Saint-Étienne Population and Area (Loire)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Saint-Étienne (Loire)
Saint-Étienne: Population and Area
With 174,698 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Saint-Étienne is the 14th most populous town in France in 2026 and the most populous in the Loire department, out of 320 communes. It covers 80 km² (413th largest area in France, largest in the department), with a population density of 2,185 inhabitants per km², or 20 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 414th in France for density.
Saint-Étienne is located in the Loire department (42), in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (formerly Rhône-Alpes), where it ranks 2nd by population out of 4,025 communes. It is the most populous town in the Loire department, which is home to 788,024 people over 4,781 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Loire department and the regional ranking: largest city in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Towns of similar size in the Loire department: Roanne (pop. 36,067), Saint-Chamond (pop. 36,065), Firminy (pop. 17,241).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 42218. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Saint-Étienne, a major city born of industry
If Saint-Étienne ranks among the largest cities in France, it is thanks to its 19th-century legacy: coal, metalworking, firearms, bicycles and ribbon-making turned a small town in the Forez into the second-largest town in today's Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region within a few decades, behind Lyon and ahead of Grenoble. France's very first railway was in fact opened here to carry coal.
A population that has stabilized
Like many industrial cities, Saint-Étienne lost residents after its mines and factories closed, before regaining its balance thanks to urban renewal, its university and its focus on design, recognized by UNESCO. Capital of the Loire department, set on the edge of the Massif Central an hour from Lyon, the city remains the heart of a vast urban area and keeps the density of a big city, far higher than that of the rest of the department.