El Alto

This article is about the city in Bolivia. For other uses, see El Alto (disambiguation).

El Alto Patamarka
City and municipality
Aerial view of El Alto Neo-Andean cholets The Altiplano Villa Dolores Mercedario district love of god church 16 de Julio street fair El Alto City
Flag
Motto:  Desde la cumbre más alta del mundo levántase la ciudad donde jamás se pondrá el sol de nuestra raza (From the highest summit in the world rises the city where the sun of our race will never set)
El Alto Location within Bolivia El Alto El Alto (South America)
Coordinates: 16°30′17″S 68°09′48″W
Country	Bolivia
Department	La Paz Department
Province	Pedro Domingo Murillo
Municipality	El Alto Municipality
Government
• Mayor	Eliser Roca
Area
• City and municipality	363 km2 (140 sq mi)
Elevation	4,150 m (13,620 ft)
Population  (2024 census)
• City and municipality	885,035
• Rank	2nd
• Density	2,440/km2 (6,310/sq mi)
• Metro	2,187,233
Time zone	UTC−4 (BOT)
Website	Official website

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El Alto (Spanish for "The High One", Aymara: Patamarka) is the second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest-growing urban centers, with an estimated population of 943,558 in 2020. It is also the highest major city in the world, with an average elevation of 4,000 m (13,123 ft).

The El Alto–La Paz metropolitan area, formed by La Paz, El Alto, Achocalla, Viacha, and Mecapaca, constitutes the most populous urban area of Bolivia, with a population of about 2.2 million. The city is rapidly developing, although significant challenges with substandard infrastructure and utilities remain, especially in the outlying areas.

The construction of an elaborate cable car system connected El Alto directly with central La Paz, dramatically easing transportation into the economic center of the metropolitan area. A locally indigenous Neo-Andean architectural style has developed alongside this growth, giving the city a distinct appearance as it has modernized.