Why Does Yucatán Have So Many Municipalities, With Several Under 2,000 Residents?

Of Mexico’s 32 states, Yucatán ranks as the 18th largest by area with roughly 39,524 square kilometers, or 9.7 million acres. But despite this average physical footprint, the state is divided into 106 municipalities, creating a complex administrative environment. 

The territorial division requires the state government in Mérida to coordinate with 106 individual mayors, city councils, and local administrative offices. This structure contrasts sharply with the political organization of neighboring states and creates distinct logistical challenges for implementing public policy.

Regional and National Comparisons

To understand the density of Yucatán’s political division, it is necessary to compare it with the rest of the Yucatán Peninsula. The neighboring state of Quintana Roo has an area slightly larger than Yucatán but is divided into only 11 municipalities. Campeche covers nearly double Yucatán’s land area but has only 13 municipalities. 

Nationwide, the contrast remains stark. Baja California and Baja California Sur have seven and five municipalities, respectively. While the national average number of municipalities per state is heavily skewed by southern states like Oaxaca, which has 570, and Puebla, which has 217, 106 makes Yucatán one of the most subdivided entities in the country relative to its territorial size. 

Historical Origins of the Subdivision

This high number of municipalities stems from the region’s colonial and post-colonial history. During the Spanish colonial period, the Yucatán Peninsula was administered as a single vast territory. 

The population was heavily concentrated in the northwest due to the establishment of encomiendas and later agricultural haciendas. These estates were built around existing Maya population centers. When Mexico gained independence in 1824, these established rural communities retained their local authorities to manage resources. 

The Caste War in the mid-nineteenth century and later political conflicts fractured the peninsula. Campeche formally separated in 1857, and Quintana Roo was carved out as a federal territory before becoming a state in 1974. These separations removed vast tracts of land from Yucatán, but the densely populated, historically entrenched settlements of the northwest remained intact. Rather than consolidating these historic towns into larger districts, state authorities formally recognized them as independent city councils.

The Bureaucratic and Financial Burden

Sustaining 106 local governments requires a massive allocation of public resources. Each municipality, regardless of population size, must maintain a mayor, a city council, a municipal treasury, a public works department, and local security forces. This creates a disproportionate bureaucratic burden for a state with a total population of approximately 2.3 million people. In many of the smallest municipalities, the local tax base is entirely insufficient to fund these basic government structures. 

These administrations rely almost entirely on federal and state budget transfers to pay administrative salaries, leaving very little capital for infrastructure or public services. Residents in some of the most isolated districts frequently report that local governments cannot provide basic maintenance. For instance, inhabitants of Cuncunul recently documented widespread abandonment of public spaces, noting that the local administration lacked the funds and organization to operate heavy machinery or repair roads. The multiplication of municipal budgets also complicates auditing processes, increasing the risk of financial mismanagement across dozens of small administrative centers.

Extremes in Geographic Size

The geographic distribution of these 106 municipalities is highly uneven. Tizimín is the largest municipality in the state, covering 4,517 square kilometers (over 1.11 million acres). Located in the eastern part of the state, Tizimín is characterized by extensive cattle ranches and agricultural tracts. Its size means local authorities must travel long distances to serve remote communities within their jurisdiction. 

At the opposite end of the spectrum is the municipality of Sanahcat. Located in the central region of the state, Sanahcat covers just 30.6 square kilometers, or approximately 7,561 acres. The contrast in physical scale highlights the arbitrary nature of the state’s territorial division, where a single municipality like Tizimín could geographically encompass over 140 municipalities the size of Sanahcat.

Demographic Disparities

Population distribution across Yucatán mirrors these geographic disparities. The municipality of Mérida, the state capital, has the largest population. The 2025 census recorded over one million residents within the Mérida municipality alone, though the broader metropolitan area exceeds 1.5 million people. 

This single municipality accounts for over 40% of the entire state population. In stark contrast, several rural municipalities operate with fewer than 2,000 residents. The least populated municipality in the state is Quintana Roo. Despite sharing its name with the neighboring state, it is a small rural jurisdiction in Yucatán that recorded only 976 inhabitants in the 2020 census. Other extremely small populations include Sanahcat, with 1,701 residents, and Cuncunul, with 1,714 residents. 

These demographic extremes mean that a city council in Mérida must manage complex urban transit and zoning for a million residents. In contrast, a structurally identical city council in Quintana Roo governs a few hundred households.