The five best places to live in France, according to new ranking
The ranking used a vast array of data and criteria to sort more than 34,900 towns nationwide
The ranking compared criteria to find the ‘best’ places to liveDelpixel / litchi cyril photographe / ranguin remi / Zoe Calvert / Johan from Friesland / Shutterstock
A new ranking has identified the top five places to live in France, placing mountain commune Villard-de-Lans near Grenoble (Isère) in first place, followed by Gérardmer (Vosges) in second.
The website VilledeReve.fr (‘dream town’) has a vast ranking of more than 34,900 towns, with a huge array of statistics and details for each, about everything from healthcare to sports facilities to travel accessibility.
Mountain regions appear to have done particularly well this year, perhaps because of their beauty, and access to leisure and sport options.
The ranking identified the following places in its top five this year:
1. Villard-de-Lans (Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
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The site praised the town for its dynamism, environment, attractiveness, sustainability, and the fitness and good health of residents, although it lost points for its lack of ‘heritage’. Score: 90 marks out of 100.
2. Gérardmer (Vosges, Grand Est)
litchi cyril photographe / Shutterstock
This town won because of its wide array of facilities for residents, along with its good quality education, leisure options, sustainability, and natural environment. Score: 89/100.
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3. Guérande (Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire)
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Coming in third, this town was praised for its sports and fitness, good education, and strong leisure facilities. Score: 88/100.
4. Thônes (Haute-Savoie, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes)
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Described as “expensive but worth it”, this town was praised for its good health, fitness options, and sustainability. Score: 87/100.
The site used a vast array of criteria and metrics to assess the towns, and - depending on your needs and wants - each town may appear more or less attractive as the ideal place to live.
As the website states: “Because the best city in France may not be your best city in France.”
It used 132 sources to collect results for 725 criteria for each commune included in its ranking, and grouped these by 19 “thematic” categories.
These were (in order of their importance to the town’s overall score):
Quality of Life, Accessibility to Nature, Safety, Health, Dynamism, Sustainability in the face of climate change (summarised as ‘in 2050’), Economy & Work, Heritage, Presence of Natural and Technological Risks, Culture, Sport, Attractiveness/Beauty, Cost of Living, Citizenship & Public Life, Education, Leisure, Accessibility and Transport, Innovation and Higher Education.
The data sources included SNCF, INSEE, ANCT, Observatoire des Finances et de la Gestion Publique Locales, The Michelin Guide, the CAF, DRIAS, Météo-France, INAO, the ARS, ADEME, and the Assurance Maladie.
Other government sources included the Ministère de l'Intérieur, DGFiP, Ministère de l'Economie, Ministère de la Culture, Ministère de l'Éducation nationale, and ARCEP.
More specifically, some of the criteria and data collected included:
Price of property / average rent per m2
Number of recharging stations for electric cars
Average annual rainfall
Cost of petrol and fuel
Air quality and pollution levels
Drinking water quality
Number of cultural associations
The towns can also be ‘filtered’ on the website by criteria including:
Near the coast / not near the coast
Size, from large city to hamlet
Town centre / Further out
Superb weather / Good weather
Transport options, including a large station
Heritage and museums
Safety and security
Climate risk
Comparing criteria
The site also has an interactive map of France, which can be searched by different criteria. Users can zoom right down to individual hamlets to see how they scored.
There is also a page where users can search for a specific town, and see a score out of 100 for each of the 19 categories.
The wide variety of details includes everything from how far away it is from the nearest large city, the cost of living, how many empty properties there are, how accessible GPs are, how many rivers there are, how many creche places are available per 100 children, and the average internet speed.
Users can also choose up to four different towns to add to the ‘comparator’ and compare different towns side by side.
Major cities
In terms of large/medium cities, Angers (Maine-et-Loire) came in first place of 31, and Amiens (Somme) in 31st place.
