The article focuses on the analysis of the size of Orthodox parishes in Barnaul as well as the dynamics of the proportion of urban and rural population in the second half of the 18th - 19th centuries. It is concluded that there were four Orthodox parishes in Barnaul. By the end of the 18th century, the population of 24 villages was attributed to them, from 1808 - 29, by the mid-20s of the 19th century the parish territory reached its maximum size and included 33 villages. The population of rural areas in urban parishes increased during the first half of the 19th century. The indicator reached its maximum values by 1846 (51.6%). The increase was associated both with an increase in the number of villages assigned to the churches of Barnaul, and with an increase in the number of inhabitants in them. Since the end of the 1840s, with the beginning of active church building in Altai, the “area” and the number of rural population in urban parishes began to decline. The urban population was unevenly distributed between parishes. The proportion of the townspeople of the Peter and Paul Church among other parishes of Barnaul until 1860 was more than 70%, later it decreased to 34%. The clergy, built in the 1860s of the Intercession Church, "served" an average of 32% of the city's population. In the first half of the 19th century, 17% and 9% of the townspeople were assigned to the Zakharievskaya and Odigitrievskaya churches. In subsequent years, the figures were 27% and 7%.