Why Everyone is Leaving Paris

Why are people leaving Paris? Thanks to Linjer for sponsoring this video! Click here https://linjer.co/shop-with-Lucile and use my code LUCILE

Paris is losing people every year. I’m French, I live in Paris and today I want to give you my honest thoughts on why people are leaving Paris. Paris has lost 718,946 inhabitants since its peak in 1921 and has been steadily losing people since 2007 (source INSEE). Every year there are very extreme articles and headlines about this topic and we’re unpacking them today to see if they are true or not!

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Watch my other cultural commentary videos:
– Why is it so Easy to be Thin in France? https://youtu.be/sHKXlAnVgo8?si=KOZxQ3ClzcytMq1E
– Why Are French People So Rude? My Thoughts as Local! https://youtu.be/GkxzKuL5gP4?si=p5fXjIv9oCrx8wrz
– Why Parisians are Forced to Live in Tiny Apartments: https://youtu.be/oWwyZUe6MjY?si=udcnnZf59I569gi2
– Why France Has Better Food Than The USA: https://youtu.be/C7fIHeVypdI?si=18f2MiAC8TEeLNrk
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#paris #france #lifeinparis #byalocal #travel #parisfrance #linjer #jewelry

Look at this graph of how many people live in 
Paris. It kind of seems like everyone is leaving. And if you believe the news, it is proof the city 
is dying. But I’m French, and I live in Paris, and let me tell you—I don’t think this is the 
full story. So let’s investigate together and find out why everyone is leaving Paris.
So did you know that 93% of Parisians, me included, love living in Paris? That was 
really surprising to me because we always hear that Paris is polluted, stressful, expensive, 
all concrete. Seriously, I thought I was part of a minority of people who think Paris 
is an amazing place to live. But actually, it turns out that most people living here love it.
Obviously, like in every big city, there are still a lot of problems. But there are so many 
great things to do here that make life so fun—like delicious restaurants, cool museums 
and culture. And of course, just walking around is an adventure, since the city is so beautiful.
But you know, as I always say on the channel, just enjoying a place as a visitor doesn’t really mean 
you’re going to love living there. And this is why the city of Paris has done a lot of work to make 
the city better for the people who live there. The biggest example of that is pollution 
levels—they have dropped so much. Seriously, look at this evolution over the years. Or 
even this before-and-after picture of the Eiffel Tower. It’s pretty impressive. And it 
has made a big difference for me personally because I love biking and walking around.
And this is another thing that is much better now. When I moved to Paris around 10 years ago, it 
really felt like the city was made for cars. But now it feels like the city is made for the people 
to enjoy. Like there are so many more bike lanes, more sidewalks and walking streets, and so 
many more parks—which is where everyone goes to hang out. Like seriously, as soon as it’s 
sunny, you can find us all picnicking outside. These are just a few things that have gotten 
better in Paris. And I’m not the only one who thinks this way. Like now, Paris even ranks 
pretty high on a lot of those “best cities in the world” lists, which really goes against the 
stereotype of this city being an unlivable place that so many people still believe in today.
But all right—if Paris is so amazing, why do around two-thirds of people, including 
me as well, say they want to leave someday? And the truth is, people don’t really leave 
Paris because they don’t like it. People leave because they can’t afford it anymore.
So to put things in context, let me give you an example. To be able to afford a 40 m² 
apartment—so that’s like a big studio or a tiny one-bedroom—you now need to earn €97K a year 
before taxes. Just to make it clear, this is not realistic. €97K is a really high salary for Paris. 
The median salary in the Paris region is around €41K a year. So there’s quite a big gap.
And to put it simply, it’s like needing a Wall Street salary to live in a dorm room.
Also, if you’re renting, things are pretty expensive as well. The average rent price of 
a studio apartment in Paris is €800. And I’ve already made a full video on small studios 
and why there are so many of them in Paris. But one thing that’s really crazy to me is 
that while people are struggling to find a place to live, there are so many apartments 
that just sit empty in Paris. In Paris, one in five apartments stays empty most of the 
year—and even more in richer neighborhoods that have a lot of vacation homes like the 6th, the 
7th, or the 8th. There, between 30 and 36% of apartments have no one living in them year-round.
And I’ve talked about the fancy vacation homes in Paris’ most luxurious neighborhoods of the 
6th in this video already. But actually, most of the places that are not used as long-term 
homes are just short-term rentals, like Airbnbs. Over the past 10 years, there’s been a 
short-term rental boom in Paris. Like, a lot of investors bought tiny apartments to put 
them on platforms like Airbnb or VRBO, because those are more profitable than renting long-term.
The problem is—those tiny apartments? They’re exactly what students and young professionals 
are looking for. So now there’s just not enough of them. I found that around 10% of 
apartments are now short-term rentals in Paris. And just to give you an idea of how crazy it is to 
find an apartment in Paris—for each apartment ad, there’s an average of 44 people applying. 
But that’s not even the full story, because the good apartments? They 
can have hundreds of people applying. Like, when we were looking for a place around 
a year and a half ago, all the landlords kept telling me that they felt so overwhelmed with 
the amount of phone calls they were receiving, and they just couldn’t keep up.
Also, good luck if you’re thinking of buying as well. Like, I’ve recently been 
looking into buying a two-bedroom—nothing fancy, just a nice place to settle down a bit more—and 
it has been crazy. So as you can expect, everything is extremely expensive. But also, 
everything is so bad. Like, since Paris is a very old city, most of these apartments 
have not been renovated to modern standards. For example, we visited a cute place, and the 
electricity had not been changed in 20 years, and there was a risk of getting electrocuted. 
Like, if I’m getting electrocuted, I want that to be free—I don’t want to spend 600 grand on it.
So I don’t know. Maybe this is me being too picky. Like seriously, if you’re a good realtor 
in Paris, please write to me, because right now I’m so desperate and I feel like my only 
option if I want to settle down is to move out. And before we move forward, I wanted to 
tell you about today’s sponsor—Linjer. to settle down are moving out of Paris—especially 
people who want to have kids. Like, look at this graph of babies being born in Paris over the 
past 10 years. It’s very telling. There’s a downward trend. And overall, there are way fewer 
families with kids in Paris than in the rest of the Paris region, which is mostly where 
the people who are leaving Paris are going. So around two-thirds of people who leave Paris 
go to the Paris region. And it is insane how big the Paris region has gotten over the past 
few years. Like in this graph—the bottom line is the Paris population over time, 
and the blue one is the Greater Paris area. Look at this growth. It is crazy.
And since I’m in my 30s, I’ve had quite a few friends move to the suburbs over the past 
few years. And it is true that it’s cheaper, and you can get a bigger apartment for your 
budget. But on my side, I’ve had even more friends move back to Toulouse, which is where I’m 
from and where I am right now filming this video. And to be honest, being here feels like every 
Parisian dream. Like, look at my background. And people who move back to their hometown often 
want a bigger house, maybe with a garden, often a chiller life, and being closer to family.
Also, I don’t know about other cities, but Toulouse is a city that’s extremely 
close to my heart. Like, I often bond with other people about being from Toulouse, 
and I really feel attached to this city. But you know, the reality is that it’s 
still a big city. Like, if I moved here, it would not only be chilling on the terrace—but 
maybe spending hours in traffic. And, you know, maybe, let’s say, I would not be 
living in the city center either. And here, I’m again not alone in my dilemma of 
moving or staying in Paris, since just like me, around two-thirds of Parisians were not born in 
Paris. Like, a lot of people just go to Paris for college, maybe a first job, and then move back 
to their hometown when it’s time to settle down. And according to urban planner Martin Omhovère, 
that’s kind of normal. In a Le Monde article, he says Paris is basically designed for 
young people or couples starting out, who usually leave once they have kids. And 
he also says that it’s not just a Paris thing—it also happens in other cities.
And I totally agree with him. And in my experience, this has been very true. I’ve seen my 
friends from Toulouse move out to the suburbs. And being in an international relationship with an 
American, we’ve also seen our friends from New York or Chicago move out to the burbs as well.
Also, every few years, we have news articles talking about how everyone is leaving Paris like 
it’s breaking news. But if you look at the cool graph I showed you before, you’ll see that this 
is not new, and Paris has slowly been losing people since the early 20th century.
Like, Paris is very small in size, and people have been looking for 
better places to live since forever. But what is kind of new though, and not normal 
at all in my opinion, is why people are leaving now. The same thing is happening in more and more 
cities around the world—big and small. So it’s not that people are like, “We would like to live in a 
house and maybe have a backyard.” It’s more like, “We’re working full-time, but we can’t 
afford to live here unless we’re rich or we have inherited an apartment.”
And that’s actually one of the reasons why I’ve always kind of felt like a guest 
in my own city. Like, I love living here, I want to keep living here, but I sometimes wonder 
how much of a future I have here if the people around me can’t afford to stay here long-term.
And that’s all from me today! If you enjoyed this video, watch one of these that are 
on screen right now. I’ll see you there.