The city has a total population of 41,814 (as of 2022[update]), while its administrative area (including neighboring villages) has 70,818 inhabitants.

An unofficial name for the city is Ravangrad (Раванград), which literally means "flat town" in Serbian.

In 1665, a well-known traveller, Evliya Çelebi, visited Sombor and wrote: "All the folk (in the city) are not Hungarian, but Wallachian-Christian (Serb).

According to the 1843 data, Sombor had 21,086 inhabitants, of whom 11,897 were Orthodox Christians, 9,082 Roman Catholics, 56 Jewish, and 51 Protestants.

After the abolishment of this crown land, Sombor again became the seat of the Bacsensis-Bodrogiensis (Bács-Bodrog, Bačka-Bodrog) County.

Today, Sombor is the seat of the West Bačka District in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in the Republic of Serbia.

In recent times, Sombor became known all around the world because NBA champion and finals MVP Nikola Jokic was born here in 1995.

Settlements with Serb ethnic majority (as of 2002) are: Sombor, Aleksa Šantić, Gakovo, Kljajićevo, Kolut, Rastina, Riđica, Stanišić, Stapar, and Čonoplja.

The ethnic composition of the city:[8] Sombor is famous for its greenery, cultural life and beautiful 18th and 19th century center.

The most important cultural institutions are the National Theater, the Sombor City Museum, the Modern Art Gallery, the Milan Konjović Art Gallery,[9] the Teacher's College (Preparandija), the Serbian Reading House, and the Sombor Gymnasium.

There are two monasteries in this city: The following table gives a preview of total number of registered people employed in legal entities per their core activity (as of 2022):[11] Radnički Sombor is the main football club from the city competing in Vojvodina League North.