Luleå ( , , <small>locally</small> ; ; Finnish and Meänkieli: Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core as of 2018 and is the seat of Luleå Municipality with a total population of about 80,000 as of 2025. Luleå is Sweden's 25th largest city and Norrbotten County's largest city. Luleå is considered as the world's largest brackish water archipelago with 1,312 islands, several rivers and vast forestland.

Luleå has the seventh biggest harbour in Sweden for shipping goods. It has a large steel industry and is a centre for extensive research. It is also home to the Swedish Air Force Wing Norrbotten Wing (F 21) based in Luleå Airport. Luleå University of Technology is one of Sweden's three technology universities with around 15,000 students and is the northernmost university in Sweden.

History

right|thumb|An engraving of Luleå New Town from [[Suecia Antiqua et Hodierna. The most prominent buildings are the church and the town hall.]]

The town's Royal charter was granted in 1621 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. The original town was situated where Gammelstad (Old Town) is situated today. The town had to be moved in 1649 to the current site, due to the post-glacial rebound that had made the bay too shallow for ships to enter.thumbnail|right|The Gammelstad church

In 1805, Luleå only had 947 inhabitants, but in 1865 Luleå succeeded Piteå as the county town in Norrbotten county and now had around 1400 residents. In the 1860s, the industries also started taking root in the city.

The town was plagued by fires in 1653, 1657 and 1887, and the fire in 1887 was a devastating fire that destroyed most of the town, sparing only a few buildings. The Neo-Gothic Cathedral (originally the Oscar Fredrik church), dedicated in 1893, standing at 67 meters (220 ft), is the tallest building in town.

Geography

Residential areas

  • Bergviken
  • Björkskatan
  • Centrum
  • Hertsön
  • Kronan
  • Lerbäcken
  • Lulsundet
  • Lövskatan
  • Malmudden
  • Mjölkudden
  • Notviken
  • Porsön
  • Skurholmen
  • Svartöstaden
  • Örnäset
  • Östermalm

Localities

  • Bergnäset
  • Gammelstaden
  • Karlsvik

thumb|Luleå centrum, "Varvet"

Economy

thumb|Industrial district of Luleå

Luleå's commerce and industry are a mix of industry, research, education, trade, and services.

Major employers in the city are the SSAB steelworks and Luleå University of Technology. A Swedish Air Force wing, F 21 (or Norrbotten Air Force Wing), is stationed near Luleå at the neighbouring Luleå Airport. Other major employers include Ferruform (a subsidiary of Scania AB) and Gestamp HardTech (acquired from SSAB 2005-01-01).

IT industry

thumb|A Facebook datacenter building in Luleå

The information technology industry in Luleå has about 2000 employees (2008).

Luleå is the home of several major innovations and technological milestones.

  • Broadcast radio: RDS, DAB, DARC (1992–1997)
  • The Luleå algorithm for routing (1997)
  • Living Labs: leading European service testbed with 6000 users (2001–)
  • Marratech: pioneers in Internet-based E-meetings (1998–) – acquired by Google, releasing in November 2008 video-chat support in Gmail
  • Arena project, IT in Sports: sensors, handheld wireless video (1999–2002)
  • Estreet project: First large-scale mobile marketing experiment (2000)
  • On 27 October 2011, Facebook announced it would locate its first data center outside of the United States in Luleå. The whole facility is made up by a set of three buildings. The first building was to be operational in 2012. The establishment will help turn the Luleå region into a major node for European data traffic. The town's northern location and that it will become a hub for data traffic in Europe has generated a new epithet for the Luleå region – The Node Pole. The Node Pole region provides stable, low-cost electricity that is 100-percent derived from renewable sources. In addition, they cite the benefits of low cooling expenses, given that the region is one of the coolest in Sweden. Sweden's long political stability is cited as another long-term benefit of the Node Pole's location.

Climate

Luleå has a subarctic climate (Dfc) with short, mild to warm summers and long, cold, snowy winters.

Luleå's climate is influenced both by the North Atlantic and the proximity to the Gulf of Bothnia and it has a milder climate than most cities on the same latitude and even some that are further south in Canada, Alaska, Northeast China and Siberia. During the summer in June and July the temperature in Luleå can some days rise to around . Summers are very bright, with marginal twilight being the only exception during the summer solstice.

From September to March, northern lights can be seen if the sky is clear.