Cost of Living in France

Rent in France

France has no single national rent figure. Its network of 37 local rent observatories covers 67 agglomerations and 54% of the private rental stock. For the most common rental, a 3-room apartment, the 2024 median ran from €6.8 per m² a month in Bressuire to €24.2 in the city of Paris, excluding charges, a ratio of about 1 to 3.6. The rest of the Paris agglomeration came to €15.9, Lyon to €11.9, Bordeaux to €11.5 and Toulouse to €10.9.

As an illustration, a 65 m² 3-room apartment at the Lyon median costs €773.50 a month before charges. In Paris, the rent observatory OLAP put the median private rent at €27.3 per m² in 2025, or €1,108 a month for the median home (a city figure).

During a lease, a landlord can raise the rent once a year by no more than the rent reference index (IRL). INSEE published it at 148.06 for the third quarter of 2026, up 1.57% on a year earlier, so that is the most a rent indexed on that quarter can rise.

Prices and inflation

Consumer prices rose 3.4% over the year to October 2026, according to INSEE's provisional estimate, up from 3.1% in September. Energy prices rose 24.1%. Services rose 2.7%, food 1.2%, and manufactured goods fell 0.2%. On the harmonized EU measure, inflation was 3.8%.

Against the rest of the EU, France is a little more expensive. Eurostat put its price level for household consumption at 106.4 in 2025, where the EU average is 100, down from 109.2 in 2022. Housing and energy stand out at 120.7. Clothing, at 97.0, is slightly below the EU average.

What households spend their money on

French households spent €1,545.9 billion in 2025. Housing, water and energy took the largest share, 28.0%, a figure that includes the imputed rent of owners living in their own home. Transport and food each took about one eighth.

Housing costs weigh less on French households than the EU average. In 2025, 6.4% of people in France lived in a household spending more than 40% of its disposable income on housing, against 7.6% in the EU. For people below the poverty threshold, the share was 25.4%.

Transport and energy

Employers in France must pay at least 50% of an employee's public transport pass for the commute, based on the 2nd-class fare for the shortest route. The payment is exempt from social contributions. In Paris, where the Navigo monthly pass costs €90.80 in 2026, that is at least €45.40 a month.

19.37 million residential customers in mainland France were on the regulated electricity tariff at 31 March 2026. The energy regulator CRE proposed a 2.5% rise from 1 August 2026. On its figures, a typical bill for 4.5 MWh a year goes from €1,046 to €1,072. There is no regulated gas tariff, and local property and housing taxes are set by each commune, so no national figure is shown for them.

What it means for pay and hiring

Private-sector employees earned an average of €3,693 gross a month in 2025, and half earned less than €2,238 net. Net pay grew 1.5% after inflation in 2025. The minimum wage is €1,867.02 gross a month for full-time work from 1 June 2026. Location matters: a 3-room apartment in Paris costs about twice as much per m² as one in Lyon or Toulouse, so a national average says little about what a candidate in a given city needs.

See average salary in France, the France minimum wage and our guide to hiring in France for employer costs and labor rules. For the capital, see our Paris guide and cost of living in Paris.

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