Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Guadalajara metropolitan area officially includes eight distinct municipalities. These local governments form the core of Jalisco's most populous region and consist of Zapopan, Guadalajara, Tlaquepaque, Tonalá, Tlajomulco de Zúñiga, El Salto, Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos, and Juanacatlán.
Zapopan stood as the largest municipality by population count in 2020 with 1,476,491 residents according to census data from that year. The city of Guadalajara itself contained 1,385,629 people during the same count while Tlaquepaque followed with 687,720 inhabitants recorded in official records.
Guadalajara showed much higher density at 9,215.4 people per square kilometer compared to other areas like Juanacatlán which recorded the lowest density at 218.48 people per square kilometer. INEGI released detailed statistics for the 2020 census showing sharp variations between municipalities such as Zapopan achieving a density of 1,451.46 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Historical data from INEGI shows rapid growth patterns over two decades and the total population reached 3,003,868 in 1990. Five years later that number climbed to 3,482,417 by 1995 and by 2000 the count rose again to 3,699,136 residents.
The physical footprint spans 2,543 square kilometers across eight jurisdictions with Tlajomulco de Zúñiga claiming the largest single area at 682.5 square kilometers. The total area covered 2,543.13 square kilometers in aggregate while Guadalajara covers only 150.36 square kilometers despite its high population density.