Nanterre Population and Area (Hauts-de-Seine)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine)
Nanterre: Population and Area
With 98,383 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Nanterre is the 45th most populous town in France in 2026 and the 2nd most populous in the Hauts-de-Seine department, out of 36 communes. It covers 12 km² (15,560th largest area in France, 2nd largest in the department), with a population density of 8,071 inhabitants per km², or 74 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 65th in France for density.
Nanterre is located in the Hauts-de-Seine department (92), in the Île-de-France region, where it ranks 6th by population out of 1,266 communes. The most populous town in the Hauts-de-Seine department is Boulogne-Billancourt (120,206 inhabitants); the department is home to 1,670,575 people over 176 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Hauts-de-Seine department and the regional ranking: largest city in Île-de-France.
Towns of similar size in the Hauts-de-Seine department: Boulogne-Billancourt (pop. 120,206), Asnières-sur-Seine (pop. 94,562), Colombes (pop. 91,663), Rueil-Malmaison (pop. 84,409).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 92050. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Nanterre, prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine and home to La Défense
Nanterre is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and its second-largest town, behind Boulogne-Billancourt. In the western suburbs of Paris, in a bend of the Seine, it is home to part of the La Défense business district, the largest in Europe, whose towers rise on its territory as well as on those of Courbevoie and Puteaux.
A university town with a working-class identity
The size of Nanterre is explained by a combination of factors: an inner-ring working-class town, the prefecture created in 1964 along with the new department, and the Paris-Nanterre University, where the May 68 movement began. The commune is large for the inner ring, with a departmental park, railway land and sites still being redeveloped, which gives it a lower density than its neighbors. The major projects of western Paris, such as the RER E extension and the development of Les Groues, are now attracting new residents.