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

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 "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	Population by urban unit or conurbation	Region or area	Departments
1	Paris*	12,341,418	10,550,350	Ile de France	75,77,78,91,92,93,94,95
2	Lyon*	2,214,068	1,584,738	Rhône- Alpes	69 - Rhône
3	Marseille* – Aix-en-Provence	1,727,070	1,565,879	Provence-Alpes Côte d'Azur	13 - Bouches du Rhône
4	Toulouse	1,270,760	906,457	Midi-Pyrénées	31 - Garonne
5	Lille–Roubaix Tourcoing	1,166,452	1,024,075	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
6	Bordeaux	1,158,431	863,391	Aquitaine	33 - Gironde
7	Nice	1,004,914	943,695	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	06 - Alpes Maritimes
8	Nantes	897,713	606,640	Pays de la Loire	44 - Loire Atlantique
9	Strasbourg	768,868	454,475	Alsace	67 - Bas Rhin
10	Rennes	690,467	318,127	Brittany	35 - Ille et Vilaine
11	Grenoble	679,863	504,734	Rhône -Alpes	38 - Isère
12	Rouen	658,285	465,879	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
13	Toulon	611,237	561,155	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	83 - Var
14	Montpellier	569,956	406,891	Languedoc-Roussillon	34 - Hérault
15	Douai–Lens	540,981	506,097	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 Nord & 62 Pas de Calais-
16	Avignon	515,536	445,501	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	84 - Vaucluse
17	Saint Etienne	512,830	371,937	Rhône-Alpes	42 - Loire
18	Tours	483,743	349,427	Centre	37- Indre & Loire
19	Clermont-Ferrand	469,922	262,911	Auvergne	63- Puy de Dôme
20	Nancy	434,479	284,974	Lorraine	54- Meurthe et Moselle
21	Orléans	423,123	271,550	Centre	45- Loiret
22	Caen	406,633	197,114	Normandy	14 - Calvados
23	Angers	403,675	218,657	Pays de la Loire	49 - Maine et Loire
24	Metz	389,700	287,274	Lorraine	57 - Moselle
25	Dijon	377,590	238,576	Burgundy	21 - Côte d'Or
26	Béthune	368,633	353,926	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	62 - Pas de Calais
27	Valenciennes	368,094	334,653	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59- Nord
28	Le Mans	344,893	209,598	Pays de la Loire	72 - Sarthe
29	Reims	317,311	210,311	Champagne-Ardenne	51 - Marne
30	Brest	314,844	199,016	Brittany	29 - Finistère
31	Perpignan	309,962	195,679	Languedoc-Roussillon	66 - Pyrénées Orientales
32	Amiens	293,671	162,141	Picardy	80 - Somme
33	Le Havre	290,890	238,421	Normandy	76 - Seine Maritime
34	Bayonne	288,359	230,850	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques
35	Mulhouse	284,739	245,797	Alsace	68 - Bas Rhin
36	Limoges	282,971	184,624	Limousin	87 - Haute Vienne
37	Nîmes	259,348	180,449	Languedoc-Roussillon	30 -Gard
38	Dunkerque	257,773	181,553	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
39	Poitiers	255,831	128,180	Poitou-Charentes	86 - Vienne
40	Besançon	246,841	134,585	Franche-Comté	25 - Doubs
41	Pau	240 857	196,561	Aquitaine	64 Pyrénées Atlantiques
42	Annecy	221,111	159,761	Rhône-Alpes	74 - Haute Savoie
Rank	City	Population Metropolitan area or urban area	Population by urban zone or conurbation	Region	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	181,553	Rhône-Alpes	73 - Savoie
44	(Geneva) Annemasse	165,963	Rhône- Alpes	74 Haute Savoie
45	Saint-Nazaire	148,141	Pays de la Loire	44-Loire Atlantique
46	Troyes	133,286	Champagne-Ardenne	11 - Aube
47	Valence	127,537	Rhône-Alpes	26 - Drôme
48	Thionville	132,585	Lorraine	57 Meurthe et Moselle
49	La Rochelle	126,435	Poitou-Charentes	16 - Charente Maritime
50	Lorient	114,607	Brittany	56 - Morbihan
51	Maubeuge	112,369	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	59 - Nord
52	Angoulême	108,818	Poitou-Charentes	17 - Charente
53	Montbéliard	107,990	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 2010(commune)	Region or area	Department(s)
63	Antibes	74,120	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
64	Calais	73,636	Nord-Pas-de-Calais	Pas-de-Calais
66	Cannes	73,234	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
67	Béziers	70,955	Languedoc-Roussillon	Hérault
71	Bourges	66,381	Centre	Cher
68	Colmar	67,615	Alsace	Haut-Rhin
73	Ajaccio	65,542	Corsica	Corse-du-Sud
77	Quimper	63,550	Brittany	Finistère
78	Valence	63,405	Rhône-Alpes	Drôme
91	Niort	57,325	Poitou-Charentes	Deux-Sèvres
94	Montauban	56,271	Midi-Pyrénées	Tarn-et-Garonne
95	St Quentin	55,978	Picardy	Aisne
98	Beauvais	54,711	Picardy	Oise
102	Cholet	54,098	Pays de la Loire	Maine-et-Loire
108	La Roche sur Yon	52,664	Pays de la Loire	Vendée
109	Arles	52,661	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Bouches du Rhône
111	Vannes	52,515	Brittany	Morbihan
114	Fréjus	51,039	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
118	Grasse	51,036	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur	Alpes-Maritimes
119	Laval	50,940	Pays de la Loire	Mayenne
121	Evreux	50,537	Upper Normandy	Eure
117	Narbonne	51,039	Languedoc-Roussillon	Aude
122	Annecy	50,379	Rhône-Alpes	Haute Savoie
123	Belfort	50,078	Franche-Comté	Territoire de Belfort

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