Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. It is an Alpha world city. Located in the Valley of Mexico on the high Mexican Central Plateau, the city sits at an altitude of 2,240 meters. Greater Mexico City had a population of 21,804,515, making it the world's 15th-largest metropolitan area and the second-largest urban agglomeration in the Western Hemisphere, after São Paulo. Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by Indigenous peoples. It began as Tenochtitlan, a Mexica city built around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco.
Typical weather
1981–presentCity Rhythm
measuredOpening hours, by kind of place
median across mapped venuesVital absurdities
measured · the Anti-AwardsSame time system
by rhythmWhat to do each season
2dry-winter
mild and dry; openmeteo mean 10.4-16.1 °C (rarely below 3 °C or above 30 °C due to the 2,240 m elevation); the driest months (Nov-Apr, Dec 0.2 mm/day); the comfortable high-altitude window
- the dry season — the high tourist season; the Dia de los Muertos (early Nov) and the spring warming before the rains
- the clearest air before the summer storm season; the lowest rainfall
wet-summer
the rainy season; openmeteo mean 12.9-17.0 °C (May warmest before the rains); wet Jun-Sep (Jun-Jul ~5.0 mm/day, the heaviest precipitation 'includes dense hail'); afternoon thunderstorms
- the summer rains — afternoon thunderstorms reshape the daily schedule; the basin's air-quality worst in the wet season
- the green window for the southern forests (Ajusco, Xochimilco) and the chinampa agriculture
What it is known for
Important moments in a year
1968 Summer Olympics
- Mexico City became the first Latin American city to host the Olympic Games
Fifa World Cup
- Mexico hosted the FIFA World Cup in 1970, 1986 and 2026
- the Azteca Stadium is the first to host a World Cup final twice and the only one to host the tournament three times
Mexican Grand Prix
- the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez
On the record
source-trackedMexico City has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification Cwb), due to its tropical location but high elevation.
The average annual temperature varies from 12 to 16 °C. The temperature is rarely below 3 °C or above 30 °C.
Overall precipitation is heavily concentrated in the summer months, and includes dense hail.
The city sits at an altitude of 2,240 meters (7,350 feet) [in] the Valley of Mexico on the high Mexican Central Plateau.
Mexico City is the oldest capital city in the Americas and one of only two founded by Indigenous peoples. It began as Tenochtitlan, a Mexica city built around 1325 on islands in Lake Texcoco.
Since the beginning of the 20th century the city has sunk as much as nine meters in some areas, and it continues to sink almost 50 centimetres every year [due to] groundwater-related subsidence.
The Mexico City Metro … is the second-largest metro system in North America and the largest in Latin America [with] 12 lines [and] 195 stations, transporting 4.4 million people every day.
There is an environmental program, called Hoy No Circula, whereby vehicles that have not passed emissions testing are restricted from circulating on certain days.
After the Mexican Revolution, an avant-garde artistic movement originated in Mexico City: muralism.
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) … is the largest university on the continent, with more than 300,000 students. [Its main campus] was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2007.
Mexico City became the first Latin American city to host the Olympic Games, having held the Summer Olympics in 1968.
La Nueva Viga Market is the second largest seafood market in the world after the Tsukiji fish market in Japan.
The method behind this atlas — 196 pp. Not published yet.