How many Britons are in France – and where do they live?
Britons are among largest non-EU citizenship group in France
Similar to other countries such as the UK, the French census asks a person’s nationality, and it is mandatory to answer this.
In the last two years, it has also asked an optional question about the birthplace of the respondent’s parents.
However, France’s census is delivered annually to a rotating portion of the population so this only provides limited information.
A full dataset covering the entire country can take several years to compile through this system, and several more for the information to be made public.
For example, the most recent information held by national statistics body Insee on Britons in France was released in 2020, and based on data collected in 2016.
More than 170,000 Britons with residency permits
While there are no completely accurate figures, statistics from the interior ministry provide the best estimate.
The ministry estimates the number of non-EU/non-EEA/non-Swiss nationals living in France based on the number of residency permits issued to citizens of each nation.
Since Brexit in 2021, Britons wanting to live in France (who are not dual EU/EEA/Swiss citizens) have been required to obtain a residency permit.
This has made it significantly easier to track the number of Britons living in France.
For those living in France before Brexit, they needed to obtain a Withdrawal Agreement (WA) card (also known as a ‘Brexit card’).
Those who have arrived since then have needed to obtain another kind of residency permit, as WA cards are only valid for those living in France before the UK left the EU.
The ministry states that in 2025, there were 172,312 Britons with an active residency permit authorising them to live in France, a 1.4% rise on 2024.
This made Britons the fifth-most numerous non-EU group settled in France after Algerians, Moroccans, Tunisians and Turks.
Of the 172,312 Britons with residency rights, 91.3% have cards issued for ‘miscellaneous' reasons, meaning they fall outside common work or family-related visas.
This includes Brexit cards and 'visitor' permits for people such as retirees and early-retirees. The next highest category was work visas, with 5.2%.
We cover these statistics in our article here in more detail.
While this figure is not complete – it does not for example account for children of British parents living in France who have rights through their parents’ permits, nor dual citizens who do not need a residency permit – it is probably the most accurate data available.
Accounting for minors, then, the real figure is likely to be around 200,000 Britons in France.
It should be noted that the figure also does not include dual British-French nationals, whose numbers have also increased post Brexit.
What other trends?
Ministry figures also showed the number of Britons renewing cards increased from 5,230 in 2024 to 7,610 in 2025, a +45% increase.
However, with five-year Brexit cards coming up for renewal across 2025 and 2026 for 10-year versions, this number will no doubt increase greatly this year before returning to more stable levels.
Following this, occasional peaks as 10-year cards need to be renewed will be seen in 2030/2031, 2035/2036/2037, 2040/41, etc.
In an updated set of residency permit statistics published in June 2026, the Interior Ministry revealed its provisional data for first-time cards issued in 2025, as well as definitive figures for 2024.
The number of Britons issued a first full-time residency permit (excluding temporary visas, such as those often obtained for second homeowners) fell from 8,899 in 2024 to 8,250 in 2025, a drop of -7.3%.
2021 was an outlier, with nearly 100,000 permits granted, almost all being Brexit cards. Figures from 2022-2025 point towards a slow decline in the number of Britons moving to France post-Brexit.
Something worth noting is the rise in Britons in France between 1990 and 2016 – increasing from 65,000 to around 150,000 according to Insee.
Home ownership by Britons
Property ownership information is also unable to provide an accurate representation on how many Britons are in France.
Insee recorded around 210,000 properties owned by Britons in 2016, but figures from notaires in 2020 put the figure at around 500,000. (this may be a case of multiple owners per property, however).
Up-to-date statistics on British home ownership are not available, but the number of homeowners likely saw some drop following Brexit.
Britons however remain among the largest group of non-French owners of property in the country.
Where are hotspots?
Home ownership data can however help paint a map of where Britons live in France.
While Britons live across all parts of France, there are hotspots where they are concentrated.
There are three principal urban areas where Britons live in France, states statistics body Insee.
The official body provided an in-depth overview of Britons living in France using information up to and including 2016 census data, not published until 2020, however the information still largely rings true.
The three main areas where Britons live in France are:
Large urban areas, mainly consisting of Britons who are employed or students (red on the map below, ‘Group C’)
Areas with low to moderate population density, with many Britons being retirees (light green on the map below, ‘Group B’)
Areas with low to very low population density, with a majority of Britons being retirees and a strong British presence (dark green on the map below, ‘Group A’)
These three location types make up around three-quarters of British presence in France.
Remaining groups are those living in Alpine resorts, ‘transfrontalier’ workers who live in France but work in Switzerland/Monaco, and outliers who live in other areas of France.
Urban areas with a substantial British population included Paris, Nice, Bordeaux, and the wider French Riviera.
The latter two categories are largely centred in the west of France – particularly the northern part of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region – and Brittany/Normandy.
There is also a distinct British presence in the south of France in the Occitanie region.
In the most sparsely populated areas, Britons form close to 10% of the total population in some areas.
Communes with the highest British presence recorded by Insee included:
Morzine (Haute-Savoie), 794 Britons or 9.3% of the population
Le Dorat (Haute-Vienne) 794 Britons or 9.3% of the population
Eymet (Dordogne), 851 Britons or 9.0% of the population
Sauzé-Vaussais (Deux-Sèvres) 461 Britons or 8.1% of the population
Callac (Côtes-d'Armor) 602 Britons or 7.8% of the population
Civray (Vienne) 925 Britons or 7.1% of the population
Insee offers a number of reasons for the popularity of these low-density hotspots in western France, Brittany, and Normandy with Britons (the dark green areas on the map above).
These are departments “where real estate remains relatively affordable. Almost all British residents there (92%) own their primary residence, which is almost invariably a house.”
“During the 2000s, low-cost air routes were launched from small regional airports such as Limoges and Bergerac. These routes likely boosted the appeal of these areas for households with more modest means than those belonging to the initial waves of British migrants [who arrived in the 1990s and early 2000s]” Insee added.
“These routes have also helped expand air travel options to more regions of the United Kingdom. Consequently, over the past 20 years, an increasing number of British people have settled in these areas, some of the least densely populated in France.”
Around half of the ‘Group A’ population moved to France relatively recently, less than 10 years before the Brexit vote.
Insee highlights the benefits of this migration.
“The presence of these British nationals enriches life in these sparsely populated areas (averaging 11,500 inhabitants) and often helps sustain local businesses or bolster school enrolment in municipalities that welcome families.”
In comparison, Group B (living in fairly populated areas of the west) had been established longer, with 62% of them living in France for at least 10 years before 2016.
Perhaps surprisingly however, in 2016 only around a third of Britons in France (53,000) were retirees.
A number of Britons in ‘Group B’ were professionals, and almost all of those living in larger cities were working or studying.
