EXCLUSIVE. Here is the 2022 ranking of the cities and villages where we live best in France
11:30 p.m., January 29, 2022, amended to 11:50 p.m., January 29, 2022
And your municipality, where does it rank? The 2022 list of towns and villages where life is good, produced by the association of the same name and unveiled exclusively by the JDD at the bottom of this article*, brings its share of confirmations and novelties. For the first time in three years, the top of the ranking changes. On the city side, Angers, third in the previous edition, steals first place from Annecy. On the village side (less than 2,000 inhabitants), it is the Basque resort of Guéthary which passes in front of the Moselle town of Peltre, south of Metz. However, these upheavals mask a relative stability despite significant methodological changes. “This edition confirms the recognition of medium-sized towns and villages, welcomes Thierry Saussez, the president of the association. André Malraux.
The street to the West
In fact, the “PLM” triptych, for Paris, Lyon, Marseille, is in decline: the capital is “only” 66th (-11 places in one year) while Lyon is 63rd (-7) and Marseille even more lunge, in 93rd place (-8). But some other major cities (Nice, 7th; Rennes, 10th; Bordeaux, 14th, etc.) are doing more than resist. More generally, the Great West is coming out stronger this year. The Regions of Normandy, Brittany, Pays de la Loire and Nouvelle-Aquitaine place 14 out of the 20 first places in the ranking of cities. Beyond that, the big winners are Saint-Malo (43rd, +19), Vannes (53rd, +23), Laval (62nd, +17) and Poitiers (68th, +25) and the biggest increases are also at observer on the side of Ille-et-Vilaine, Morbihan as well as in Maine-et-Loire and Calvados.
On the honor roll, we also note that Honfleur, still in Calvados, is the city among the top 500 in the ranking* with the strongest progression (496th, it gains 170 places) and Aytré, in Charente-Maritime, signs the best entry, at 384th place. Elsewhere, some municipalities in Moselle and Haute-Savoie are still struggling. Conversely, the main declines are recorded in the North or in the greater Parisian suburbs (Yvelines, Essonne, Seine-et-Marne, etc.).
Real estate boom
These trends are due both to the major demographic changes underway and to the methodological changes made, including the addition of a “real estate attractiveness” category in this ranking. Real estate, precisely, finds itself at the heart of these upheavals with a record 1.2 million transactions recorded in one year, from November 2020 to November 2021.
The health crisis, of course, is at the root of this unprecedented population movement. “But it was still a detonator, or a revealer, of fundamental trends already revealed for ten years”, notes Loïc Cantin, deputy president of the National Federation of Real Estate (Fnaim). For the first time, the data required by the first union of real estate professionals, municipality by municipality, has enabled the Association of towns and villages where life is good to take this real estate dynamic into account. Territories experiencing strong demand, maintaining a stock with few vacant homes, have thus gained a boost in the rankings. Result, according to Loïc Cantin, “today there is a form of revenge for forgotten territories: abandoned by public policies, they become attractive again because they benefit from both the rejection of the density of the big city and the still dominant model. of the detached house”.
“The Quarter-Hour City”
In real estate agencies, the refrain is well known. Households feeling too cramped, especially in the Paris region, go in search of a larger living space, if possible with a garden. But this going green is not quite one: far from a massive exodus to the countryside, the first to capture this explosion in demand are the metropolises and medium-sized towns, easily accessible – by TGV from Paris, particular – and likely to meet the needs of these new populations. “There is a desire to disconnect while remaining connected, summarizes Thierry Saussez. We leave the big cities but without giving up being in an integrated environment, that is to say with most services nearby and with a broadband connection.” The communicator and president of the association sees in it the confirmation of the advent of “the city of the quarter of an hour”, a concept according to which the whole life of a household – work, school, leisure… – that is less than fifteen minutes away.
In the opinion of many observers, the territorial rebalancing in progress has every chance of continuing after the pandemic. With its share of opportunities but also challenges, since the rise in the price of housing in the cities today in turn attracts an influence on the rest of the population. “Basically, it’s a big social issue, found Loïc Cantin. Between the ‘pavillonite’ of the 1980s and the strengthening of densification in the early 2000s, which aimed to fight against urban sprawl, another model is it possible? It is apparently the choice that households have made and that public policies have not anticipated.”
The Top 50 2022 cities where life is good:
- Angers (49), +2 places compared to 2021
- Annecy (74), -1
- Bayonne (64), -1
- La Rochelle (17), =
- Caen (14), +1
- Le Mans (72), -1
- Nice (06), =
- Lorient (56), +2
- Brestois (29), +2
- Rennes (35), +2
- Avignon (84), -2
- Biarritz (64), +7
- Cherbourg in Cotentin (50), +2
- Bordeaux (33), -6
- Anglet (64), +6
- Strasbourg (67), -3
- Rodez (12), -1
- Towers (37), +6
- Pau (64), -5
- Le Havre (76), -3
- Chambery (73), +2
- Metz (57), -4
- Nantes (44), -1
- Dijon (21), +1
- Lannion (22), +2
- Saint-Etienne (42), -6
- Saint-Brieuc (22), +1
- La Roche sur Yon (85), +11
- Limoges (87), -3
- Rods (06), =
- Antibes (06), +9
- Montpellier (34), +5
- Toulouse (31), -4
- Quimper (29), +8
- Nimes (30), +11
- Orleans (45), -2
- Levallois Perret (92), -5
- Courbevoie (92), -7
- Toulon (83), -6
- Boulogne-Billancourt (92), -5
- Chateauroux (36), -5
- Hyères (83), +9
- Saint-Malo (35), +19
- Nogent-sur-Marne (94), +3
- Versailles (78), +4
- Doves (92), -8
- Asnieres-sur-Seine (92), -6
- Rueil-Malmaison (92), -5
- Nanterre (92), -5
- Aurillac (15), +2
The Top 50 2022 villages where life is good:
- Guethary (64), +1
- Peltre (57), -1
- Epron (14), =
- Martinvast(50), =
- Authie (14), =
- Saint-Quay-Perros (22), +4
- Theoule-sur-Mer (06), -1
- Buros (64), -1
- Vantoux (57), -1
- Sonnaz (73), +7
- Laloubere (65), +2
- Mazères-Lezons (64), +18
- Biard (86), +9
- Marcellaz Albanian (74), +4
- Cambes-en-Plaine (14), +12
- The Lodges in Josas (78), -7
- Ploulec’h (22), -1
- May (57), -3
- Voglans (73), +18
- Falcon (06), -6
- Pine (77), -9
- Piscop (95), -11
- Niederhausbergen (67), +5
- Ahuy (21), +15
- Nouainville (50), -4
- Cagny (14), +27
- Quintal (74), +22
- Deyvillers (88), -3
- Menthon-Saint-Bernard (74), +2
- Laguenne sur Avalouze (19), -11
- Varois-et-Chaignot (21), +13
- Needle (43), +2
- Jouy-aux-Arches (57), -7
- Chalézeule (25), +1
- Marnes la Coquette (92), -11
- Barberey-Saint-Sulpice (10), +24
- Warq (08), +3
- Poey de Lescar (64), +19
- Ouges (21), +24
- Jeuxey (88), -7
- Saint-Jeoire-Prieure (73), +30
- Plouisy (22), +22
- Nieul (87), +31
- Le Vernet (03), +1
- Saint-Pavacé (72), +24
- Tille (60), +6
- Lannoy (59), -5
- Menetrol (63), -16
- Saint-Arnoult (14), +39
- Charmeil (03), +1