São Paulo

São Paulo (/ˌsaʊ ˈpaʊloʊ/; Portuguese: [sɐ̃w ˈpawlu] ^ⓘ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the capital city of the state of São Paulo, as well as the most populous city in Brazil, the Americas, and both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. Listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) as an alpha global city, it exerts substantial international influence in commerce, finance, arts, and entertainment.^[8] It is the largest urban area by population outside Asia and the most populous Portuguese-speaking city in the world. The city's name honors Paul the Apostle and people from the city are known as paulistanos. The city's Latin motto is Non ducor, duco, which translates as "I am not led, I lead".^[9]

Founded in 1554 by Jesuit priests, the city was the center of the bandeirantes settlers during Colonial Brazil, but it became a relevant economic force only during the Brazilian coffee cycle in the mid-19th century and later consolidated its role as the main national economic hub with industrialization in Brazil in the 20th century, which made the city a cosmopolitan melting pot, home to the largest Arab, Italian, and Japanese diasporas in the world, with ethnic neighborhoods like Bixiga, Bom Retiro, and Liberdade, and people from more than 200 other countries.^[10] The city's metropolitan area, Greater São Paulo, is home to more than 20 million inhabitants and ranks as the most populous in Brazil and one of the most populous in the world. The process of conurbation between the metropolitan areas around Greater São Paulo also created the São Paulo Macrometropolis,^[11] the first megalopolis in the Southern Hemisphere, with more than 30 million inhabitants.^[12][13]

São Paulo is the largest urban economy in Latin America and one of the world's major financial centres,^[14][15] representing around 10% of the Brazilian GDP^[16] and just over a third of São Paulo state's GDP.^[17] The city is the headquarters of B3, the largest stock exchange of Latin America by market capitalization,^[18] and has several financial districts, mainly in the areas around Paulista, Faria Lima and Berrini avenues. Home to 63% of established multinationals in Brazil^[17] and the source of around one third of the Brazilian scientific production,^[19] São Paulo is among the top 100 science and technology clusters in the world.^[20] Its main university, the University of São Paulo, is often considered the best in Brazil and Latin America,^[21][22] while the city is regularly ranked as one of the best cities in the world to be a university student in the QS World University Rankings.^[23][24] The metropolis is also home to several of the tallest skyscrapers in Brazil, including the Alto das Nações, Platina 220, Figueira Altos do Tatuapé, Mirante do Vale, Edifício Itália, Altino Arantes Building, North Tower and many others. It is the state capital with the best basic sanitation,^[25] the second-most developed, according to the FIRJAN Municipal Development Index (2025),^[26] and the sixth in the Social Progress Index (IPS) in Brazil.^[27]

The city is one of the main cultural hubs in Latin America and it is home to monuments, parks, and museums, such as the Latin American Memorial, Ibirapuera Park, São Paulo Museum of Art, Pinacoteca, Cinemateca, Itaú Cultural, Museum of Ipiranga, Catavento Museum, Football Museum, Museum of the Portuguese Language, and the Museum of Image and Sound. São Paulo also holds relevant cultural events like the São Paulo Jazz Festival, São Paulo Art Biennial, São Paulo Fashion Week, Lollapalooza, Primavera Sound, Comic Con Experience and the São Paulo Gay Pride Parade, the second-largest LGBT event in the world.^[28][29] São Paulo was also host of many sporting events such as the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 1963 Pan American Games, the São Paulo Indy 300 and the NFL Brazil Games in addition to hosting the annual Brazilian Grand Prix of Formula One and the Saint Silvester Road Race.