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Try it free →Pattaya is not a municipality, and not a district
Almost every confusing thing about buying here starts with a status nobody explains. Pattaya is one of only two special-form local administrative organisations in Thailand — the other is Bangkok. It is not a thesaban, and it is not an amphoe. Here is what Pattaya City sets out in its own published record about the Act it is governed under:
| What the Act provides, as the city states it | Detail |
|---|---|
| The instrument | Pattaya City Administration Act B.E. 2542, as amended to (No. 2) B.E. 2552, and consolidated further to (No. 3) B.E. 2562 (17 April 2019) - which provisions the third amendment touched, we could not confirm from a primary source |
| What it establishes | Pattaya City as a local administrative organisation, with the boundary that existed the day before the Act came into force |
| Legal personality | Pattaya City has juristic-person status |
| Changing the boundary | Any alteration of the Pattaya City boundary must be made by ROYAL DECREE - not by the city, and not by the province |
| The administration | A Pattaya City Council of 24 members, directly elected by voters within the city, for four-year terms; and a Mayor of Pattaya City |
| Where it physically sits | Inside Amphoe Bang Lamung, Chonburi, about 150 km from Bangkok. City hall: 171 Moo 6, Pattaya Nuea Road, Tambon Na Kluea, Bang Lamung, Chonburi 20150 |
An honest gap, and it matters for anyone citing the law. The Royal Gazette’s own PDF of this Act refused an automated request on 6 September 2026, so everything above is Pattaya City’s statement of its own Act, not a quotation from the Gazette. A search index additionally showed the Gazette numbering the establishing provision as section 3 where the city’s document numbers it section 7. Because we could not open the Gazette, we do not assert either against the other. If you need the section number for a document, read the Act itself.
The boundary is 900 metres east of Sukhumvit - and that is the whole problem
This is the correction the page exists for. Pattaya City publishes its own boundary description, and it is far more specific than anything in the property market:
| Direction | What the city's own record says |
|---|---|
| North | Starts at the Krathing Lai canal; borders Bang Lamung Subdistrict Municipality and Nong Pla Lai Subdistrict Municipality |
| South | Meets Tambon Huai Yai; borders Huai Yai Subdistrict Municipality and Na Chom Thian Subdistrict Municipality |
| East | Runs parallel to Sukhumvit Road, about 900 METRES east of it; borders Nong Pla Lai Subdistrict Municipality and Nong Prue Town Municipality |
| West | Parallel to the Gulf of Thailand shoreline |
What follows from that one line
The whole belt of houses, villages and pool villas that everyone calls East Pattaya lies beyond that 900-metre line. It is real, it is popular, and it is not administered by Pattaya City — it is under Nong Prue Town Municipality or Nong Pla Lai, each with its own budget, by-laws, drainage programme and refuse collection. That is not a reason to avoid it. It is a reason to ask which body you will be dealing with, before rather than after.
And the drift goes further than that. When we searched DDproperty for “Pattaya” on 6 September 2026, three of the first eight rental results were labelled Na Chom Thian, Sattahip, Chon Buri — a different amphoe from Bang Lamung. Only one of the eight was labelled as being in Pattaya City itself. So “Pattaya” in a listing routinely spans at least two districts and several local governments.
We should be straight about our own directory too. BAANLYY’s Pattaya area list includes Sattahip and Ban Chang — and Ban Chang is in Rayong province. Our own index does the same boundary drift this section criticises. It is useful for browsing and it is not an administrative statement, and we would rather say so here than let you infer otherwise. Area-by-area stock sits on the Pattaya areas index; the round-up is in best areas to live in Pattaya.
Three-quarters of Pattaya is sea
The area figure quoted everywhere — 208 square kilometres — is mostly water. The city’s own breakdown:
| Component | Area | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 208.10 sq km (130,062.50 rai) | 100% |
| Land, including Ko Lan | 53.44 sq km (33,400 rai) | About 26% |
| Sea | 154.66 sq km (96,662.50 rai) | About 74% |
| Of which Ko Lan | 4.07 sq km (2,543.75 rai) | - |
Fifty-three square kilometres of land is a small town’s worth of ground carrying a large city’s worth of building — and it is not flat ground either. The city describes plains ringed by low hills under 100 metres: Khao Noi, Khao Ta Lo and Khao Sao Thong Thong at about 65 m, running west into Khao Pattaya at about 98 m right at the shoreline, with two separate plains between the hills and the sea. The upper plain is Na Kluea, which the city calls the historic centre of settlement here. Offshore, about 8 km out, sit Ko Lan, Ko Krok and Ko Sak. The beach runs a continuous 15 km.
Beaches and boats: Pattaya beaches and island hopping from Pattaya. The city also reports a marine area of responsibility of 154.66 sq km covered by three sea-rescue units and two centres, in the Jomtien, Pattaya and Wong Amat zones.
The population nobody counts
Here is a thing Pattaya City puts in writing that almost no local government anywhere does. First the register:
| Pattaya City, civil register | Figure |
|---|---|
| Registered population, 2563 | 117,606 (53,710 men, 63,896 women) |
| Households, 2563 | 25,187 |
| Registered population, 2553, for comparison | 107,944 in 20,267 households |
| Source | Registration and ID Card Division, Office of the City Clerk, Pattaya City, February 2564 |
And then the city’s own footnote
Pattaya City states plainly that the figures make the town look sparsely populated when it is not, because it is a major tourist city that has grown fast and drawn labour from elsewhere. Its own estimate of the unregistered population is four to five times the registered figure — roughly 400,000 to 500,000 people — in normal times, dropping to two or three times (about 200,000–300,000) during the COVID period, with no change of address notified under the civil registration law.
That is the most decision-relevant fact on this page. Every service ratio you will read about Pattaya — hospital beds, school places, water, refuse, road capacity — is calculated against a register that the city itself says undercounts the town by a factor of four or five. It also explains why the rental market is as deep as it is, and why occupancy in a given building can move so sharply with the season.
Ko Lan, separately. In 2563 the island had 2,940 registered residents in 649 households and 1,432 dwellings, a density of 722 people per square kilometre over its 4.07 sq km, plus about 2,000 unregistered people working in fishing and tourist services — per the Pattaya City Local Registration Office, February 2564. If you are considering the island rather than the mainland, that is the scale you are joining.
Flooding, drainage, and the number the city actually publishes
Most Thai resort towns leave flooding to rumour. Pattaya publishes a figure, so we can give you one:
| What Pattaya City reported for 2563 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Flood-affected area | 10% of the city's total area |
| Longest average time water stood | About 2 hours |
| When | October 2563 |
| Wastewater generated / treated per day | 69,625 cu.m / 69,625 cu.m |
| BOD in the main canals and drains | 10.73 mg |
Behind that sit two treatment plants, both named by the city: Soi Bun Kanjana, 13 rai, serving 7.5 sq km of the Jomtien area, and Soi Nong Yai, 80 rai, serving 36 sq km of Pattaya and Na Kluea. There is no river in Pattaya — only canals running east to west into the sea, with two reservoirs, Map Prachan and Sak Nok, inland.
Source and its limits: Pattaya City’s own published annual summary for B.E. 2564, read 6 September 2026. This is a 2563 figure — several years old — and a city-wide average, not a statement about any particular street or building. Two hours of standing water somewhere in ten per cent of the area is a very different thing from two hours in your car park. Ask the building and the neighbours about October specifically, and use our flood-risk checklist alongside Pattaya flood risk.
Immigration, and the parks within a drive
Foreigner services for this whole area are handled from Jomtien, not from a Pattaya City counter.
| Office | Address |
|---|---|
| Chonburi Immigration | 75/265 Soi 5, Hat Jomtien Road, Moo 12, Tambon Nong Prue, Amphoe Bang Lamung, Chonburi 20150. Telephone 038-252751 and 038-252753 |
Source and its limits: Chonburi Immigration’s own contact page, seen through a search index on 6 September 2026 and corroborated by the Government Contact Centre’s directory, which gives the same building number, Moo and postcode. We give no opening hours because we did not open the office’s own page to confirm them, and we do not state whether that address falls inside or outside the Pattaya City boundary, because Tambon Nong Prue straddles it and we have no document that settles the point for this building. Confirm before you travel. More at the Pattaya immigration office guide and visas and housing in Pattaya.
The parks, where the price is published. Under the Department of National Parks regulation of 2564, in force from 7 June 2565, the parks within an ordinary drive of Pattaya fall in band 2:
| Park | Band | Thai adult / child | Foreign adult / child |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet, Rayong | 2 | 40 / 20 baht | 200 / 100 baht |
| Khao Chamao-Khao Wong, Rayong | 2 | 40 / 20 baht | 200 / 100 baht |
| Khao Khitchakut, Chanthaburi | 2 | 40 / 20 baht | 200 / 100 baht |
| Namtok Phlio, Chanthaburi | 2 | 40 / 20 baht | 200 / 100 baht |
Source and its limits: the Department of National Parks’ own announcement of the bands set by its 2564 regulation, in force 7 June 2565, read 6 September 2026. Vehicles are charged separately — 30 baht for a car, 20 for a motorbike. The Thai and foreign rates differ and we state both plainly because that is what the regulation says. A later regulation can change any of them, so confirm at the gate. Note also that the reefs the city names as its own — Ko Lan, Ko Sak and Ko Krok — are not in a national park and carry no such fee.
Added 22 September 2026: Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet also carries a separate, higher fee for its outer islands — Koh Thalu, Koh Kudi and Koh Kham-Koh Kruai — on top of the band-2 rate above: 300 baht for a foreign adult and 150 for a foreign child, plus a further 100/50 baht surcharge if you travel to them via Koh Samet itself. That is not a Pattaya-day-trip detail, since none of these islets are reachable from the city; it applies only if your trip goes on to Ko Samet and beyond. Source: the Department of National Parks’ own notice, read 2026-09-22.
What it costs - and where each number comes from
Three kinds of figure exist, worth very different amounts, with the source under the number every time.
1. Our own listing data — and we have none
BAANLYY carried no listings in any of its eighteen Pattaya areas when this page was checked on 6 September 2026 — Central Pattaya, Jomtien, Na Jomtien, Naklua, Wong Amat, Pratumnak Hill, East Pattaya, Nong Prue, Khao Talo, Takhian Tia, Huay Yai, Mabprachan Lake, Silverlake, Bang Saray, Ban Amphur, Bang Lamung, Sattahip and Ban Chang were all checked, and all were empty. So there is no band of ours to publish, and we will not reprint someone else’s average as though we had measured it.
2. What the Thai state publishes — not estimates:
| Official figure | What it is, and what it is not |
|---|---|
| Land and building appraisal value (Department of Lands / Treasury Department) | The state's own valuation for a specific plot or unit, searchable by the public. The basis for transfer taxes and fees - not a market price, and usually below one |
| REIC condominium price index | The Real Estate Information Center's quarterly index, published by the Government Housing Bank. Directional only; the detailed series sit behind REIC membership |
3. A dated survey of what is advertised elsewhere. The weakest of the three, labelled as such. Read live on DDproperty on 6 September 2026, against the search term Pattaya:
| What DDproperty showed on 6 September 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Properties advertised for rent | 21,117 |
| Properties advertised for sale | 29,252 |
| First-page asking rents | About 20,000 to 85,000 baht a month |
| First-page asking prices | About 4,900,000 to 26,900,000 baht |
| First-page asking price per square metre | About 52,000 to 175,000 baht - a threefold spread inside one page |
Two things are worth reading off that. First, the ratio of sale to rent listings is roughly 1.4 to 1 — a materially deeper advertised rental market than a pure holiday-home town. For contrast, Hua Hin on the same day and the same portal advertised roughly five condominiums for sale for every one to rent. Second, that threefold per-square-metre spread on a single page is the clearest possible sign that a single “price per sqm in Pattaya” number is meaningless. The variable is location, floor, age and view, not the town.
Source and its limits: DDproperty, read live 6 September 2026 — asking prices on one portal on one day, not achieved prices, not an average, not our measurement, and as section 02 sets out, the “Pattaya” search itself reaches into a neighbouring district. We name the portal deliberately: Hipflat, FazWaz and thailand-property.com all draw on one underlying database, so three of those agreeing is one source agreeing with itself. Then negotiate on the specific unit and read how deposits work here. Town-level context is on the Pattaya rental market and cost of living in Pattaya.
What is wrong with Pattaya
Every neighbourhood guide should have this section and most do not. These are the real trade-offs.
| The problem | Why it happens |
|---|---|
| Much of 'Pattaya' is not in Pattaya | The city boundary runs about 900 metres east of Sukhumvit. East Pattaya is under Nong Prue or Nong Pla Lai; listings reach as far as Sattahip. Different bodies, different by-laws, different services |
| The town is four to five times bigger than the register says | The city's own estimate. Every per-head service ratio you read is computed against a number the city says undercounts it by that factor |
| Only 53 sq km of land | Three-quarters of the 208 sq km figure is sea. The buildable ground is a small town's worth, carrying a large city's worth of building |
| It floods, and the city says so | 10% of the area affected in 2563, water standing about two hours at worst, in October. A published figure is better than silence - but it is a 2563 city-wide average, not your street |
| Prices vary threefold within one page of listings | About 52,000 to 175,000 baht per square metre on one first page. Any single 'Pattaya price per sqm' is meaningless |
| The reputation is real and so is the rest of the town | Naklua, Pratumnak and the eastern suburbs are ordinary residential Thailand. Judging the whole place by one road is as wrong as pretending that road is not there |
Who Pattaya suits
| Suits you if | Look elsewhere if |
|---|---|
| You want a deep, liquid rental market on the coast within about 150 km of Bangkok | You want a small, quiet, low-density coastal town; the register says 118,000 and the city says 400,000-500,000 |
| You will establish which local body your address falls under before you sign, not after | You expect one city government to answer for everything at your address |
| You will ask specifically about October and about drainage before you commit | You cannot tolerate any standing water; the city itself reports 10% of its area affected in 2563 |
| You want the sea, the islands and the parks of Rayong and Chanthaburi within an ordinary drive | You want to judge a whole town by its reputation rather than by its subdistricts |
Start-here guides: moving to Pattaya, retiring in Pattaya, schools in Pattaya if you are coming with children, healthcare in Pattaya and health insurance in Pattaya before you rely on a policy you hold, and where to live in Thailand if the coast is still one option among several. Comparable coastal write-ups: living in Hua Hin and living in Phuket.
Frequently asked questions
Is East Pattaya in Pattaya?
Mostly, no - and this is the single most useful correction on the page. Pattaya City's own published boundary description puts its eastern limit running parallel to Sukhumvit Road, about 900 metres east of it, where it borders Nong Pla Lai Subdistrict Municipality and Nong Prue Town Municipality. Everything further east than roughly that line is under a different local government, with its own budget, its own by-laws, its own drainage programme and its own refuse collection. To the north the city borders Bang Lamung and Nong Pla Lai; to the south it meets Tambon Huai Yai and borders Huai Yai and Na Chom Thian. None of that stops a development three kilometres inland being marketed as Pattaya, and none of it is wrong of the marketing - it is just not the same thing as being inside the city. Before you sign, ask in writing which local administrative body the address falls under, and take the answer from the title and the tax bill rather than from the brochure.
Is Pattaya a city, a municipality or a district?
None of those, technically, and the difference is real. Pattaya is one of only two special-form local administrative organisations in Thailand, the other being Bangkok. It is governed under the Pattaya City Administration Act B.E. 2542, as amended to (No. 2) B.E. 2552 and, per multiple Thai municipal legal-reference archives, consolidated further to (No. 3) B.E. 2562 effective 17 April 2019 (we could not confirm from a primary source which specific provisions that third amendment touched), which - as Pattaya City sets out in its own published record - establishes Pattaya City as a local administrative organisation with the boundary it had the day before the Act took effect, gives it juristic-person status, and requires any change to that boundary to be made by Royal Decree. Its administration is a 24-member Pattaya City Council, directly elected for four-year terms, and a Mayor. Geographically it sits inside Amphoe Bang Lamung, Chonburi - so Pattaya has a district around it rather than being one. We could not open the Royal Gazette text of the Act on 6 September 2026, so treat the section numbering above as the city's own statement of its Act rather than as a quotation from the Gazette.
How big is Pattaya, and how many people live there?
Smaller and larger than you would guess, in that order. Pattaya City's own figures give it 208.10 square kilometres in total, of which only 53.44 sq km is land - including Ko Lan's 4.07 sq km - and 154.66 sq km is sea. About three-quarters of Pattaya is water. On population, the city's registration office recorded 117,606 registered residents in 2563, in 25,187 households, up from 107,944 in 2553. But the city then says something most places will not put in writing: the unregistered population is normally four to five times that figure, roughly 400,000 to 500,000 people, falling to two or three times during the COVID period, none of it notified under the civil registration law. So the density figure looks comfortable and the lived reality is not. Any statement that Pattaya has about 120,000 people is quoting the register, not the town.
Does Pattaya flood?
Yes, and unusually for a Thai resort town the city publishes a figure rather than leaving you to guess. In its own annual record for 2563, Pattaya City states that the flood-affected area amounted to 10 per cent of its total area, with the longest average standing time about two hours, in October 2563. Two hours is a serious inconvenience rather than a catastrophe, and October is the month to ask about. The same record describes the drainage picture behind it: no river, only canals running east to west into the sea; two reservoirs, Map Prachan and Sak Nok; and two wastewater treatment plants, one in Soi Bun Kanjana on 13 rai serving 7.5 sq km of the Jomtien area and one in Soi Nong Yai on 80 rai serving 36 sq km of Pattaya and Na Kluea. That is a 2563 figure, which is now several years old, and it is a city-wide average rather than a statement about your street. Ask the building and the neighbours about October specifically.
What does it cost to rent or buy in Pattaya?
BAANLYY carried no listings in any of its eighteen Pattaya areas when this page was checked on 6 September 2026, so we publish no band of our own. As a dated survey rather than a measurement: DDproperty returned 21,117 properties advertised for rent and 29,252 advertised for sale against the search term Pattaya when we read it on 6 September 2026, with first-page asking rents of about 20,000 to 85,000 baht a month and first-page asking prices of about 4,900,000 to 26,900,000 baht, at between about 52,000 and 175,000 baht per square metre. Those are asking prices on one portal on one day - not achieved prices, and not an average. Note also what the search itself proves: three of the first eight rental results were labelled Na Chom Thian, Sattahip - a different district from Pattaya altogether. For a figure the Thai state stands behind, use the Department of Lands and Treasury Department appraisal lookup for the specific unit or plot.
Ready to look at actual properties?
Pattaya’s areas are on the index page. Bring three questions: which local administrative body the address falls under, what happened on that street in October, and what the building looked like out of season.
General information only, not legal, tax, health or relocation advice. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal: it does not own, lease, manage or control any property listed on this site and is not a party to any lease or sale. Administrative boundaries, local by-laws, published fees, population figures, drainage arrangements and rents change; confirm anything you intend to act on directly with the landlord, the building, the relevant local body and the relevant Thai authority, and take title, land and lease questions to a Thai lawyer. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Written by Kirby Scofield
Founder of BAANLYY · International real estate broker, investor & relocation specialist
Reviewed by Kirby Scofield · Founder of BAANLYY · Founder & Broker, Scofield Group
Last reviewed: 22 September 2026 · Last updated 22 September 2026
Sources
- Pattaya City — published annual summary B.E. 2564: area, boundaries, registered and unregistered population, drainage and flooding, Ko Lan ↗Pattaya City (a special-form local administrative organisation), Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 6 September 2026
- Chonburi Immigration, Immigration Bureau, Royal Thai Police — own contact page ↗
- National park entry-fee bands under the 2564 regulation (in force 7 June 2565) — Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation ↗Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation · Accessed 6 September 2026
- Department of National Parks — special service-fee notice for the outer islands of Khao Laem Ya-Mu Ko Samet National Park (Koh Thalu, Koh Kudi, Koh Kham-Koh Kruai), 300/150 baht foreign adult/child plus a 100/50 baht surcharge via Koh Samet ↗Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation · Accessed 22 September 2026
- Land and building appraisal-value lookup — Department of Lands & Treasury Department ↗Department of Lands and Treasury Department, Kingdom of Thailand · Accessed 6 September 2026
- Real Estate Information Center (REIC), Government Housing Bank, Thailand ↗
Official primary sources are listed above with the date we last checked them. Thai rules, fees, thresholds and procedures change and can be applied differently by individual offices and embassies — confirm the current requirement with the responsible authority before relying on it. General information only, not legal, tax or medical advice. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.