Brest Population and Area (Finistère)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Brest (Finistère)
Brest: Population and Area
With 144,890 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Brest is the 26th most populous town in France in 2026 and the most populous in the Finistère department, out of 277 communes. It covers 50 km² (1,209th largest area in France, 26th largest in the department), with a population density of 2,926 inhabitants per km², or 27 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 301st in France for density.
Brest is located in the Finistère department (29), in the Brittany region, where it ranks 2nd by population out of 1,202 communes. It is the most populous town in the Finistère department, which is home to 957,671 people over 6,733 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Finistère department and the regional ranking: largest city in Brittany.
Towns of similar size in the Finistère department: Quimper (pop. 66,579), Concarneau (pop. 21,635), Landerneau (pop. 16,975).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 29019. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Brest, the largest city in Finistère without being its prefecture
In a rare twist, the largest city in Finistère is not its prefecture: Brest is far bigger than Quimper and is the second-largest city in Brittany after Rennes. Its size is that of a naval port: ever since Richelieu, the arsenal, the École navale and the nuclear submarine base on the Île Longue have sustained the tip of Finistère.
A city razed and rebuilt
Destroyed by bombing during World War II, Brest was rebuilt on a regular grid that gives it a look very different from other Breton cities, hence its nickname, the Phoenix of Finistère. Its population fell as the Navy and the shipyards cut back their workforces, before stabilizing thanks to the university, engineering schools and a marine research hub unique in Europe: Ifremer, SHOM and the French Polar Institute. The city's remote location, at the far western tip of the country, remains the main brake on its population growth.