Saint-Nazaire Population and Area (Loire-Atlantique)
Largest city in France 2026: up-to-date figures for Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique)
Saint-Nazaire: Population and Area
With 76,243 inhabitants (INSEE total population in force on January 1, 2026), Saint-Nazaire is the 69th most populous town in France in 2026 and the 2nd most populous in the Loire-Atlantique department, out of 207 communes. It covers 47 km² (1,404th largest area in France, 48th largest in the department), with a population density of 1,629 inhabitants per km², or 15 times the national average (110 inhabitants/km²), which ranks it 572nd in France for density.
Saint-Nazaire is located in the Loire-Atlantique department (44), in the Pays de la Loire region, where it ranks 4th by population out of 1,228 communes. The most populous town in the Loire-Atlantique department is Nantes (332,515 inhabitants); the department is home to 1,517,043 people over 6,874 km².
See the full ranking of communes in the Loire-Atlantique department and the regional ranking: largest city in Pays de la Loire.
Towns of similar size in the Loire-Atlantique department: Nantes (pop. 332,515), Saint-Herblain (pop. 51,681), Rezé (pop. 44,286), Orvault (pop. 29,176).
Sources: INSEE, official population figures in force on January 1, 2026 (total population); areas: IGN / Observatoire des territoires; INSEE code 44184. Rankings are calculated across the 34,858 communes of metropolitan and overseas France in our database.
Saint-Nazaire, second city of the Loire-Atlantique department
A subprefecture of the Loire-Atlantique department and its second-largest town after Nantes, Saint-Nazaire grew up at the mouth of the Loire, where ships too large to sail up to Nantes had to stop. Just a fishing village in the early 19th century, it became a major industrial city within a few decades.
A shipbuilding city, rebuilt after the war
The growth of Saint-Nazaire is inseparable from its shipyards, which turned out the most famous French ocean liners, from the Normandie to the France, and later some of the largest cruise ships in the world, as well as from the aircraft industry established on its territory. A German submarine base during World War II, the city was almost entirely destroyed by bombing, then rebuilt to a modern plan. Facing the estuary and the Atlantic coast, it is linked to the south bank of the Loire by the Saint-Nazaire Bridge.