Recommended for production

The two managed products below are the fastest path to shipping. They're actively maintained, billed for sustainability, and back the rest of the ecosystem.

REST API — api.countrystatecity.in

Query countries, states, cities, and postcodes from any language. Free tier for prototyping; paid tiers for production.

curl https://api.countrystatecity.in/v1/countries/IN/states/MH/cities \
  -H "X-CSCAPI-KEY: $YOUR_API_KEY"

Python applications can use the official sync and async client:

pip install countrystatecity-api
export CSC_API_KEY="YOUR_API_KEY"

from countrystatecity import CountryStateCity
with CountryStateCity() as client:
    states = client.get_states_of_country("IN")
    print([state["name"] for state in states[:3]])

Get a free API key → · Compare plans · Documentation · Interactive playground · OpenAPI spec · Status

Export Tool — export.countrystatecity.in

Build tailored datasets in your browser — pick country, region, format, and field selection, then download.

Launch the Export Tool →

Other ways to use the data

curl -LO https://github.com/dr5hn/countries-states-cities-database/releases/latest/download/json-cities.json.gz
gunzip json-cities.json.gz

What's in the data

• 250 countries · 5,299 states / regions · 153,765 cities · 100k+ postcodes across ~50 countries
• 19 languages of country and state names plus native script
• 100% IANA timezone coverage for cities
• Validated foreign keys on every contribution
• Formats: JSON, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, SQL Server, MongoDB, XML, YAML, CSV, GeoJSON, TOON (LLM-optimised, ~40% fewer tokens than JSON), Parquet (columnar, analytics-ready)

Contributing

The easiest way is the Community Manager — submit corrections through a web UI with end-to-end tracking.

To edit JSON directly:

1. Fork and clone (git clone --depth 1).
2. Edit files under contributions/cities/, contributions/states/, contributions/countries/, or contributions/postcodes/.
3. Required for new cities: name, state_id, state_code, country_id, country_code, latitude, longitude. Optional: timezone, wikiDataId, native.
4. Omit id, created_at, updated_at, flag — auto-managed on import.
5. Open a pull request with a clear data source.

{
  "name": "San Francisco",
  "state_id": 1416,
  "state_code": "CA",
  "country_id": 233,
  "country_code": "US",
  "latitude": "37.77493",
  "longitude": "-122.41942",
  "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles",
  "wikiDataId": "Q62"
}

Contributions guide · Contribution guidelines · Multi-level territories policy · The cities.type field

Don't edit the auto-generated directories (json/, csv/, xml/, yml/, sql/, etc.). They're rebuilt from MySQL on every release.

License and attribution

Licensed under the Open Database License (ODbL v1.0). Commercial use, modification, and redistribution all permitted. Attribution is required, and derivatives must be shared under the same license.

Data by Countries States Cities Database
https://github.com/dr5hn/countries-states-cities-database | ODbL v1.0

Support

If this project saves you time, please consider supporting its continued maintenance.

You can also plant a tree on behalf of the project.

Reach out: gadadarshan [at] gmail [dot] com

Sponsors

Disclaimer

Community-maintained data may contain errors or lag behind geopolitical changes. Verify critical data with official sources. Report issues.