging 17.2 °C from December to February and 19.1 °C from June to August.
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Play today's DailyGeo puzzleFrequently asked questions
What is the capital of Guatemala?
Guatemala City is the capital of Guatemala. It has about 2,900,000 residents and lies in North America.
How many people live in Guatemala City?
About 2,900,000, which ranks Guatemala City 52nd of the 172 capitals in DailyGeo's atlas by city population.
What is the weather like in Guatemala City?
Guatemala City averages 17.2 °C from December to February and 19.1 °C from June to August, with 1,278 mm of precipitation a year. These are ten-year means from ERA5 reanalysis.
How expensive is Guatemala City?
A Big Mac costs GTQ 34.00 (about $4.46) there. GDP per capita in the country is $6,598, the latest year the World Bank reports.
Keep learning
- San Salvador, capital of El Salvador: facts and figures
San Salvador is the capital of El Salvador: 1,100,000 residents, 645 m above sea level, 24.2 °C from December to February and 24.4 °C from June to August.
- Belmopan, capital of Belize: facts and figures
Belmopan is the capital of Belize: 23,000 residents, 73 m above sea level, 23.1 °C from December to February and 26.8 °C from June to August. Key figures and sources.
- Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras: facts and figures
Tegucigalpa is the capital of Honduras: 1,400,000 residents, 1,003 m above sea level, 20.3 °C from December to February and 22.2 °C from June to August.
- Capitals of the world: the full list by continent
Every capital in DailyGeo's atlas, grouped by continent, with population, elevation and winter and summer temperatures, each linking to its own data page.