Largest City in France in 2026: Population and Area
The up-to-date 2026 ranking of the biggest cities in France by population, area and density.
Search for a town to see its area, population and density:
Biggest cities in France ranked by:
Full rankings: by area, by density, by department, by region.
Largest City by Region and Department
Every region and every department has its own ranking: the largest city, the most populous towns, the largest by area, the most densely populated, and the full list of communes.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Brittany Centre-Val de Loire Corsica French Guiana Grand Est Guadeloupe Hauts-de-France Île-de-France Martinique Normandy Nouvelle-Aquitaine Occitanie Pays de la Loire Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Réunion
Frequently Asked Questions About the Largest Cities in France
What is the largest city in France in 2026?
By population, Paris is the largest city in France in 2026, ahead of Marseille and Lyon. The full ranking is on this page, and each city has its own detailed page.
Marseille or Lyon: which is the second largest city in France?
Marseille is the second largest city in France by population, well ahead of Lyon. Lyon is only bigger than Marseille if you count its entire metropolitan area: by the population of the commune itself, Marseille stays ahead.
What is the largest city in France by area?
By area, the largest commune in France is in French Guiana, and the largest in mainland France is in Provence, far ahead of Paris: see the ranking by area. Learn more.
What is the most densely populated city in France?
It's not Paris: the most densely populated communes in France are in the inner suburbs of Paris (the petite couronne). See the ranking by density. Learn more.
How many communes are there in France?
France has 34,875 communes as of January 1, 2026, according to INSEE. See how they break down by size, department and region. Learn more.
About This Ranking
This site ranks all 34,858 communes in France (the 17 communes of Mayotte are not yet included) by population, area and population density. Populations are the official legal population figures published by INSEE, France's national statistics institute (total population, in force on January 1, 2026). Areas come from IGN / Observatoire des territoires, and density is the population divided by the area.
The rankings are updated every year when INSEE releases new population figures. Every town has its own page with its population, area, density and national ranks: towns with 20,000 or more inhabitants have a page in English, the others a page in French.
The 20 Largest Cities in France in 2026
In 2026, the largest city in France is Paris with 2,119,412 inhabitants, followed by Marseille, the second largest city in France, and Lyon, the third largest. Here are the top 20 communes (France's basic municipalities) ranked by population, with their area, density and national rank on each measure.
| # | Town | Department | Population | km² | per km² | France rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paris | Paris (75) | 2,119,412 | 105 | 20,108 | 1st |
| 2 | Marseille | Bouches-du-Rhône (13) | 892,391 | 241 | 3,709 | 2nd |
| 3 | Lyon | Rhône (69) | 525,314 | 48 | 10,974 | 3rd |
| 4 | Toulouse | Haute-Garonne (31) | 519,940 | 118 | 4,395 | 4th |
| 5 | Nice | Alpes-Maritimes (06) | 360,710 | 72 | 5,015 | 5th |
| 6 | Nantes | Loire-Atlantique (44) | 332,515 | 65 | 5,101 | 6th |
| 7 | Montpellier | Hérault (34) | 313,712 | 57 | 5,515 | 7th |
| 8 | Strasbourg | Bas-Rhin (67) | 296,552 | 78 | 3,789 | 8th |
| 9 | Bordeaux | Gironde (33) | 271,552 | 49 | 5,501 | 9th |
| 10 | Lille | Nord (59) | 240,109 | 35 | 6,894 | 10th |
| 11 | Rennes | Ille-et-Vilaine (35) | 234,950 | 50 | 4,663 | 11th |
| 12 | Toulon | Var (83) | 180,774 | 43 | 4,220 | 12th |
| 13 | Reims | Marne (51) | 180,733 | 47 | 3,854 | 13th |
| 14 | Saint-Étienne | Loire (42) | 174,698 | 80 | 2,185 | 14th |
| 15 | Le Havre | Seine-Maritime (76) | 168,588 | 47 | 3,591 | 15th |
| 16 | Dijon | Côte-d'Or (21) | 164,963 | 40 | 4,082 | 16th |
| 17 | Villeurbanne | Rhône (69) | 164,747 | 15 | 11,346 | 17th |
| 18 | Angers | Maine-et-Loire (49) | 162,290 | 43 | 3,800 | 18th |
| 19 | Grenoble | Isère (38) | 158,303 | 18 | 8,732 | 19th |
| 20 | Saint-Denis | Réunion (974) | 157,142 | 143 | 1,101 | 20th |
See also: the largest communes by area, the most densely populated towns, the smallest towns, the number of communes in France.