According to the Population and Housing Census 2011, the ethnic makeup of Zalău's population consists of the following self-reported groups:

Ethnic group Number of persons
   stable population - total 56.202
   romanians 42.967
   hungarians 8.662
   roma 794
   ukrainians 10
   germans 27
   turks *
   russians, lipovans 5
   tatars *
   slovaks 23
   bulgarians *
   greeks *
   italians 26
   jews *
   csango 11
   others 27
   unavailable information 3642