Chalon-sur-Saône Population and Area (Saône-et-Loire)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Chalon-sur-Saône (Saône-et-Loire)
Chalon-sur-Saône: Population and Area
With 46,481 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Chalon-sur-Saône is the 156th most populous town in France in 2026 and the most populous in the Saône-et-Loire department, out of 563 communes. It covers 15 km² (11,885th largest area in France, 219th largest in the department), with a population density of 3,054 inhabitants per km², or 28 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 281st in France for density.
Chalon-sur-Saône is located in the Saône-et-Loire department (71), in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region (formerly Burgundy), where it ranks 4th by population out of 3,685 communes. It is the most populous town in the Saône-et-Loire department, which is home to 564,938 people over 8,575 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Saône-et-Loire department and the regional ranking: largest city in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
Towns of similar size in the Saône-et-Loire department: Mâcon (pop. 35,885), Le Creusot (pop. 20,799), Montceau-les-Mines (pop. 17,325).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 71076. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.