The main cities and towns of France

Table 1: the forty largest metro areas

Table 2: other urban units with over 100,000 inhabitants

Table 3: other communes with over 50,000 inhabitants

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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 unit" (unité 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 unit" - The "pole urbain" or 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 unit, and the "City of London" would be a commune.  

Table 1 :  

Largest French cities classed by population of metropolitan area

Latest figures from the INSEE, French national statistical office (generally 2017).
All rankings refer to cities in Metropolitan France (i.e. France-in-Europe, excluding overseas departments and territories).
 Regional or area (former region) capital cities are indicated in bold.
Column D shows the population of the "urban unit" at the heart of each area, i.e. the city and its contiguous suburbs. If classed by the population of their urban units, the order of the "biggest cities" in France is slightly different.

The biggest cities in France ranked by population of metropolitan area

A	B	C	D	E	F
Rank	City	Population metropolitan area or urban area - 2017	Population by urban unit or conurbation (2016)	Region or area (pre 2016 regions)	Departments
1	Paris*	12,628,266	10,733,921	Ile de France	75,77,78,91,92,93,94,95
2	Lyon*	2,323,221	1,651,853	Rhône- Alpes	69 - Rhône
3	Marseille* – Aix-en-Provence	1,760,653	1,587,537	Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur	13 - Bouches du Rhône
4	Toulouse	1,360,829	957,750	Midi-Pyrénées	31 - Garonne
5	Lille–Roubaix Tourcoing	1,191,117	1,041,389	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
6	Bordeaux	1,247,977	916,569	Aquitaine	33 - Gironde
7	Nice	1,006,201	943,583	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	06 - Alpes Maritimes
8	Nantes	972,828	642,425	Pays de la Loire	44 - Loire Atlantique
9	Strasbourg	790,087	465,069	Alsace	67 - Bas Rhin
10	Rennes	733,320	333,069	Brittany	35 - Ille et Vilaine
11	Grenoble	689,840	509,860	Rhône -Alpes	38 - Isère
12	Rouen	666,035	467,763	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
13	Toulon	629,334	572,952	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	83 - Var
14	Montpellier	616,296	434,933	Languedoc-Roussillon	34 - Hérault
15	Douai–Lens	539,666	503,575	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 Nord & 62 Pas de Calais-
16	Avignon	530,267	456,961	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	84 - Vaucluse
17	Saint Etienne	520,640	374,175	Rhône-Alpes	42 - Loire
18	Tours	495,379	353,836	Centre	37- Indre & Loire
19	Clermont-Ferrand	485,315	267,680	Auvergne	63- Puy de Dôme
20	Nancy	435,279	285,577	Lorraine	54- Meurthe et Moselle
21	Orléans	439,343	278,952	Centre	45- Loiret
22	Caen	422,152	198,877	Normandy	14 - Calvados
23	Angers	422,654	226,322	Pays de la Loire	49 - Maine et Loire
24	Metz	390,600	286,510	Lorraine	57 - Moselle
25	Dijon	387,382	243,376	Burgundy	21 - Côte d'Or
26	Béthune	369,151	355,543	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	62 - Pas de Calais
27	Valenciennes	369,264	334,422	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59- Nord
28	Le Mans	347,626	209,766	Pays de la Loire	72 - Sarthe
29	Reims	323,022	212,323	Champagne-Ardenne	51 - Marne
30	Brest	321,364	200,920	Brittany	29 - Finistère
31	Perpignan	323,388	195,679	Languedoc-Roussillon	66 - Pyrénées Orientales
32	Bayonne	304,890	239,605	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques
33	Amiens	298,519	163,876	Picardy	80 - Somme
34	Le Havre	288,973	235,665	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
35	Mulhouse	285,948	246,006	Alsace	68 - Bas Rhin
36	Limoges	283,556	182,690	Limousin	87 - Haute Vienne
37	Nîmes	268,785	185,295	Languedoc-Roussillon	30 -Gard
38	Dunkerque	254,858 ↓	181,553	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
39	Poitiers	265,779	130,853	Poitou-Charentes	86 - Vienne
40	Besançon	251,700	135,349	Franche-Comté	25 - Doubs
41	Pau	244,753	198,223	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques
42	Annecy	238,283	169,559	Rhône-Alpes	74 - Haute Savoie
Rank	City	Population Metropolitan area or urban area	Population by urban zone or conurbation	Region or area	Departments

* 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.

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Table 2

Other towns/cities in metropolitan France with an urban unit (conurbation - zone urbaine) of over 100,000 inhabitants

Other cities in France over 100,000 inhabitants, ranked by population

Rank	City	Population of the urban unit	Region or area	Departments
43	Chambéry	189,063	Rhône-Alpes	73 - Savoie
44	(Geneva) Annemasse	180,236	Rhône- Alpes	74 Haute Savoie
45	Saint-Nazaire	152,616	Pays de la Loire	44-Loire Atlantique
46	Troyes	136,727	Champagne-Ardenne	11 - Aube
47	Valence	130,281	Rhône-Alpes	26 - Drôme
122	Annecy	169,559	Rhône-Alpes	Haute Savoie
48	Thionville	133,513	Lorraine	57 Meurthe et Moselle
49	La Rochelle	128,876	Poitou-Charentes	16 - Charente Maritime
50	Lorient	114,395	Brittany	56 - Morbihan
51	Maubeuge	111,368	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
52	Angoulême	109,208	Poitou-Charentes	17 - Charente
53	Montbéliard	106,143	Franche-Comté	25 - Doubs

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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 was a little over 8,000 inhabitants.

Other "communes" in France with a population of over 50,000, ranked by population

Rank	City	Population 2016 (commune)	Region or area	Department(s)
59	Béziers	78,683	Languedoc-Roussillon	Hérault
66	Antibes	74,709	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
69	Ajaccio	72,647	Corsica	Corse-du-Sud
70	Cannes	72,435	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
74	Colmar	68,294	Alsace	Haut-Rhin
77	Calais	67,544 ↓	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	Pas-de-Calais
84	Bourges	64,362 ↓	Centre	Cher
86	Quimper	63,473 ↓	Brittany	Finistère
83	Valence	64,431	Rhône-Alpes	Drôme
91	Montauban	61,677	Midi-Pyrénées	Tarn-et-Garonne
96	Niort	58,966	Poitou-Charentes	Deux-Sèvres
101	Beauvais	56,889	Picardy	Oise
104	Narbonne	56,123	Languedoc-Roussillon	Aude
105	Fréjus	55,750	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
107	La Roche sur Yon	55,213	Pays de la Loire	Vendée
112	Cholet	54,357	Pays de la Loire	Maine-et-Loire
113	Vannes	54,017	Brittany	Morbihan
117	St Quentin	53,100 ↓	Picardy	Aisne
127	Arles	50,968 ↓	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Bouches du Rhône
131	Laval	49,617  ↓	Pays de la Loire	Mayenne
136	Grasse	48,708  ↓	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
144	Evreux	46,869  ↓	Upper Normandy	Eure
153	Belfort	45,458	Franche-Comté	Territoire de Belfort

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

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