Calais Population and Area (Pas-de-Calais)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Calais (Pas-de-Calais)
Calais Density
2,037 inhabitants/km²TOP #440
Calais: Population and Area
With 68,246 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Calais is the 77th most populous town in France in 2026 and the most populous in the Pas-de-Calais department, out of 887 communes. It covers 34 km² (3,115th largest area in France, 2nd largest in the department), with a population density of 2,037 inhabitants per km², or 19 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 440th in France for density.
Calais is located in the Pas-de-Calais department (62), in the Hauts-de-France region (formerly Nord-Pas-de-Calais), where it ranks 6th by population out of 3,782 communes. It is the most populous town in the Pas-de-Calais department, which is home to 1,479,365 people over 6,671 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Pas-de-Calais department and the regional ranking: largest city in Hauts-de-France.
Towns of similar size in the Pas-de-Calais department: Arras (pop. 43,765), Boulogne-sur-Mer (pop. 40,924), Lens (pop. 33,122).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 62193. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Calais, the largest city in the Pas-de-Calais
Only a subprefecture, Calais is nonetheless the most populous town in the Pas-de-Calais, ahead of Arras, the department's prefecture. Its present size dates in part from 1885, when the historic town merged with its industrial neighbor, Saint-Pierre-lès-Calais.
The Strait and lace
The closest port to England, some thirty kilometers from Dover, Calais has lived for centuries to the rhythm of the Strait: English from 1347 to 1558, the town of the Burghers of Calais immortalized by Rodin, it became France's leading passenger port for cross-Channel crossings, and the Channel Tunnel emerges close by, at Coquelles. In the 19th century, the machine-made lace industry, imported from England, brought prosperity to Saint-Pierre and drew thousands of workers; the Cité internationale de la dentelle et de la mode keeps that memory alive. Heavily bombed from 1940 to 1944, the town was largely rebuilt.