In 2003, the estimated population was 2,353,000 people.

The native peoples of the state include the Huastec and Chichimec.

In addition to the state capital San Luis Potosí, the state's largest cities include Ciudad Valles, Matehuala, and Río Verde.

The city of San Luis Potosí is the capital of the Mexican state of the same name.

San Luis Potosí is located in the south-central part of San Luis Potosí state at 22.16°N, 100.98°W. In 1995 the city had a population of 828,366. The 2000 census recorded a population of 1,000,075 for greater San Luis Potosí, which includes the neighboring municipality of Soledad de G. S. The city, at an elevation of 6,157 feet, is a thousand feet higher than Denver, Colorado.

A Franciscan Mission was established here in 1583, and the city founded in 1592. The city grew rapidly thanks to the rich gold and silver mines in the era, the source of Mexican treasure that loaded the Manila galleons. The area was named Potosí in reference to the fabulously rich mines of Potosí, Bolivia, discovered some forty years earlier.

For a time in 1863 during the French invasion of Mexico, San Luis Potosí served as the capital of the republican government under President Benito Juárez. A modern industrial city has grown up around the colonial Plaza de Armas, with the cathedral and governor's palace (1770). The Spanish Colonial Baroque Church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, with colorful tiled domes, has one of the most famous sculptural altars and a façade that are considered among the finest in Mexico. There is a famous bullring.

The Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí (UASLP) is in the city. Based on a Jesuit College founded in 1624, in 1923 the Instituto Científico y Literario was raised to the category of a university, is now recognized as one of the best Universities in Latin America.

The Plan of San Luis Potosí, issued 20 November 1910, was the opening shot of Mexico's revolution against the dictator Porfirio Díaz. The Mexican presidential election of 1910 was stolen when Díaz had his opponent Francisco I. Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero fled and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosí, declaring the election void and calling upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government.