2 Ways to Find People by Location on Facebook (with Pictures)

An easy-to-follow guide to finding a person based on their city on Facebook

Last Updated: March 1, 2023 Tested

On Mobile

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On Desktop

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Tips

Do you want to catch up with an old school friend on Facebook? If the person you're looking for has a common name, it will be easier to find them by searching for their name and location together. When you search for people on Facebook by location, you can easily find people in your current city, hometown, or any other city you choose. This wikiHow guide will show you how to search for somebody by location on Facebook using the mobile app for Android, iPhone, or iPad, as well as on your computer.

Things You Should Know

In the mobile app, tap the search icon, and search for a name. To filter the results by location, tap "People," select the filter icon, then tap "City" to search by city.
On a computer, search for a person's name, click "People," then select a city.
Finding people by location on Facebook only works if the person you're looking for has their current city or hometown on their profile.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

On Mobile

1
Tap the search icon in the Facebook mobile app
. On your Android, iPhone, or iPad, you'll see the magnifying glass in the top right corner of the Facebook app.
2
Enter a person's name and tap Search. A list of results will appear.

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3
Tap the People tab. It's in the upper-left side of the page.^{[1]
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4
Tap the filter icon. This icon looks like multiple lines with sliders on them. It's to the right of the search bar at the top of your page.
5
Tap City. By default, this says "Anywhere," but you'll want to change that to limit your search to people with that name in a specific city.
6
Type a city name. You'll see suggestions appear below the search bar as you type.
- Alternatively, tap Nearby if you want the search to include cities near you.
7
Tap Show Results. You'll see this button at the bottom of your screen. Tapping it will refresh the results to only show you people with that name in the selected city.
- For example: if you typed in "John Smith" as the name and selected Detroit as the city, Facebook would bring up a list of all users named John Smith who have Detroit set as their location.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

On Desktop

1
Type a person's name into the search bar and press ↵ Enter or ⏎ Return. You'll find the search bar at the top of Facebook.
- If you're not already signed in to Facebook, enter your login details to do so now.
2
Click the People tab. It's in the panel on the left side of the page. This filters your results to show only people.
3
Click City. You'll see this option under "People" in the left panel. A menu will expand.
4
Type the location you want to search for. If you want to search for your current location or hometown, you can click it in the menu. Otherwise, start typing the name of the city into the field, then click the city in the search results.
- This filters the search results to show only people in the location you entered.
- For example: if you typed in "Sarah Smith" as the name and selected New York as the city, you would see a list of people named Sarah Smith who live in New York displayed here.