Living in Lille: a young, lively city that is 'very accepting of foreigners'

Lille, located in the department of Nord and capital of the Hauts-de-France region, is a dynamic city with a variety of quartiers, green spaces and cultural attractions.

Home to several universities, the large student population contributes to the city's lively, international atmosphere.

Soazic Courbet, originally from Belgium, came to Lille as a student and liked it so much that she decided to stay. 

She now owns and runs L'Affranchie bookshop, which specialises in theatre and feminism. 

She stocks a small number of books in English. 

"Lille is a very international city, and invests in supporting independent booksellers like me, although how long that will continue I don't know. 

"People here are very accepting of foreigners, there are so many of them, and that makes it easier to integrate. 

"It is a young city with lots of students, which makes it very lively. 

"I also enjoy being so close to Paris and Brussels. I don't ever plan to leave!"

Transport links

Lille is fantastically well located, very close to the Belgian border with direct trains to London (2 hours), Brussels (35 minutes) and Paris (1 hour). 

Charles de Gaulle airport is under an hour away, and the fast train to Amsterdam takes just 2h 40 minutes. The Ouigo service offers tickets to/from Bordeaux starting from €16 one-way for the five hour trip. Lille Europe train station is an easy stroll from the city centre. The airport has flights to destinations in the south of France, but none to the UK. Residents generally use airports around Paris for international flights. Road access is easy via the A1 and A25 motorways.

Getting around town

Public transport in Lille is run by ilévia, offering two underground lines and two tramways, along with around 40 urban buses and the V'Lille public cycle hire scheme. (The metro system was the first fully-automated system in the world when it was constructed in 1983.) The cobbled streets of the historic centre are largely pedestrianised. 

Security

Lille is a very safe city where the crime rate is falling year on year. In 2024, 28,335 crimes/civil offences were recorded for a population of 238,695. The vast majority (66%) were theft and burglaries. Violent crime (most of it unarmed) accounted for 18% and the rest was made up of drug offences, scams and frauds, and petty crime (graffiti, vandalism, etc).

Healthcare

The Lille CHU, one of the largest University Teaching Hospital in Europe, is regularly ranked amongst the top hospitals in France for a whole range of surgeries and specialised treatments. It provides around a million medical consultations every year, and admits around 100,000 patients over 12 different sites. With 16,000 medical staff, it is also a major employer in the region. There are also two dozen private clinics, the largest of which are the Institut Catholique de Lille, and the Louvière and Du Bois polycliniques.

Climate

Lille usually enjoys mild temperatures but last July the temperature hit 41.5ºC – way higher than the average of 23.7ºC usually enjoyed in the summer months. Winters are similarly mild, with temperatures rarely dropping below freezing. It often rains, even in the summer, although average sunshine in July is around 210 hours.

Property prices

Property in Lille is substantially cheaper than in Paris or Lyon, although prices vary enormously from one quarter to another. The historic centre is a popular choice for students and young professionals. Wazemmes is cosmopolitan and has a huge market as well as several universities nearby. Vauban is leafy and well placed for Sciences Po Lille. Fives is up-and-coming, with dynamic community and social events. These are all popular choices. A 60m² two-bed flat in Roubaix can cost as little as €85,000 whereas in the centre it would cost around €145,000 for example. A small house (70m²) with a garden starts at around €70,000 in Roubaix but in the centre the price would start at around €165,000.

Rental prices

Price variations according to area are also the norm for rentals. A 20-25m² bed-sit in the centre will cost €450-550 per month, for example. A 65m² two-bed flat in the centre will cost around €750 per month, whereas a 2-3 bed house with a small garden, five kilometres out of the centre, will cost only around €100 more. Perhaps because of the large student population, many rentals are furnished. (Furnished flats/houses can be easier to rent because the law grants less protection to tenants of furnished rentals than to those of unfurnished rentals.)

Education

The private Ecole Jeannine Manuel teaches in English and French, from nursery right through to secondary school. It offers boarding for older pupils and annual fees are around €8,400 to €26,400. Many of the city's State collèges and lycées have Anglophone international and European sections.

Lille University is attended by around 70,000 students, and the city is also home to an extensive list of other universities and 'Grandes Ecoles'. 

Population and demographics

If you count the entire conurbation around Lille, stretching right into Belgium, the population is approaching 1.9 million, but if you just count the city itself, it is the tenth largest in France with a population of around 240,000 and growing. Immigrants account for around 13.75% of the population, and the largest group are from Belgium, although there are also large populations of Italians, North Africans and Poles. 54.2% of households are single-residents.

Twin cities

Lille's many twin cities include Cologne, Kharkiv, Leeds, Liège, Rotterdam, and Turin. 

Main industries and employment

Lille is a dynamic, rapidly expanding city with a diverse range of sectors including distribution, industry, services, innovation, IT and communication technologies. As well as the education and medical sectors, large employers include Leroy Merlin, Auchan, OVH, and La Redoute.