Also known as: City of Tacloban, Syudad han Tacloban
Tacloban City is a highly urbanized city in Leyte, Region VIII (Eastern Visayas). Population 259K (PSA 2024 census), 138 barangays, land area 201.72 km².
Tacloban City is a highly urbanized city in Leyte, Region VIII (Eastern Visayas).
Tacloban City had 259,353 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.
Tacloban City covers 201.72 km², per the PSA Philippine Statistical Yearbook figure used on this page.
Tacloban City has 138 barangays.
Tacloban City is Eastern Visayas's regional capital and its only highly urbanized city, serving as the region's center for trade, commerce, government offices, banking, and inter-island shipping through its port on Cancabato Bay. The city is also, inescapably, defined by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), which made landfall on November 8, 2013 with an estimated 5–6 meter storm surge reaching roughly 2 kilometers inland — one of the deadliest natural disasters in Philippine history.
Key industries: Regional trade, commerce, and government, Port and inter-island shipping, Banking and finance, Agriculture and agro-industry
Casualty estimates for Tacloban specifically vary by methodology and source: a peer-reviewed epidemiological study published in PLOS Currents Disasters found 2,321 deaths across the city's 138 barangays, distinct from the storm's national NDRRMC-reported toll of roughly 6,300 dead and 1,061 missing, of which an estimated 5,902 deaths occurred across Eastern Visayas, 92% of them in Leyte province. In the years since, Tacloban has shifted toward pre-emptive evacuation protocols and nature-based coastal protection such as mangrove restoration, successfully evacuating residents ahead of a 2025 typhoon referenced locally as "Opong." The city's most recent documented comprehensive land use plan covers 2017–2025, with a 2026–2037 update reported to be in public review per the city planning office. Tacloban's population grew from 251,881 in the 2020 Census to 259,353 in the 2024 Census, the most populous city in Eastern Visayas.
Officials managing Tacloban's post-Haiyan coastal resilience planning can compare notes with other Eastern Visayas 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.
Tacloban's disaster-resilience planning spans mangrove restoration, evacuation protocols, and a CLUP update that supersedes a plan drafted under the shadow of the deadliest storm in the country's recent history — a picture that has to stay coordinated across departments as the region's regional center. Nova Gov's platform is built for exactly this kind of cross-department coordination, and the pilot program is designed to help planning offices bring hazard overlays and land-use records into one place.
More than a decade after Typhoon Haiyan, Tacloban is updating its land use plan while managing ongoing storm-surge risk. See how a founding pilot could line up hazard overlays with zoning and permitting records ahead of the next event.
Explore the Tacloban 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.
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