thumb|right|Zamość in Poland is an example of a utopian ideal town. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. In the Polish language, there is no linguistic distinction between a city and a town, both translated . The word for both is , as a form of settlement distinct from types of rural settlements: village (), przysiółek, ', or ', see Classification of localities and their parts in Poland. Cities are the biggest municipalities, distinguished through being managed by a city mayor (, literally translated city president) instead of a town mayor () as the head of the city executive, thus being informally called miasto prezydenckie, with such privilege automatically awarded to municipalities either inhabited by more than 100,000 residents (currently 37) or those enjoying the status of a city with powiat rights (currently 66). As of 2022, all of the former group fit into the latter, though it was not always the case in the past. There is, however, a number of exemptions due to historic or political reasons, when a municipality meets neither of these two conditions but nevertheless has the city status, including the only 3 capitals of the former voivodeships of Poland (1975–1998) not meeting the abovementioned criteria, as well as further 38 municipalities which do not fit into any of the mentioned categories but have nevertheless been allowed to keep the earlier awarded status due to unspecified historical reasons. Towns may sometimes be called , a diminutive colloquially used for localities with a few thousand residents. Such localities have a town mayor () as the head of the town executive.
thumb|right|Zamość in Poland is an example of a utopian ideal town. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992. In the Polish language, there is no linguistic distinction between a city and a town, both translated . The word for both is , as a form of settlement distinct from types of rural settlements: village (), przysiółek, ', or ', see Classification of localities and their parts in Poland. Cities are the biggest municipalities, distinguished through being managed by a city mayor (, literally translated city president) instead of a town mayor () as the head of the city executive, thus being informally called miasto prezydenckie, with such privilege automatically awarded to municipalities either inhabited by more than 100,000 residents (currently 37) or those enjoying the status of a city with powiat rights (currently 66). As of 2022, all of the former group fit into the latter though it was not always the case in the past. There is, however, a number of exemptions due to historic or political reasons, when a municipality meets neither of these two conditions but nevertheless has the city status, including the only 3 capitals of the former voivodeships of Poland (1975–1998) not meeting the abovementioned criteria, as well as further 38 municipalities which do not fit into any of the mentioned categories but have nevertheless been allowed to keep the earlier awarded status due to unspecified historical reasons. Towns may sometimes be called , a diminutive colloquially used for localities with a few thousand residents. Such localities have a town mayor () as the head of the town executive.