For administrative purposes, mainland France is divided into 96 departements, each with its own presence of the federal government at the Préfecture. Not only is that convenient for the elected officials in Paris but it’s also handy for comparisons when you’re trying to decide where you might want to live. Here on our blog if you click on the Tag “Where to live in France” (in the right hand column) you’ll see posts that have sometimes included that division in the results. Today we’re adding one more article to that list with the topic being “cheapest” since it’s about the cost of living while others have looked at factors such as healthcare, recreation, and weather. After all, it’s probably pretty inexpensive to live on a desert island but the quality of life might leave a lot to be desired.

The title of the article in the newspaper Le Parisien was “The cities where life is cheaper” where they took into account these seven financial factors that the residents of those 96 departmental cities mentioned above must deal with:

Average hourly salary

Real estate prices

Food costs

Property tax rates

Cost of movie tickets

Local bus/tram/train ticket prices

Cost of a liter of gasoline

Here are the top 20 cities where your euro stretches a bit further:

1. Niort
2. Châteauroux
3. Laval
4. Nevers
5. Belfort
6. Chaumont
7. Épinal
8. Saint-Brieuc
9. Saint-Étienne
10. Rodez
11. Châlons-en-Champagne
12. Quimper
13. Arras
14. Foix
15. Poitiers
16. Le Mans
17. Colmar
18. Montauban
19. Bourg-en-Bresse
20. Nantes

Other than Nantes (population 319,000) there aren’t any in the top 20 that I think of as big cities but further down the list you find Lyon at number 58, Paris 77, Marseille 84, and Montpellier 90. The study’s authors point out that while salaries in metropolitan areas tend to be greater than in smaller towns, that advantage is offset by the higher cost of the items in the list above.

The website France Transactions that gives advice on savings and investments has taken a different view of the same data that Le Parisien used. In their opinion, being a renter can be a better financial option especially when property taxes are soaring. They say, “Rents increase much less quickly than inflation and are most often now capped by the municipalities.” Accordingly, by minimizing the impact of housing costs in the data, their “Top 10 Cheapest Cities” would be:

1. Niort
2. Versailles
3. Laval
4. Nantes
5. Vannes
6. Paris
7. Châteauroux
8. Bordeaux
9. Colmar
10. Chartres

That led to their conclusion that by modifying the real estate factor, “we can observe that life would not be so much more expensive in Paris than in Niort! Surprising all the same.”

That’s great news for anyone who wants to live in the capital, in Nantes, or in the other big cities that moved into the revised top 10. But where does that leave us out here in Carcassonne that came in at position 78 (directly after Paris) in the original list? Happy, I’d say, especially if Paris moved up from the position right before us to number 6. Luckily we have no rent nor mortgage payment which leaves us the resources to visit all of those other cities across France that otherwise (apparently) don’t cost any more than right here at home!

Data note: To see the ranking of the original full list of 96 cities you would need a subscription to Le Parisien. I was only able to find the top 10 of the modified France Transactions list, yet their conclusion could suggest that there might not be much of a difference between number 1 and number 96.

Photo notes: The featured photo across the top is from the Ville de Niort website and in the first paragraph is the Grande fountain in Belfort.