What is the best-known city in Nord?

Lille, at 279,190, ahead of Roubaix (170,636).

What is the least-known city in Nord?

Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, at 5,321. 54 cities of Nord are measured here.

Where does Lille stand in France?

15 of the 1,131 French cities measured on popularity. The national ranking is on its own page.

Which cities lead in Nord?

Lille (279,190), Roubaix (170,636), Dunkerque (155,697), Valenciennes (122,329), Douai (91,785). The whole table is on this page.

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The best-known cities in Nord

Lille is the best-known city in Nord, at 279,190, ahead of Roubaix (170,636) and Dunkerque (155,697). At the other end, Bruay-sur-l'Escaut is the least-known city, at 5,321.

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The 54 cities of Nord ranked on popularity
Rank	City	Popularity	Population
1	Lille	279,190	238,246
2	Roubaix	170,636	98,286
3	Dunkerque	155,697	86,263
4	Valenciennes	122,329	43,468
5	Douai	91,785	40,250
6	Cambrai	78,729	31,134
7	Saint-Amand-les-Eaux	75,290	15,974
8	Tourcoing	70,479	98,772
9	Villeneuve-d'Ascq	64,944	62,868
10	Maubeuge	62,580	28,767
11	Gravelines	42,035	11,430
12	Hazebrouck	41,611	21,912
13	Armentières	36,754	26,998
14	Croix	34,081	20,566
15	Marcq-en-Barœul	33,525	40,184
16	Denain	29,813	20,665
17	Fourmies	29,150	11,449
18	Bailleul	22,718	14,732
19	Saint-Saulve	21,896	10,947
20	Wasquehal	21,857	20,726
21	Lambersart	21,486	27,090
22	Caudry	20,746	13,833
23	Faches-Thumesnil	20,478	18,619
24	Seclin	18,423	13,261
25	Somain	18,230	11,766
26	Wattrelos	18,004	40,847
27	La Madeleine	17,579	21,790
28	Grande-Synthe	17,486	20,239
29	Wambrechies	15,516	11,012
30	Comines	15,369	12,731
31	Loos	15,000	22,567
32	Roncq	14,539	14,075
33	Hem	14,077	18,582
34	Mons-en-Barœul	13,635	21,105
35	Jeumont	13,320	10,160
36	Coudekerque-Branche	13,219	20,787
37	Ronchin	12,084	19,787
38	Halluin	11,943	20,715
39	Anzin	11,705	13,183
40	Saint-André-lez-Lille	11,692	13,233
41	Raismes	11,334	12,199
42	Hautmont	10,649	14,152
43	Wattignies	9,957	15,525
44	Marly (59)	9,437	11,995
45	Sin-le-Noble	9,232	16,076
46	Mouvaux	9,086	13,369
47	Haubourdin	8,886	15,074
48	Annœullin	8,861	10,847
49	Marquette-lez-Lille	8,039	12,622
50	Neuville-en-Ferrain	7,919	10,002
51	Vieux-Condé	7,391	10,617
52	Douchy-les-Mines	7,039	10,109
53	Lys-lez-Lannoy	6,141	14,050
54	Bruay-sur-l'Escaut	5,321	11,644

Every city of Nord →

The same ranking for the whole of France : The best-known cities in France on Wikipedia · The least-known cities in France on Wikipedia

The best-known cities in, elsewhere

The other rankings of Nord

Scope, method and sources

Scope: France, metropolitan and overseas, Corsica and the DROM included. This dataset holds every commune of 10,000 inhabitants or more, plus smaller communes famous enough to be household names, 1,131 in all. It is not the full list of 35,000 French communes, so a village can sit outside a ranking whose extreme it would otherwise hold.

Method and sources: populations are the INSEE legal populations, boundaries and coordinates come from the IGN commune registry, both served by geo.api.gouv.fr. Density is the population divided by the commune's area; distances are measured as the crow flies from the commune's centre. Data read on August 28, 2026.

4 questions about this ranking

What is the best-known city in Nord?: Lille, at 279,190, ahead of Roubaix (170,636).
What is the least-known city in Nord?: Bruay-sur-l'Escaut, at 5,321. 54 cities of Nord are measured here.
Where does Lille stand in France?: 15 of the 1,131 French cities measured on popularity. The national ranking is on its own page.
Which cities lead in Nord?: Lille (279,190), Roubaix (170,636), Dunkerque (155,697), Valenciennes (122,329), Douai (91,785). The whole table is on this page.