Also known as: City of Butuan, Dakbayan sa Butuan, Lungsod ng Butuan
Butuan City is a highly urbanized city in Agusan del Norte, Region XIII (Caraga). Population 386K (PSA 2024 census), 86 barangays, land area 816.62 km².
Butuan City is a highly urbanized city in Agusan del Norte, Region XIII (Caraga).
Butuan City had 385,530 residents in the 2024 census (PSA 2024 Census of Population (POPCEN 2024), reference date July 1, 2024). That is the most recent official count. There is no 2026 census result, so any 2026 population figure is an estimate.
Butuan City covers 816.62 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Butuan City has 86 barangays.
Butuan City is Caraga's regional center for trade, commerce, and banking, home to more than 260 financial institutions and a wood-processing and furniture industry that earned it the nickname "Timber City of the South." The city sits at the mouth of the Agusan River Basin, which shapes its planning reality: heavy rain upstream in Davao de Oro or Agusan del Sur can flood Butuan's riverside barangays days later, independent of local weather.
Key industries: Regional trade, commerce, and banking, Wood processing and furniture, Rice milling and food processing, Agriculture
That basin-wide flood risk has recurred repeatedly in recent years. The city declared a state of calamity in January 2024 after floodwater affected 22 riverside barangays; a second event in early February 2024 forced the evacuation of 13 riverside barangays and, as the Agusan River reached its Red Warning alert level, the displaced count grew to 6,212 families across 23 barangays by February 12. A separate event on March 10, 2024 flooded 7 villages, and in November 2025, Typhoon Uwan prompted the pre-emptive evacuation of 1,787 families. Butuan's population grew from 372,910 in the 2020 Census to 385,530 in the 2024 Census, and the city accounted for 17.7% of Caraga's regional economy in 2022 with the region's fastest growth that year at 9.5%.
Officials managing Butuan's river-basin flood exposure can compare notes with other Caraga LGUs in the LGU directory. Planning teams evaluating digital compliance tools can explore the pilot program or schedule a consultation.
More on the regulatory framework: CLUP compliance (RA 7160 / EO 72 / DHSUD) · SGLG explainer (RA 11292) · full glossary.
Butuan has to track flood risk that originates outside its own boundaries — in river basins upstream in neighboring provinces — and translate that into evacuation planning across 23 or more riverside barangays on short notice. Nova Gov's platform is built for exactly this kind of cross-department, cross-jurisdiction coordination, and the pilot program is designed to help planning offices bring hazard overlays and land-use records into one place.
When upstream rain pushes the Agusan River to Red Warning, Butuan has had to coordinate evacuation across 23 riverside barangays at once. See how a founding pilot could line up hazard overlays with zoning and permitting records ahead of the next event.
Explore the Butuan City pilot →We build custom software around CLUP, CDP and zoning work, for LGU planning offices and for the planning firms LGUs hire. Free 30-minute workflow call, then a fixed written quote.
See what we build for urban planners →