The biggest cities and towns in France, ranked by population

Page index
Table 1: the forty largest metro areas	Table 2: other urban zones with over 100,000 inhabitants	Table 3: other communes with over 50,000 inhabitants

A note on classification: By any system of measurement, Paris is the biggest city in France. That much is clear; but after that, classifying French towns and cities in order of size is an art, rather than a science, since the results depend very much on the criteria used. Different French statistical data use different yardsticks, and "cities" can be classed in several different ways, notably by "urban area" (aire urbaine) , by "urban zone" (zone urbaine), or by borough (commune).

These terms are defined as follows:
"Urban area" - A metropolitan area, i.e. the whole area which can be viewed as a coherent economic/employment unit.
"Urban zone" - The "conurbation", the densely populated heart of that area, or "agglomération".
"Commune" - A borough, the basic unit of local administration in France, with its municipal council.

To make a comparison with London, "Greater London" would be an urban area, the "London postal area" would be an urban zone, and the "City of London" would be a commune.

Table 1 :
All rankings refer to cities in Metropolitan France (i.e. France-in-Europe, excluding overseas departments and territories).

The 40 biggest cities in France, ranked by metropolitan area (Population figures from 1999). Regional capital cities are indicated in bold.
Column D shows the population of the "urban zone" at the heart of each area, i.e. the city and its contiguous suburbs. If classed by the population of their urban zones, the order of the "biggest cities" in France is slightly different.

A	B	C	D	E	F
Rank	City	Population Metropolitan area or urban area	Population by urban zone or conurbation	Region	Departments
1	Paris*	11174743 !11,174,743	9,644,507	Ile de France	75,77,78,91,92,93,94,95
2	Lyon*	1,648,216	1,349,772	Rhône- Alpes	69 - Rhône
3	Marseille* – Aix-en-Provence	1,516,340	1,348,832	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	13 - Bouches du Rhône
4	Lille– Roubaix–Tourcoing	1,143,125	1,000,900	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
5	Toulouse	964,797	761,090	Midi-Pyrénées	31 - Garonne
6	Nice	933,080	888,784	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	06 - Alpes Maritimes
7	Bordeaux	925,253	753,931	Aquitaine	33 - Gironde
8	Nantes	804,833	544,932	Pays de la Loire	44 - Loire Atlantique
9	Strasbourg	612,104	427,245	Alsace	67 - Bas Rhin
10	Toulon	564,823	519,640	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	83 - Var
11	Douai–Lens	552,694	518,727	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 Nord & 62 Pas de Calais-
12	Rennes	520,772	272,263	Brittany	35 - Ille et Vilaine
13	Rouen	518,316	389,862	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
14	Grenoble	514,559	419,334	Rhône -Alpes	38 - Isère
15	Montpellier	459,916	287,981	Languedoc-Roussillon	34 - Hérault
16	Metz	429,588	322,526	Lorraine	57 - Moselle
17	Nancy	410,508	331,363	Lorraine	54- Meurthe et Moselle
18	Clermont-Ferrand	409,558	258,541	Auvergne	63- Puy de Dôme
19	Valenciennes	399,677	357,395	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59- Nord
20	Tours	376,374	297,631	Centre	37- Inder & Loire
21	Caen	370,652	199,490	Normandy	14 - Calvados
22	Orléans	355,811	263,292	Centre	45- Loiret
23	Angers	332,624	226,843	Pays de la Loire	49 - Maine et Loire
24	Dijon	326,631	236,953	Burgundy	21 - Côte d'Or
25	Saint Etienne	321,703	291,960	Rhône-Alpes	42 - Loire
26	Brest	303,484	210,055	Brittany	29 - Finistère
27	Le Havre	296,773	248,547	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
28	Le Mans	293,159	194,825	Pays de la Loire	72 - Sarthe
29	Reims	291,735	215,581	Champagne-Ardenne	51 - Marne
30	Avignon	290,466	253,580	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	84 - Vaucluse
31	Mulhouse	271,024	234,445	Alsace	68 - Bas Rhin
32	Amiens	270,867	160,815	Picardy	80 - Somme
33	Béthune	266,590	259,198	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	62 - Pas de Calais
34	Dunkerque	265,974	191,173	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
35	Perpignan	249,016	162,678	Languedoc-Roussillon	66 - Pyrénées Orientales
36	Limoges	247,944	173,299	Limousin	87 - Haute Vienne
37	Besançon	222,381	134,376	Franche-Comté	25 - Doubs
38	Nîmes	221,455	148,889	Languedoc-Roussillon	30 - Gard
39	Pau	214,820	181,413	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques
40	Bayonne	213,969	178,965	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques

* Note: Most of the larger metropolitan areas, particularly those with over 500,000 inhabitants, contain more than one town (commune) with over 80,000 inhabitants. The Paris urban area, for instance, contains a number of large communes. Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon, is included in the Lyon metro area and urban zone, even though the commune ranks 27th in its own right when French "communes" are ranked by population.

Table 2
Other towns/cities in metropolitan France with an urban zone (conurbation) of over 100,000 inhabitants.

Rank	City	Population of the urban zone	Region	Departments
41	Saint-Nazaire	136 886	Pays de la Loire	44-Loire Atlantique
42	Annecy	136 815	Rhône-Alpes	73 - Savoie
43	Thionville	130 480	Lorraine	57 Meurthe et Moselle
44	Troyes	128 945	Champagne-Ardenne	11 - Aube
45	Poitiers	119 371	Poitou-Charentes	86 Vienne
46	Valence	117 448	Rhône-Alpes	26 - Drôme
47	Lorient	116 174	Brittany	56 - Morbihan
48	La Rochelle	116 157	Poitou-Charentes	16 - Charente Maritime
49	Chambéry	113 457	Rhône-Alpes	73 - Savoie
50	Montbéliard	113 059	Franche-Comté	25 - Doubs
51	Annemasse	106 673	Rhône-Alpes	74 Haute Savoie
52	Calais	104 852	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	62 - Pas de Calais
53	Angoulême	103 746	Poitou-Charentes	17 - Charente

Table 3
Other towns in metropolitan France with a commune (borough) of over 50,000 inhabitants.
This table only lists those boroughs of over 50,000 inhabitants that are not already included in a metropolitan area or an urban zone listed in the two tables above.
Hence the gaps in the ranking, which are taken by large communes that are essentially suburbs, and as such already included (though not mentioned by name) in the urban areas or urban zones listed in tables 1 and 2.
The classification by "commune" is only meaningful for country towns where a single commune accounts for the bulk of the "town". For larger urban zones, the commune population figures can be very misleading. The fact that "Paris intra muros" has 2.12 million inhabitants is of little relevance, hardly more than the fact that the population of the "City of London" in 2009 is a little over 8,000 inhabitants.

Rank	City or town	Population 2006 (commune)	Region	Department(s)
58	Antibes	75,820	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
60	Calais	74,888	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	Pas-de-Calais
64	Béziers	72,245	Languedoc-Roussillon	Hérault
65	Bourges	70,828	Centre	Cher
66	Cannes	70 610	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
71	Colmar	65 713	Alsace	Haut-Rhin
73	Valence	65 263	Rhône-Alpes	Drôme
74	Quimper	64 902	Brittany	Finistère
75	Ajaccio	63 723	Corsica	Corse-du-Sud
86	Niort	58 066	Poitou-Charentes	Deux-Sèvres
93	St Quentin	56 792	Picardy	Aisne
96	Beauvais	55 481	Picardy	Oise
98	Cholet	54 632	Pays de la Loire	Maine-et-Loire
99	Montauban	53 941	Midi-Pyrénées	Tarn-et-Garonne
103	Vannes	53,079	Brittany	Morbihan
105	Charleville-Mézières	51,997	Champagne-Ardenne	Ardennes
106	Arles	51,970	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Bouches du Rhône
112	Evreux	51,239	Upper Normandy	Eure
113	Laval	51,233	Pays de la Loire	Mayenne
116	Annecy	51,023	Rhône-Alpes	Haute Savoie
117	Belfort	50,417	Franche-Comté	Territoire de Belfort
118	Narbonne	46,510	Languedoc-Roussillon	Aude
119	La Roche sur Yon	50,717	Pays de la Loire	Vendée
122	Brive la Gaillarde	50,009	Limousin	Corrèze

Population data from the French National Statistical Office, the INSEE.

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