FR · LYONLocal facts

Living in Lyon.

France's third-largest city, where the Rhône and the Saône meet, and the core of a metropolitan area that also takes in Villeurbanne. Summers are warm — July's average high is 28.2 °C — and six months a year fall in the 15–28 °C comfort band; the modelled asking rent for a one-bedroom flat in the centre is about $930 a month. French is the language of daily life.

VerifiedSep 24, 2026Updated Sep 24, 2026

Population 519,127

INSEE — Populations de référence 2023, commune de Lyon (69123)

Official source

Data as of: Jan 1, 2023
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Notes: INSEE 'population municipale' for the commune of Lyon, millésime 2023 (reference date 1 January 2023), authenticated by decree no. 2025-1362 of 26 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026 — the current legal population, read on 2026-09-24. 'Population totale' is 525,314. France's third-largest commune, 4,308 residents ahead of Toulouse (514,819). The figure covers Lyon's nine arrondissements only; Villeurbanne and the other communes of the Métropole de Lyon are counted separately.

· Europe/Paris· France rules apply

FR · LYON

At a glance

The headline numbers for Lyon — each with its own source and freshness. A live official figure is not the same as a survey estimate or a 30-year climate normal.

Cost of living

4.8/10

$1,816/mo

Rent, 1–3 bed

6.4/10

$874–$1,603

/mo

Freelancer tax

4.2/10

34.1%

Safety

8.4/10

1.28/100k

Air quality

7.9/10

10.2 µg/m³

Internet

5.1/10

51 Mbps

English

5.0/10

Moderate

Private health

9.1/10

$821/yr

What the tags meanofficial — live figure from a government or authorityopen data — open dataset (Eurostat, EEA, M-Lab, UdSC…)survey — survey or index estimatecurated — SettleMetric-assembled estimate — open the source for the method

What it costs you per month

A planning estimate: real asking rent plus a cost-of-living basket scaled to your household. Not a quote.

Household

Lifestyle

Location

Estimated total

$2,688/mo

≈ $32,256 / year

Where it goes

Rent (1-bed)$874
Transport$283
Food & non-alcoholic beverages$273
Restaurants & hotels$191
Housing (water, energy, maintenance — excl. rent)$185
Insurance & financial services$182
Recreation, sport & culture$158
Other goods & services (personal care, social protection, misc.)$138
Health (out-of-pocket & non-reimbursed)$85
Furnishings & household equipment$84
Information & communication$80
Alcoholic beverages & tobacco$74
Clothing & footwear$65
Education$16
Living costs$1,814

Rent from the asking-rent matrix below. Living costs scale a one-person basket ($1,814/mo) by household size and lifestyle; the equivalence factors are our assumption. Schooling and one-off setup are excluded.

Cost of living

What a single person spends each month — food, utilities, transport, eating out and the rest — excluding rent.

Typical monthly spending (national average)

INSEE — La consommation des ménages en 2024 (Insee Première 2056, COICOP functional breakdown)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Each INSEE 2024 COICOP function (€B/yr) → per-capita USD/mo by ÷ 31.377M households ÷ 2.14 ÷ 12 then ×1.030 CPI uplift ×1.1399 FX. Housing (04) shown net of rent (actual + imputed rents excluded). Items sum ≈ $1,814 ≈ the $1,816 headline. Health is households' out-of-pocket/non-reimbursed only — France's universal Assurance Maladie plus near-universal mutuelles cover most care, so this line is structurally low.

total1,814 USD/mo

01Transport283 USD

02Food & non-alcoholic beverages273 USD

03Restaurants & hotels191 USD

04Housing (water, energy, maintenance — excl. rent)185 USD

05Insurance & financial services182 USD

06Recreation, sport & culture158 USD

07Other goods & services (personal care, social protection, misc.)138 USD

08Health (out-of-pocket & non-reimbursed)85 USD

09Furnishings & household equipment84 USD

10Information & communication80 USD

11Alcoholic beverages & tobacco74 USD

12Clothing & footwear65 USD

13Education16 USD

France's household-budget basket for a single person, excluding rent. Non-rent costs vary little between cities — the city-specific part is rent, shown under Housing below.

01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)country-level1,816USD/month, single person, excluding rent4.8

What this measures

Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.

Lower is betterUSD/month, single person, excluding rentre-verified every 365 days

Curated by SettleMetric

INSEE — La consommation des ménages en 2024 (Insee Première 2056, dépense de consommation finale par fonction COICOP)

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.

Housing

What it costs to rent, by apartment type and location.

Asking rent by apartment type & location

ANIL — 'Carte des loyers' 2025, asking-rent indicators by commune and arrondissement (estimates from Groupe SeLoger and leboncoin listings), Lyon 1st–9th arrondissements

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Sep 30, 2025
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: « Estimations ANIL, à partir des données du Groupe SeLoger et de leboncoin »: the 2025 edition of the ministry's rent map, published on data.gouv.fr on 11 December 2025 and read on 2026-09-24, models for each of Lyon's nine arrondissements the asking rent per m² per month, charges included, of an unfurnished flat let in the third quarter of 2025 — one series for 1–2-room flats (reference 37 m²) and one for flats of 3 rooms or more (72 m²). Centre = the 1st and 2nd arrondissements (the Presqu'île; the Hôtel de Ville is in the 1st); outside = the other seven. Each group is the mean of its arrondissements weighted by the listings behind each estimate: 1–2 rooms €20.066/m² centre (13,555 listings) and €18.950 outside (75,700); 3 rooms or more €16.352 centre (8,674) and €15.125 outside (46,413). Studio and 1br take the 1–2-room rate, 2br and 3br the 3-room-plus rate, times the floor areas used for Paris and Nice (studio 30, 1br 40, 2br 60, 3br 85 m²), converted at the ECB reference rate in data/fx-rates.json (EUR 1 = USD 1.1534, 2026-08-13): studio $694 / $656, 1br $926 / $874, 2br $1,132 / $1,047, 3br $1,603 / $1,483.
Notes: MODELLED ASKING RENTS, not signed leases: the map predicts the rent of a reference flat from listings posted in 2019–2025, charges included and unfurnished — the basis Nice uses, while Paris is on furnished asking rents. The per-m² rate is applied flat within each size band, so a 30 m² studio is priced at the rate of a 37 m² 1–2-room flat and reads low. Lyon, with Villeurbanne, is under rent control (encadrement des loyers, per service-public.gouv.fr on 2026-09-24), which caps the rent of a new lease; asking rents are not adjusted for it. The 6th arrondissement, outside the centre as defined here, is as dear as the centre (€20.01/m² for 1–2 rooms).

MODELLED ASKING RENTS, not signed leases: the map predicts the rent of a reference flat from listings posted in 2019–2025, charges included and unfurnished — the basis Nice uses, while Paris is on furnished asking rents. The per-m² rate is applied flat within each size band, so a 30 m² studio is priced at the rate of a 37 m² 1–2-room flat and reads low. Lyon, with Villeurbanne, is under rent control (encadrement des loyers, per service-public.gouv.fr on 2026-09-24), which caps the rent of a new lease; asking rents are not adjusted for it. The 6th arrondissement, outside the centre as defined here, is as dear as the centre (€20.01/m² for 1–2 rooms).

Apartment	Central	Outside centre
Studio	694 USD/mo	656 USD/mo
1-bedroom	926 USD/mo	874 USD/mo
2-bedroom	1,132 USD/mo	1,047 USD/mo
3-bedroom	1,603 USD/mo	1,483 USD/mo

Climate

Temperature and rainfall through the year, plus air quality.

Monthly normals — Lyon

NOAA/WMO Climatological Standard Normals 1991–2020 — Lyon-Bron (WMO 07480)

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2020
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: WMO 1991–2020 station normals, NCEI accession 0253808 v6.6 (public domain), read from the station file on 2026-09-24: means of Daily_Maximum_Temperature and Daily_Minimum_Temperature and Precipitation_Total sums, every month resting on all 30 years (NOY = 30) and no cell blank. Station LYON-BRON, WMO 07480, 45°43'17"N 4°56'57"E, elevation 202 m — Lyon-Bron airport, about 10 km east-south-east of the Hôtel de Ville. Annual: tMax 17.5 °C, tMin 8.6 °C, mean 13.0 °C, precipitation 820.8 mm. Météo-France's own 1991–2020 climate sheet for the station (indicatif 69029001) gives the same 36 monthly values.
Notes: Lyon-Saint-Exupéry (WMO 07481), the archive's other Lyon station, lies about 19 km east of the Hôtel de Ville and reads slightly cooler and wetter — annual mean maximum 17.0 °C, precipitation 862.5 mm. Bron, the nearer station, is the one used.

Daytime high °CNighttime low °CRainfall mm

Average day/night temperature (lines, left axis) and total rainfall (bars, right axis) for each month — 1991–2020 normals. Hover a month for exact figures.

Month by month
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Daytime high °C	7.1°	9.0°	13.8°	17.4°	21.5°	25.6°	28.2°	28.0°	23.1°	17.7°	11.4°	7.7°
Nighttime low °C	1.1°	1.4°	4.2°	7.2°	11.2°	15.0°	17.0°	16.6°	12.8°	9.6°	4.9°	2.0°
Rainfall mm	50	42	49	69	81	74	67	66	83	100	87	54

01Climate comfort6pleasant months/year6.0

What this measures

Number of months whose 1991–2020 climate normals satisfy: mean daily maximum between 15°C and 28°C and monthly precipitation under 150mm. Computed from the city's climate-normals indicator; the raw normals are stored alongside so users can judge by their own taste.

Higher is betterpleasant months/yearre-verified every 3650 days

Curated by SettleMetric

SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (WMO 1991–2020, Lyon-Bron 07480)

Data as of: Dec 31, 2020
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Months whose mean daily maximum is between 15 and 28 °C and whose precipitation is under 150 mm: Apr (17.4 °C), May (21.5), Jun (25.6), Aug (28.0), Sep (23.1), Oct (17.7) = 6. July (28.2) is excluded as too hot, March (13.8) and November (11.4) as too cold. The precipitation test excludes nothing: the wettest month is October at 99.8 mm.
Notes: August sits exactly on the 28 °C ceiling and counts; July misses it by 0.2 °C.

02Air quality (PM2.5)10.2µg/m³, annual mean PM2.57.9

What this measures

Annual mean fine-particulate (PM2.5) concentration for the city, latest available year. Anchors follow the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³ → 10) through the EU limit value territory (25 µg/m³ → 2). Preferred source: European Environment Agency city-level air quality data; outside Europe: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database or the national monitoring network.

Lower is betterµg/m³, annual mean PM2.5re-verified every 730 days

Open data

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), Lyon stations FR20062 "LYON Centre", FR20017 "GERLAND" and FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS"

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Mean of the validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2024 annual PM2.5 means at the three stations the EEA assigns to Lyon that reported a full year, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-09-24: FR20062 "LYON Centre" (urban background, 1.9 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 9.500 µg/m³ at 99.12% coverage; FR20017 "GERLAND" (urban background, 3.6 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 10.000 µg/m³ at 98.95% coverage; FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS" (suburban traffic, 5.5 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 11.030 µg/m³ at 95.10% coverage. (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030) / 3 = 10.18.
Notes: NOT THE WHO FIGURE. The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) gives Lyon 8.942 µg/m³ for 2024 at 74% coverage, because it also averages in FR20046 "VAULX EN VELIN", whose 2024 PM2.5 mean (5.24) rests on 0.9% of the year: (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030 + 5.237) / 4 = 8.942, and the four coverages average 73.5%. Leaving out the station that barely reported gives 10.18. Two of the three are urban background sites in the city; the traffic site stands in the neighbouring commune of La Mulatière. The EEA held no validated 2025 PM2.5 statistics for France on 2026-09-24. The WHO series for Lyon, on its own station mix, reads 11.60 (2020), 11.39 (2021), 11.31 (2022) and 9.78 (2023). About twice the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, and just above the EU limit of 10 that applies from 2030.

Safety

How safe daily life is, from official crime statistics.

01Homicide ratecountry-level1.3intentional homicides per 100,000/year8.4

What this measures

Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population, latest available year. Country level: UNODC national series. City level: official municipal/police statistics where published; otherwise null (country value shown as country-level).

Lower is betterintentional homicides per 100,000/yearre-verified every 730 days

Open data

Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.

Crime by offence typecountry-levelpolice-recorded per 100,000 · 2024

Eurostat — police-recorded offences by category (crim_off_cat, ICCS, unit P_HTHAB)

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Police-recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (ICCS categories: theft 0502, serious assault 020111, drug offences 0601, burglary 0501, sexual violence 0301, robbery 0401). France records assault broadly (coups et blessures volontaires), so its serious-assault level here is high on paper — partly a recording-breadth effect. Intentional homicide (1.28, same Eurostat 2024 series) is the scored safety headline shown separately. Recording practices and legal definitions differ between countries, so read the levels as context, not a league table.

01Theft1,911per 100k

02Serious assault613per 100k

03Drug offences560per 100k

04Burglary444per 100k

05Sexual violence141per 100k

06Robbery82.8per 100k

Police-recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (ICCS categories: theft 0502, serious assault 020111, drug offences 0601, burglary 0501, sexual violence 0301, robbery 0401). France records assault broadly (coups et blessures volontaires), so its serious-assault level here is high on paper — partly a recording-breadth effect. Intentional homicide (1.28, same Eurostat 2024 series) is the scored safety headline shown separately. Recording practices and legal definitions differ between countries, so read the levels as context, not a league table.

Hate crime (police-recorded)country-levelpolice-recorded · 2024

OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting — France (official police-recorded)

Official source

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 15, 2026
Notes: OSCE ODIHR 2024: 6,096 hate crimes recorded by police (source: SSMSI, the French interior-ministry statistical service); 3,941 racist/xenophobic — here ODIHR’s racist/xenophobic category also includes anti-religious hate crime and is not further disaggregated — plus 2,155 anti-LGBTI, the two summing exactly to the total. High counts reflect thorough recording, not necessarily more hatred; not comparable across countries.

6,096

recorded by police

3,941

racist / xenophobic

OSCE ODIHR 2024: 6,096 hate crimes recorded by police (source: SSMSI, the French interior-ministry statistical service); 3,941 racist/xenophobic — here ODIHR’s racist/xenophobic category also includes anti-religious hate crime and is not further disaggregated — plus 2,155 anti-LGBTI, the two summing exactly to the total. High counts reflect thorough recording, not necessarily more hatred; not comparable across countries.

Infrastructure

Internet speed and how parcels get to your door.

01Domestic delivery qualitycountry-levelExcellent10.0

What this measures

Quality of in-country parcel delivery. excellent = nationwide next-day widely available, dense parcel-locker network, real-time tracking standard; good = 1–3 day delivery, lockers in major cities; basic = reliable but slow (3–7 days), mostly to-door or post-office pickup; poor = unreliable delivery, street addresses often unusable, informal workarounds common. Classified from official service/coverage data of the national postal operator and the two largest private carriers; inputs itemized in each value's method field.

Rated by category—re-verified every 730 days

Curated by SettleMetric

La Poste / Colissimo (Pickup) and Mondial Relay network figures

Data as of: Jan 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: France has one of Europe's densest out-of-home parcel networks. Colissimo/Pickup: 26,000+ pickup points (≈17,500 relay points + ≈6,500 automatic lockers, incl. ≈4,500 24/7 Pickup Station lockers). Mondial Relay: ≈17,000 points (≈9,000 lockers + ≈8,000 relais). Plus Relais Colis, Chronopost, DPD, and La Poste home delivery ~6 days/week, with nationwide next-day/2-day standard options → 'excellent'.

02International delivery easecountry-levelMinor friction7.0

What this measures

Ease of receiving goods from abroad. seamless = major international carriers deliver door-to-door, meaningful duty-free de-minimis threshold, customs clearance predictable in days; minor-friction = carriers present but low de-minimis, extra paperwork or routine delays; significant-friction = frequent customs holds, high brokerage fees, some marketplaces refuse to ship; unreliable = parcels regularly lost or blocked, informal import channels dominate. De-minimis thresholds and clearance rules from the national customs authority (official source, cite the regulation); carrier presence from carriers' official pages.

Rated by category—re-verified every 365 days

Official source

EU single market (free movement of goods) + European Commission removal of the €150 duty-free import threshold (from 1 July 2026)

Data as of: Jul 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Intra-EU shipping is frictionless (single market — most European cross-border parcels arrive like domestic ones). For non-EU imports the EU removed the €150 duty-free threshold and from 1 July 2026 applies a temporary flat customs duty per item on ≤€150 consignments (VAT already collected at checkout via IOSS since 2021). Predictable but no longer duty-free — the same EU regime as other member states.

03Internet speedcountry-level51.4Mbps, median fixed download5.1

What this measures

Median fixed-broadband download speed over the trailing 6 months from M-Lab NDT open data (CC0), aggregated at country or city level. Not comparable with Ookla figures (different test methodology) — do not mix sources within this criterion.

Higher is betterMbps, median fixed downloadre-verified every 365 days

Open data

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for France

Data as of: Dec 31, 2023
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for FR in 2023 (~10.47M download tests; daily medians ranged 24.9–61.1 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style or advertised figures (French fibre commonly markets 300–1000+ Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
Notes: France has extensive FTTH fibre coverage; the M-Lab single-stream median understates real-world line speeds and is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.

Healthcare

What comprehensive private medical cover costs.

01Private healthcare costcountry-level821USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old9.1

What this measures

Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.

Lower is betterUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldre-verified every 365 days

Curated by SettleMetric

Curated from French mutuelle comparateur data (goodassur 48,082-quote July 2026 dataset; Selectra tariff study)

Data as of: Jul 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: France has universal public health cover (Assurance Maladie, ~70% reimbursement) topped up by a COMPLEMENTARY private 'mutuelle santé' — supplementary, not full-replacement. Mutuelle pricing is age-banded, not health-rated. Market data (goodassur, 48,082 individual quotes, July 2026): age 25–34 avg €68.98/mo, 35–44 avg €90.68/mo; a mid-market intermediate plan for a healthy 35-year-old ≈ €60/mo = €720/yr → $821/yr at 1.1399. Range ≈ €35/mo ($479/yr) to ≈ €90/mo ($1,231/yr).
Notes: A supplementary top-up on the mandatory public system, not a full private replacement policy (like Austria's Sonderklasse). ~95%+ of residents carry a mutuelle; employees usually get a subsidised group contract (employer pays ≥50%), so this individually-purchased premium is the situation of a freelancer/self-employed person. Mid-market monthly range ≈ €50–70.

Money & crypto

Crypto rules and how freely personal money moves.

01Crypto regulationcountry-levelLegal regulated8.0

What this measures

Own classification of the legal status of holding, trading and cashing out cryptocurrency for individuals: legal-friendly (legal with clear, favourable rules or explicit tax exemptions), legal-regulated (legal under standard licensing/AML and taxation), restricted (partial bans: payments or banking access prohibited), banned (holding/trading prohibited). Classified from national regulators' and central banks' official positions.

Rated by category—re-verified every 180 days

Official source

impots.gouv.fr — Plus-values sur cessions d'actifs numériques (cryptomonnaies); AMF/MiCA CASP regime

Data as of: Jan 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Legal and regulated. Capital gains on digital assets for private/occasional investors are taxed at the flat PFU — 31.4% from 1 Jan 2026 (12.8% income tax + 18.6% social levies; the social part rose from 17.2% when the 2026 Social Security law lifted CSG on capital income 9.2%→10.6%), with the option to elect the progressive scale instead (since 2023). Total annual disposals ≤ €305 are exempt. Crypto-asset service providers authorise as CASPs under the EU MiCA regulation (the former AMF 'PSAN' regime from the 2019 PACTE law), with the AMF as competent authority.

02Financial control levelcountry-levelLow10.0

What this measures

Own composite of state control over personal money flows: currency/capital controls (IMF AREAER), restrictions on foreign accounts and transfers, mandatory income declaration scope for residents, cash payment limits, banking access for foreigners. Low = free movement of personal funds and easy non-resident banking; very-high = strict capital controls and pervasive reporting. Method field on each value lists the inputs used.

Rated by category—re-verified every 365 days

Official source

Service-Public / economie.gouv.fr — Paiement en espèces (plafond); Code monétaire et financier art. D112-3

Data as of: Sep 1, 2015
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Composite: France uses the euro, fully convertible, with EU free movement of capital and NO exchange/capital controls. The main constraint is a cash-payment cap — a French tax resident may pay at most €1,000 in cash to a professional (since Sept 2015; non-resident tourists up to €15,000); cash between private individuals is unlimited (written proof required above €1,500). The EU Anti-Money-Laundering Regulation adds an EU-wide €10,000 cash cap from 2027. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. These are ordinary AML measures, not capital controls → 'low'.

Language

How far English gets you in daily life and services.

01English proficiencycountry-levelModerate5.0

What this measures

Own banding of how far English gets a resident in daily life (government offices, healthcare, housing, services). Informed by EF EPI band (research source, cited with attribution, not republished) plus official language status and service-sector realities. Values are our bands, not EF scores.

Rated by category—re-verified every 730 days

Research

EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)

Data as of: Nov 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.

Education

International schooling options for families.

01International schools2accredited international schools, count4.0

What this measures

Count of international schools in the metro area accredited by or member of IB, CIS, COBIS, or an equivalent national-curriculum-abroad body (verified against the accreditor's public registry, not aggregator sites).

Higher is betteraccredited international schools, countre-verified every 730 days

Curated by SettleMetric

IB World School profiles (ibo.org, read through Internet Archive snapshots) and the CIS membership directory — Lyon area

Data as of: Sep 24, 2026
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Accreditor-verified floor of 2: (1) International School of Lyon, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, about 4.7 km south-west of the Hôtel de Ville — IB World School, school code 002195, Diploma Programme authorised 7 October 2004 and Primary Years Programme 26 March 2008, per its IB profile as archived on 2025-10-18; the CIS membership directory, read on 2026-09-24, lists it as a member with the status "Registered" rather than "Accredited". (2) OMBROSA, Lycée Multilingue de Lyon, Caluire-et-Cuire, about 4.5 km north — IB World School, code 002258, Diploma Programme authorised 10 March 2005, per its IB profile as archived on 2025-07-11.
Notes: VERIFIED FLOOR. ibo.org answered our requests with a Cloudflare challenge, so both schools were confirmed on Internet Archive copies of their IB profiles rather than the live pages, and no IB list for the city could be pulled. No other Lyon-area school is in the CIS directory, and the Accredited European Schools list has no Lyon entry. The Cité Scolaire Internationale de Lyon, a state school with international sections, does not appear in any of the registries checked. Cambridge International's school finder renders only in a browser, so Cambridge-registered schools could not be enumerated.

Demographics

Who else lives here — the share of foreign residents and the largest national communities, from official statistics.

Openness to foreignerscountry-levelOpenGallup MAI 6.46/9 · 2016 · WVS w7 · KCL 10% reject foreign neighbours

What this measures

How accepting the resident population is of migrants and foreigners — the inverse of xenophobia, a real concern for someone relocating. Our own five-band reading (very-open / open / moderate / reserved / low) informed primarily by the Gallup Migrant Acceptance Index (0–9 scale: three questions on migrants living in the country, becoming neighbours, and marrying into the family; 2019 wave), cross-checked where available with the World Values Survey wave 7 / European Values Study 2017 question on whether people would not want immigrants or foreign workers as neighbours (a higher share = more hostile). Banding guide against the Gallup 0–9 score: ≥7.0 very-open, 5.5–7.0 open, 4.0–5.5 moderate, 2.5–4.0 reserved, below 2.5 low (the 2019 global average of 5.21 sits in 'moderate'). Country level only: no credible city-level survey of attitudes to foreigners exists, so on city pages the country reading is shown as country context. Gallup is a research source cited with attribution, not republished in bulk; the raw index score/year and any cross-check figure are carried inside each value. Value shape: { band, gallupMai?, gallupYear?, unwantedNeighborPct?, unwantedNeighborSource? }. Display-only: attitudinal, survey-based and ~2019 vintage, so it is shown as honest context and never folded into the composite score.

Reference data—re-verified every 1825 days

Research

Gallup Migrant Acceptance Index, first wave (2016–2017 Gallup World Poll) — full 139-country table (research, attribution)

Data as of: Aug 23, 2017
Verified: Jul 15, 2026
Notes: Gallup MAI 6.46/9 (2016/2017 wave) — above the global average. Cross-check — World Values Survey wave 7 (via King’s College London’s cross-country analysis): 10% said they would not want immigrants or foreign workers as neighbours. Band: open.

Who lives therecountry-levelforeign residents 9.1%

INSEE — L'essentiel sur… les immigrés et les étrangers (population étrangère)

Open data

Data as of: Jan 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: INSEE: 6.3 million foreign nationals (étrangers) = 9.1% of the population (2025, provisional). Distinct from immigrés (foreign-born, 8.0M / 11.6%) — many immigrés have since acquired French nationality, and some foreign nationals were born in France. The nationality breakdown below is published on the foreign-born (immigrés) basis, INSEE's cleanly-tabulated series.

Largest communities of the foreign-born7,970,000 total

INSEE — L'essentiel sur… les immigrés et les étrangers (immigrés par pays de naissance)

Open data

Data as of: Jan 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Shares taken directly from INSEE (immigrés by country of birth, 2025); counts derived = share × 7,970,000 immigrés (rounded to nearest 1,000). These seven countries account for 46.3% of all immigrés.
Notes: Shown on the immigrés (foreign-born) basis — INSEE's cleanly-published country breakdown — which is the 8.0M foreign-born population, not the 6.3M foreign nationals of the headline share (many immigrés have naturalised). Italy and Turkey are tied at 3.5%; the historic Maghreb and Iberian communities dominate.

01Algeria12.6%1,004,000

02Morocco11.7%932,000

03Portugal7.2%574,000

04Tunisia4.9%391,000

05Italy3.5%279,000

06Turkey3.5%279,000

07Spain3%239,000

Shown on the immigrés (foreign-born) basis — INSEE's cleanly-published country breakdown — which is the 8.0M foreign-born population, not the 6.3M foreign nationals of the headline share (many immigrés have naturalised). Italy and Turkey are tied at 3.5%; the historic Maghreb and Iberian communities dominate.

How you can stay

How you can legally enter and stay. These apply across France.

All requirements & citizenship filter

What you'd pay in taxes

The tax schemes a freelancer can choose from. Rules are national, the same in Lyon as anywhere in France.

Full schemes & calculator

See what you would keep

Your income against France's real tax schemes — the same engine as the full calculator.

Annual gross incomeCurrencyper monthBusiness expenses: 0%

1 Micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC) — 34% allowance + progressive income tax
39,536 EURnet/year
34.1% burden
2 SASU — 15%/25% corporate tax + 31.4% PFU on dividends
33,786 EURnet/year
43.7% burden
3 Micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC) — versement libératoire (2.2% flat income tax)over income cap
43,200 EURnet/year
28.0% burden

Who is Lyon for?

The same place reads differently depending on why you move. Each lens pulls the facts that matter most for that plan — with sources, and the trade-offs stated plainly.

Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.

Works in your favour

Domestic delivery qualityExcellent

La Poste / Colissimo (Pickup) and Mondial Relay network figures

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Jan 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: France has one of Europe's densest out-of-home parcel networks. Colissimo/Pickup: 26,000+ pickup points (≈17,500 relay points + ≈6,500 automatic lockers, incl. ≈4,500 24/7 Pickup Station lockers). Mondial Relay: ≈17,000 points (≈9,000 lockers + ≈8,000 relais). Plus Relais Colis, Chronopost, DPD, and La Poste home delivery ~6 days/week, with nationwide next-day/2-day standard options → 'excellent'.

Watch-outs

Freelancer tax burden34.1%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (URSSAF micro-social, impots.gouv.fr barème, Service-Public)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Jan 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.

Internet speed51 Mbps

M-Lab NDT country aggregates for France

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2023
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Median of the 344 daily country-median download values for FR in 2023 (~10.47M download tests; daily medians ranged 24.9–61.1 Mbps). M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style or advertised figures (French fibre commonly markets 300–1000+ Mbps) — comparable only within this criterion. 2023 is the latest full year in M-Lab's public stats API.
Notes: France has extensive FTTH fibre coverage; the M-Lab single-stream median understates real-world line speeds and is used only for cross-country comparability on one consistent method.

English proficiencyModerate

EF EPI 2025 — France (score 539, rank 38/123, Moderate band)

Research

Data as of: Nov 1, 2025
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Own band informed by EF EPI 2025 (attribution: EF Education First): France score 539, global rank 38, 'Moderate' band (EF cutoffs: Moderate 500–549), up 11 places and +15 points vs 2024. English is workable in Paris tech/expat circles and tourism-facing Côte d'Azur, but French is essential for administration, most workplaces, and daily life — France sits below the very-high Northern-European tier.

Cost of living (single, excl. rent)$1,816/mo

INSEE — La consommation des ménages en 2024 (Insee Première 2056, dépense de consommation finale par fonction COICOP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.

Relocating with a partner and school-age children.

Works in your favour

Homicide rate1.28/100k

Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.

Private healthcare cost$821/yr

Curated from French mutuelle comparateur data (goodassur 48,082-quote July 2026 dataset; Selectra tariff study)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Jul 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: France has universal public health cover (Assurance Maladie, ~70% reimbursement) topped up by a COMPLEMENTARY private 'mutuelle santé' — supplementary, not full-replacement. Mutuelle pricing is age-banded, not health-rated. Market data (goodassur, 48,082 individual quotes, July 2026): age 25–34 avg €68.98/mo, 35–44 avg €90.68/mo; a mid-market intermediate plan for a healthy 35-year-old ≈ €60/mo = €720/yr → $821/yr at 1.1399. Range ≈ €35/mo ($479/yr) to ≈ €90/mo ($1,231/yr).
Notes: A supplementary top-up on the mandatory public system, not a full private replacement policy (like Austria's Sonderklasse). ~95%+ of residents carry a mutuelle; employees usually get a subsidised group contract (employer pays ≥50%), so this individually-purchased premium is the situation of a freelancer/self-employed person. Mid-market monthly range ≈ €50–70.

Air quality (PM2.5)10.2 µg/m³

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), Lyon stations FR20062 "LYON Centre", FR20017 "GERLAND" and FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS"

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Mean of the validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2024 annual PM2.5 means at the three stations the EEA assigns to Lyon that reported a full year, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-09-24: FR20062 "LYON Centre" (urban background, 1.9 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 9.500 µg/m³ at 99.12% coverage; FR20017 "GERLAND" (urban background, 3.6 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 10.000 µg/m³ at 98.95% coverage; FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS" (suburban traffic, 5.5 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 11.030 µg/m³ at 95.10% coverage. (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030) / 3 = 10.18.
Notes: NOT THE WHO FIGURE. The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) gives Lyon 8.942 µg/m³ for 2024 at 74% coverage, because it also averages in FR20046 "VAULX EN VELIN", whose 2024 PM2.5 mean (5.24) rests on 0.9% of the year: (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030 + 5.237) / 4 = 8.942, and the four coverages average 73.5%. Leaving out the station that barely reported gives 10.18. Two of the three are urban background sites in the city; the traffic site stands in the neighbouring commune of La Mulatière. The EEA held no validated 2025 PM2.5 statistics for France on 2026-09-24. The WHO series for Lyon, on its own station mix, reads 11.60 (2020), 11.39 (2021), 11.31 (2022) and 9.78 (2023). About twice the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, and just above the EU limit of 10 that applies from 2030.

Watch-outs

International schools2

IB World School profiles (ibo.org, read through Internet Archive snapshots) and the CIS membership directory — Lyon area

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Sep 24, 2026
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Accreditor-verified floor of 2: (1) International School of Lyon, Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon, about 4.7 km south-west of the Hôtel de Ville — IB World School, school code 002195, Diploma Programme authorised 7 October 2004 and Primary Years Programme 26 March 2008, per its IB profile as archived on 2025-10-18; the CIS membership directory, read on 2026-09-24, lists it as a member with the status "Registered" rather than "Accredited". (2) OMBROSA, Lycée Multilingue de Lyon, Caluire-et-Cuire, about 4.5 km north — IB World School, code 002258, Diploma Programme authorised 10 March 2005, per its IB profile as archived on 2025-07-11.
Notes: VERIFIED FLOOR. ibo.org answered our requests with a Cloudflare challenge, so both schools were confirmed on Internet Archive copies of their IB profiles rather than the live pages, and no IB list for the city could be pulled. No other Lyon-area school is in the CIS directory, and the Accredited European Schools list has no Lyon entry. The Cité Scolaire Internationale de Lyon, a state school with international sections, does not appear in any of the registries checked. Cambridge International's school finder renders only in a browser, so Cambridge-registered schools could not be enumerated.

Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.

Works in your favour

Crypto regulationLegal regulated

impots.gouv.fr — Plus-values sur cessions d'actifs numériques (cryptomonnaies); AMF/MiCA CASP regime

Official source

Data as of: Jan 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Legal and regulated. Capital gains on digital assets for private/occasional investors are taxed at the flat PFU — 31.4% from 1 Jan 2026 (12.8% income tax + 18.6% social levies; the social part rose from 17.2% when the 2026 Social Security law lifted CSG on capital income 9.2%→10.6%), with the option to elect the progressive scale instead (since 2023). Total annual disposals ≤ €305 are exempt. Crypto-asset service providers authorise as CASPs under the EU MiCA regulation (the former AMF 'PSAN' regime from the 2019 PACTE law), with the AMF as competent authority.

Financial control levelLow

Service-Public / economie.gouv.fr — Paiement en espèces (plafond); Code monétaire et financier art. D112-3

Official source

Data as of: Sep 1, 2015
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Composite: France uses the euro, fully convertible, with EU free movement of capital and NO exchange/capital controls. The main constraint is a cash-payment cap — a French tax resident may pay at most €1,000 in cash to a professional (since Sept 2015; non-resident tourists up to €15,000); cash between private individuals is unlimited (written proof required above €1,500). The EU Anti-Money-Laundering Regulation adds an EU-wide €10,000 cash cap from 2027. Non-resident banking is available with standard KYC. These are ordinary AML measures, not capital controls → 'low'.

Watch-outs

Freelancer tax burden34.1%

SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (URSSAF micro-social, impots.gouv.fr barème, Service-Public)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Jan 1, 2026
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: Best eligible scheme at €60,000 turnover, single (1 part) = micro-entrepreneur (micro-BNC, scheme fr-micro-bnc): micro-social 25.6% = 15,360; CFP 0.2% = 120; income tax on 66% of turnover (34% allowance) = 39,600 → 11%/30% bands = 4,984. Levies 20,464 → 34.1%. The versement libératoire (28% flat) is blocked at €60k by the RFR cap; a SASU all-dividend chain runs ≈43.7%.

Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.

Works in your favour

Homicide rate1.28/100k

Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (crim_off_cat, ICCS0101, unit P_HTHAB)

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Notes: Police-recorded intentional homicide, 2024 (value 1.28; 2023 was 1.30). Dataset last updated by Eurostat 2026-04-29; cross-checked against decoding the full crim_off_cat matrix. Moderate by European standards — above the safest EU states (Austria 0.85) but well below the global average.

Air quality (PM2.5)10.2 µg/m³

European Environment Agency — Air Quality Statistics (E1a validated), Lyon stations FR20062 "LYON Centre", FR20017 "GERLAND" and FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS"

Open data

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Mean of the validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2024 annual PM2.5 means at the three stations the EEA assigns to Lyon that reported a full year, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-09-24: FR20062 "LYON Centre" (urban background, 1.9 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 9.500 µg/m³ at 99.12% coverage; FR20017 "GERLAND" (urban background, 3.6 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 10.000 µg/m³ at 98.95% coverage; FR20013 "A7 SUD LYONNAIS" (suburban traffic, 5.5 km from the Hôtel de Ville) 11.030 µg/m³ at 95.10% coverage. (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030) / 3 = 10.18.
Notes: NOT THE WHO FIGURE. The WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026) gives Lyon 8.942 µg/m³ for 2024 at 74% coverage, because it also averages in FR20046 "VAULX EN VELIN", whose 2024 PM2.5 mean (5.24) rests on 0.9% of the year: (9.500 + 10.000 + 11.030 + 5.237) / 4 = 8.942, and the four coverages average 73.5%. Leaving out the station that barely reported gives 10.18. Two of the three are urban background sites in the city; the traffic site stands in the neighbouring commune of La Mulatière. The EEA held no validated 2025 PM2.5 statistics for France on 2026-09-24. The WHO series for Lyon, on its own station mix, reads 11.60 (2020), 11.39 (2021), 11.31 (2022) and 9.78 (2023). About twice the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³, and just above the EU limit of 10 that applies from 2030.

Watch-outs

Climate comfort6/12 mo

SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (WMO 1991–2020, Lyon-Bron 07480)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Dec 31, 2020
Verified: Sep 24, 2026
Method: Months whose mean daily maximum is between 15 and 28 °C and whose precipitation is under 150 mm: Apr (17.4 °C), May (21.5), Jun (25.6), Aug (28.0), Sep (23.1), Oct (17.7) = 6. July (28.2) is excluded as too hot, March (13.8) and November (11.4) as too cold. The precipitation test excludes nothing: the wettest month is October at 99.8 mm.
Notes: August sits exactly on the 28 °C ceiling and counts; July misses it by 0.2 °C.

Cost of living (single, excl. rent)$1,816/mo

INSEE — La consommation des ménages en 2024 (Insee Première 2056, dépense de consommation finale par fonction COICOP)

Curated by SettleMetric

Data as of: Dec 31, 2024
Verified: Jul 14, 2026
Method: INSEE national-accounts household final consumption by COICOP, 2024. Functions sum to €1,543.8B on-territory; subtract housing rentals (actual €77.0B + imputed €220.7B = €297.7B) → €1,246.1B non-rent. Per-capita on the household basis (to match peers): ÷ 31.377M households (Jan 2024) ÷ avg size 2.14 ÷ 12 = €1,546/capita/mo (2024). CPI-uplift mid-2024→mid-2026 ×1.030 = €1,593/mo. ×1.1399 USD/EUR = $1,816/mo. Per-capita basis to match Czechia/Spain/Austria; a lone single-person household spends materially more.