Who lives in Tiberias?
Tiberias is a growing northern city of about 53,400 people. It is overwhelmingly Jewish and “Jewish and other,” relatively young, religiously mixed, and changing through both population growth and new housing. This page separates hard official numbers from estimates that cannot honestly be measured at city level.
Latest population estimate: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics preliminary 2026 data. Housing and household figures: CBS 2024 data reproduced in the Tiberias Municipality's May 2026 urban-renewal master-plan program.
Tiberias has crossed 53,000 residents.
2021
CBS local-authority profile.
2022 Census
The 2022 census estimate places Tiberias at roughly 48.5 thousand residents.
June 2026 estimate
52,478 were Israeli residents in the preliminary estimate; annual change was about +1.4%.
A city with many children — and a meaningful older population.
The 2022 Census breakdown is a useful structural picture even though the city's total population has grown since then.
Age 0–19
Roughly one resident in three was under 20.
Age 20–64
The core working-age population.
Age 65+
A substantial senior population alongside the city's younger families.
Tiberias is overwhelmingly Jewish, but not religiously uniform.
Jewish and other
The municipality's 2026 planning document, using CBS 2024 local-authority data, reports 98.3% of the population in the CBS category “Jews and Others.”
Haredi households in the 2022 Census
A 2026 municipal planning document explicitly cites the 2022 Census at about 14% Haredi. The same planning work notes a higher 20% figure used in a separate 2023 Haredi-policy planning dataset, so the definition and dataset matter.
Religiosity of households — 2022 Census
Percentages are census classifications and do not imply that every individual in a household identifies identically.
About three people per household, with major expansion planned.
Average household size
The 2024 local-authority data used by the municipality compares Tiberias with a national average of 3.2.
Housing units
Reported for Tiberias in the city's May 2026 urban-renewal planning program, based on CBS 2024 local-authority statistics.
Growth changes the map
Urban-renewal and Upper Tiberias planning contemplate substantial additional housing. Future population projections are planning assumptions, not current residents, and should not be presented as today's population.
A lower-income city than the national average.
Average monthly wage
Average monthly wage of salaried workers in the cited 2023 data.
National comparison
The corresponding national average in the same municipal/CBS comparison.
Bagrut eligibility
Share of 12th-grade students eligible for a matriculation certificate in the 2023–24 school year.
What can we actually say about Russian, English, French and Spanish speakers?
There is an important limitation: CBS does not publish a reliable current Tiberias headcount by everyday spoken language. That means exact claims such as “3,500 Russian speakers” or “600 English speakers” should not be presented as official demographic facts.
Russian-speaking community
Tiberias clearly has residents from the former Soviet Union and Russian-speaking residents, but no current official city-level total was found that allows us to state an exact number responsibly.
English, French, Spanish & German
These languages are relevant to immigrants, international residents and tourism, but current resident counts by language are not published at the precision needed for a defensible city total.
Tiberias has two demographic stories.
The resident city
Permanent residents use schools, synagogues, health services, municipal services, supermarkets, trades, housing and neighborhood businesses throughout the year.
The visitor city
Domestic Israeli vacationers, Jewish religious visitors and international Christian pilgrimage groups can dramatically change the people visible in hotels, restaurants, the promenade and holy sites. Tourist language mix should therefore be analyzed separately from resident demographics.
For the multilingual Tiberias.Shop project, Hebrew remains essential for residents. English has broad international utility, while Russian, French, Spanish and German each serve meaningful visitor or immigrant audiences. But that publishing decision should not be confused with a claim that those languages rank in exactly that order among permanent residents.
We prefer a dated number to a confident guess.
- Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) — population estimates, local-authority profiles and the 2022 Population Census.
- 2022 Population Census — age, households, religiosity and other detailed demographic characteristics.
- Tiberias Municipality — May 2026 urban-renewal planning program reproducing CBS 2024 local-authority statistics and 2026 planning documents.