What are the 10 French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?

In order: Urrugne, Tarnos, Lavaur, Léognan, Châteaurenard, Biscarrosse, Tournon-sur-Rhône, Castres, Castelsarrasin and Mios.

What is the top 5 of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?

Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.) and Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.).

Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?

Tarnos, at 24.9 / 1,000 inhab., just behind Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.).

Is Urrugne really the French city with the most rugby players per inhabitant?

Yes, at 29.8 / 1,000 inhab., ahead of Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.) and Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.).

In which département is Urrugne?

Urrugne is in département 64, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.

What is the difference between Urrugne and Tarnos?

Urrugne is at 29.8 / 1,000 inhab., Tarnos at 24.9 / 1,000 inhab. The table gives the same figure for all 50 places, so any two of them can be compared the same way.

How many French cities does this ranking compare?

1,036, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.

Is there a complete ranking of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?

Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,036, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.

Where is rugby most popular in France?

In the south west, overwhelmingly: Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.) and Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.). Measured per inhabitant rather than in raw numbers, so a small town with a strong club outranks a big city.

In order: Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.), Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.), Biscarrosse (21.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Tournon-sur-Rhône (21.7 / 1,000 inhab.), Castres (21.2 / 1,000 inhab.), Castelsarrasin (21 / 1,000 inhab.), Mios (20.8 / 1,000 inhab.).

Why isn't Toulouse first?

Because this counts players per inhabitant, not in total. Toulouse has the most decorated club in European rugby and, in raw numbers, one of the largest bodies of players in the country; divided by half a million residents it lands mid-table. The top of this ranking is the Basque country, the Landes and the Tarn, where a town of twelve thousand fields enough licensed players to change its own percentage.

Le Bon Rang

Sport · Ministère des Sports, recensement des licences sportives

The French cities with the most rugby players

Name: The French cities with the most rugby players
Creator: Le Bon Rang
License: https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence/

Per inhabitant, the most rugby-playing town in France is Urrugne, with 29.8 / 1,000 inhabitants, ahead of Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhabitants) and Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhabitants).

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Players / 1,000, 987 cities shown. The coloured surface estimates the local tendency from nearby ranked cities. Exact city values remain in the table. 49 ranked overseas cities are not plotted: they fall outside this map's frame. Projection: longitude compressed by cos(46.3°N), so east-west and north-south distances stay comparable. Source: Ministère des Sports, recensement des licences sportives · 2023.

Find your town

Top 50 of 1,036 cities
Rank	City	Players / 1,000 inhab.	Population	Region
1	64 Urrugne	29.8	10,661	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
2	40 Tarnos	24.9	12,957	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
3	81 Lavaur	24.4	10,965	Occitanie
4	33 Léognan	23.3	10,670	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
5	13 Châteaurenard	22.1	16,545	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
6	40 Biscarrosse	21.9	15,836	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
7	07 Tournon-sur-Rhône	21.7	11,279	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
8	81 Castres	21.2	42,505	Occitanie
9	82 Castelsarrasin	21	14,343	Occitanie
10	33 Mios	20.8	12,043	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
11	83 Le Pradet	19.4	10,933	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
12	12 Millau	18.5	22,044	Occitanie
13	81 Graulhet	18.5	13,129	Occitanie
14	31 Tournefeuille	18.4	30,168	Occitanie
15	19 Brive-la-Gaillarde	18.2	47,095	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
16	15 Aurillac	18.2	26,214	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
17	32 Auch	18.1	22,428	Occitanie
18	66 Argelès-sur-Mer	17.6	10,616	Occitanie
19	64 Bayonne	17.3	54,306	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
20	69 Chassieu	17	11,208	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
21	63 Pont-du-Château	16.9	12,412	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
22	81 Mazamet	16.8	10,085	Occitanie
23	64 Hendaye	16.5	18,102	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
24	64 Oloron-Sainte-Marie	16.5	10,684	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
25	66 Cabestany	16.5	10,465	Occitanie
26	09 Pamiers	16.4	16,473	Occitanie
27	33 Cestas	16.3	16,666	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
28	33 Biganos	16.3	11,431	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
29	82 Montauban	16.2	62,945	Occitanie
30	64 Anglet	16.2	43,271	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
31	40 Dax	15.6	22,109	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
32	63 Gerzat	15.5	10,335	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
33	82 Moissac	15.2	13,419	Occitanie
34	31 Fonsorbes	15	12,954	Occitanie
35	974 L'Étang-Salé	14.7	14,464	La Réunion
36	31 Auterive	14.7	10,456	Occitanie
37	81 Gaillac	14.6	16,162	Occitanie
38	33 Gujan-Mestras	14.2	22,153	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
39	38 L'Isle-d'Abeau	14.1	17,515	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
40	11 Castelnaudary	14.1	12,151	Occitanie
41	83 Le Beausset	14.1	10,219	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
42	40 Saint-Pierre-du-Mont	14.1	10,092	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
43	31 Blagnac	13.9	27,604	Occitanie
44	64 Orthez	13.9	10,881	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
45	78 Montesson	13.7	14,549	Île-de-France
46	29 Plouzané	13.7	13,567	Bretagne
47	38 Saint-Égrève	13.4	17,986	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
48	11 Narbonne	13.3	57,587	Occitanie
49	38 Fontaine	13.2	22,020	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
50	47 Agen	13.1	32,801	Nouvelle-Aquitaine

The table stops at 50. Search any of the 1,036 ranked towns ↑

The other end : The French cities where rugby is least played

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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. This particular ranking is a rate per inhabitant, so it covers towns of 10,000 people or more only: in a village of a hundred, three licence holders would read as thirty per thousand and outrank a town with a professional club, so no rate is published below that size rather than a meaningless one.

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.

13 questions about this ranking

What are the 10 French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: In order: Urrugne, Tarnos, Lavaur, Léognan, Châteaurenard, Biscarrosse, Tournon-sur-Rhône, Castres, Castelsarrasin and Mios.
What is the top 5 of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.) and Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.).
Which city is 2nd in the ranking of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: Tarnos, at 24.9 / 1,000 inhab., just behind Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.).
Is Urrugne really the French city with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: Yes, at 29.8 / 1,000 inhab., ahead of Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.) and Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.).
In which département is Urrugne?: Urrugne is in département 64, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.
What is the difference between Urrugne and Tarnos?: Urrugne is at 29.8 / 1,000 inhab., Tarnos at 24.9 / 1,000 inhab. The table gives the same figure for all 50 places, so any two of them can be compared the same way.
Which city is 10th in the ranking of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: Mios, at 20.8 / 1,000 inhab.
How many French cities does this ranking compare?: 1,036, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.
What are the French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant in 2026?: This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Urrugne leads with 29.8 / 1,000 inhab.
Is there a complete ranking of French cities with the most rugby players per inhabitant?: Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,036, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.
Where is rugby most popular in France?: In the south west, overwhelmingly: Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.) and Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.). Measured per inhabitant rather than in raw numbers, so a small town with a strong club outranks a big city.
What are the top 10?: In order: Urrugne (29.8 / 1,000 inhab.), Tarnos (24.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Lavaur (24.4 / 1,000 inhab.), Léognan (23.3 / 1,000 inhab.), Châteaurenard (22.1 / 1,000 inhab.), Biscarrosse (21.9 / 1,000 inhab.), Tournon-sur-Rhône (21.7 / 1,000 inhab.), Castres (21.2 / 1,000 inhab.), Castelsarrasin (21 / 1,000 inhab.), Mios (20.8 / 1,000 inhab.).
Why isn't Toulouse first?: Because this counts players per inhabitant, not in total. Toulouse has the most decorated club in European rugby and, in raw numbers, one of the largest bodies of players in the country; divided by half a million residents it lands mid-table. The top of this ranking is the Basque country, the Landes and the Tarn, where a town of twelve thousand fields enough licensed players to change its own percentage.

The table below ranks the top 50 of the 1,036 cities in the dataset, each with its département, its region and the figure it is ranked on (rugby players per 1,000 inhabitants), so you can see not just the order but how far apart the places are. The numbers are official public data: INSEE legal populations and the IGN commune registry, with the exact method and the exact scope stated under the table rather than left to be guessed at.

The same data answers neighbouring questions too: see The French cities with the most pétanque players and The French cities with the most golfers, or all rankings for the full list. All of it comes from Le Bon Rang, a free daily game that gives you five French cities and one of these statistics and asks you for the order.