Orléans Population and Area (Loiret)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Orléans (Loiret)
Orléans: Population and Area
With 118,788 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Orléans is the 36th most populous town in France in 2026 and the most populous in the Loiret department, out of 325 communes. It covers 27 km² (4,645th largest area in France, 72nd largest in the department), with a population density of 4,323 inhabitants per km², or 39 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 178th in France for density.
Orléans is located in the Loiret department (45), in the Centre-Val de Loire region (formerly Centre), where it ranks 2nd by population out of 1,754 communes. It is the most populous town in the Loiret department, which is home to 705,712 people over 6,775 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Loiret department and the regional ranking: largest city in Centre-Val de Loire.
Towns of similar size in the Loiret department: Olivet (pop. 24,046), Saint-Jean-de-Braye (pop. 23,773), Fleury-les-Aubrais (pop. 22,020).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 45234. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Orléans, a regional capital but the second city of its region
The prefecture of the Loiret department and the capital of the Centre-Val de Loire region, Orléans is outranked by Tours among the region's most populous towns. The two cities have been vying for first place for decades: Orléans has the regional seat, Tours the larger urban area. The city of Joan of Arc and a major port on the Loire, Orléans owes its development to its location at the point on the river closest to Paris.
A large city on the doorstep of Île-de-France
Just over an hour from Paris, Orléans benefits from the spillover of the Paris region: logistics, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and services are setting up in its urban area, and many workers from Île-de-France come looking for more affordable housing. The commune itself remains medium-sized and bounded by the Forest of Orléans, the Sologne and the Beauce, so most of the growth of Orléans Métropole takes place in neighboring towns such as Olivet, Saint-Jean-de-Braye and Fleury-les-Aubrais.