What are the 10 most populated cities in France?

In order: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Lille.

What is the top 5 of most populated cities in France?

Paris (2,103,778 inhab.), Marseille (886,040 inhab.), Lyon (519,127 inhab.), Toulouse (514,819 inhab.) and Nice (357,737 inhab.).

Which city is 2nd in the ranking of most populated cities in France?

Marseille, at 886,040 inhab., just behind Paris (2,103,778 inhab.).

Is Paris really the most populated city in France?

Yes, at 2,103,778 inhab., ahead of Marseille (886,040 inhab.) and Lyon (519,127 inhab.).

In which département is Paris?

Paris is in département 75, in the Île-de-France region.

What is the difference between Paris and Marseille?

Paris is at 2,103,778 inhab., Marseille at 886,040 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?

1,131, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.

What are the most populated cities in France in 2026?

This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Paris leads with 2,103,778 inhab.

Is there a complete ranking of most populated cities in France?

Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,131, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.

What are the biggest cities in France?

By number of inhabitants: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Lille. By surface area the order is completely different, and the largest communes are in French Guiana.

Which is the second city of France, Marseille or Lyon?

Marseille, by commune population. Lyon's urban area is the larger of the two, but it is split across many communes that are each counted separately, while Marseille's commune holds its whole city.

How many inhabitants does Paris have?

2,103,778 inhab., the INSEE legal population of the commune, which is the figure this ranking sorts on.

In order: Paris (2,103,778 inhab.), Marseille (886,040 inhab.), Lyon (519,127 inhab.), Toulouse (514,819 inhab.), Nice (357,737 inhab.), Nantes (327,734 inhab.), Montpellier (310,240 inhab.), Strasbourg (293,771 inhab.), Bordeaux (267,991 inhab.), Lille (238,246 inhab.).

Is this the city or the urban area?

The commune, not the urban area. This ranking counts the legal population inside each commune's own boundaries, which is why Marseille sits second: its commune is large, while the Lyon and Lille urban areas spread across many separate communes that are each counted on their own.

Le Bon Rang

People · INSEE, populations légales

The most populated cities in France

Name: The most populated cities in France
Creator: Le Bon Rang
License: https://www.etalab.gouv.fr/licence-ouverte-open-licence/

The most populated city in France is Paris, with 2,103,778 inhabitants, ahead of Marseille (886,040 inhabitants) and Lyon (519,127 inhabitants).

Could you put Le Havre, Lille and Nice in this ranking's order? Le Bon Rang is that game, every day. Play today's game

Inhabitants, 1052 cities shown. The coloured surface adds up inhabitants over 34,963 communes, 100.0% of the country's population, within about 30 km of each point. Every commune with a published value counts, not only the towns in the table. 79 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: INSEE, populations légales · 2022.

Find your town

Top 50 of 1,131 cities
Rank	City	Inhabitants	Region
1	75 Paris	2,103,778	Île-de-France
2	13 Marseille	886,040	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
3	69 Lyon	519,127	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
4	31 Toulouse	514,819	Occitanie
5	06 Nice	357,737	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
6	44 Nantes	327,734	Pays de la Loire
7	34 Montpellier	310,240	Occitanie
8	67 Strasbourg	293,771	Grand Est
9	33 Bordeaux	267,991	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
10	59 Lille	238,246	Hauts-de-France
11	35 Rennes	230,890	Bretagne
12	83 Toulon	179,116	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
13	51 Reims	177,674	Grand Est
14	42 Saint-Étienne	173,136	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
15	76 Le Havre	166,687	Normandie
16	69 Villeurbanne	163,684	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
17	21 Dijon	161,830	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
18	49 Angers	159,022	Pays de la Loire
19	38 Grenoble	156,140	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
20	974 Saint-Denis (974)	155,634	La Réunion
21	30 Nîmes	151,839	Occitanie
22	13 Aix-en-Provence	149,695	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
23	93 Saint-Denis (93)	149,077	Île-de-France
24	63 Clermont-Ferrand	146,351	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
25	72 Le Mans	146,249	Pays de la Loire
26	29 Brest	142,346	Bretagne
27	37 Tours	139,259	Centre-Val de Loire
28	80 Amiens	136,449	Hauts-de-France
29	74 Annecy	132,117	Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
30	87 Limoges	129,937	Nouvelle-Aquitaine
31	57 Metz	122,572	Grand Est
32	66 Perpignan	121,616	Occitanie
33	92 Boulogne-Billancourt	119,019	Île-de-France
34	25 Besançon	118,489	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
35	76 Rouen	117,662	Normandie
36	45 Orléans	116,357	Centre-Val de Loire
37	93 Montreuil	111,934	Île-de-France
38	14 Caen	109,400	Normandie
39	974 Saint-Paul	108,088	La Réunion
40	95 Argenteuil	106,130	Île-de-France
41	68 Mulhouse	104,978	Grand Est
42	54 Nancy	103,671	Grand Est
43	59 Tourcoing	98,772	Hauts-de-France
44	59 Roubaix	98,286	Hauts-de-France
45	92 Nanterre	97,783	Île-de-France
46	94 Vitry-sur-Seine	93,963	Île-de-France
47	92 Asnières-sur-Seine	93,941	Île-de-France
48	94 Créteil	93,397	Île-de-France
49	84 Avignon	92,188	Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
50	92 Colombes	91,053	Île-de-France

The table stops at 50. Search any of the 1,131 ranked towns ↑

The other end : The smallest famous communes in France

All rankings →

The 97 other rankings, by category

People

Position and size

Weather

Money and housing

Getting around

Sport

Drink

Countryside

Everyday life

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.

15 questions about this ranking

What are the 10 most populated cities in France?: In order: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Lille.
What is the top 5 of most populated cities in France?: Paris (2,103,778 inhab.), Marseille (886,040 inhab.), Lyon (519,127 inhab.), Toulouse (514,819 inhab.) and Nice (357,737 inhab.).
Which city is 2nd in the ranking of most populated cities in France?: Marseille, at 886,040 inhab., just behind Paris (2,103,778 inhab.).
Is Paris really the most populated city in France?: Yes, at 2,103,778 inhab., ahead of Marseille (886,040 inhab.) and Lyon (519,127 inhab.).
In which département is Paris?: Paris is in département 75, in the Île-de-France region.
What is the difference between Paris and Marseille?: Paris is at 2,103,778 inhab., Marseille at 886,040 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 most populated cities in France?: Lille, at 238,246 inhab.
How many French cities does this ranking compare?: 1,131, with the top 50 listed in full in the table below.
What are the most populated cities in France in 2026?: This ranking uses the most recent official figures published as of 2026: Paris leads with 2,103,778 inhab.
Is there a complete ranking of most populated cities in France?: Yes, the table below: the top 50 of 1,131, each with its département and its region, and the exact method and scope stated underneath it.
What are the biggest cities in France?: By number of inhabitants: Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Nice, Nantes, Montpellier, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Lille. By surface area the order is completely different, and the largest communes are in French Guiana.
Which is the second city of France, Marseille or Lyon?: Marseille, by commune population. Lyon's urban area is the larger of the two, but it is split across many communes that are each counted separately, while Marseille's commune holds its whole city.
How many inhabitants does Paris have?: 2,103,778 inhab., the INSEE legal population of the commune, which is the figure this ranking sorts on.
What are the top 10?: In order: Paris (2,103,778 inhab.), Marseille (886,040 inhab.), Lyon (519,127 inhab.), Toulouse (514,819 inhab.), Nice (357,737 inhab.), Nantes (327,734 inhab.), Montpellier (310,240 inhab.), Strasbourg (293,771 inhab.), Bordeaux (267,991 inhab.), Lille (238,246 inhab.).
Is this the city or the urban area?: The commune, not the urban area. This ranking counts the legal population inside each commune's own boundaries, which is why Marseille sits second: its commune is large, while the Lyon and Lille urban areas spread across many separate communes that are each counted on their own.

The table below ranks the top 50 of the 1,131 cities in the dataset, each with its département, its region and the figure it is ranked on (population), 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 densest cities in France and The largest communes in France by area, 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.