How city area is measured in France
The commune of Paris covers 105.4 km²1,2, a figure that includes the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes. The Métropole du Grand Paris, an intercommunal body of 131 communes including Paris, covers 814 km²3,4, as stated by the Métropole itself. When a source says "Paris", check which of the two it means.
What "city" means in France
France builds its local geography from the commune. Every commune has a code in the Code officiel géographique, which INSEE, the national statistics institute, maintains. Paris is a single commune. According to INSEE's Code officiel géographique, it is also a département and lies in the Île-de-France region. The Ministry of Culture's fact sheet for Paris states that the city is divided into 20 arrondissements. These are subdivisions of the one commune, not separate communes.
Above the commune sit the intercommunalités. INSEE lists Paris as a member of the Métropole du Grand Paris. The City of Paris describes the Métropole as a public body for intercommunal cooperation grouping 131 communes, Paris among them, and the Métropole's own planning document calls its territory a "zone dense urbaine" of 131 communes.
INSEE also assigns Paris to statistical zonings that are not administrative units, including an unité urbaine and an aire d'attraction des villes. This page does not cover their areas; it uses only the commune and the Métropole.
On 17 October 2026, the app's own search for "Paris, France" returned the commune, as described below. The commune area includes the two woods; any figure for Paris without them describes a different area, and we found none with a primary source.
Why our map may show a different number
When we have no stored boundary for Paris, the app sends OpenStreetMap's Nominatim service the search "Paris, France" restricted to cities. On 17 October 2026 that search returned the commune of Paris, OpenStreetMap relation 7444, an administrative boundary. Nominatim labelled the result's address type as "suburb", an internal classification, but the object returned is the commune boundary itself, displayed as "Paris, Île-de-France, France métropolitaine, France". When no boundary is stored and the result is a relation with its own polygon, the app draws that polygon directly and does not mark it approximate.
When we have no stored area for a boundary, the map calculates the area from the polygon, not from Apur or the ministry. For Paris the two agree closely: the OpenStreetMap polygon includes both woods, and its area is within half a percent of the 105.4 km²1,2 published by Apur. The two still differ slightly.
On 17 October 2026, the city search for "Paris, France" did not return the Métropole du Grand Paris. To draw it on this page we used OpenStreetMap relation 5814660, which OpenStreetMap tags as a local authority boundary rather than an administrative one. Its polygon area is within a fraction of a percent of the 814 km²3,4 stated by the Métropole.
Problems getting boundaries in France
The first problem is the two woods. Apur, the Paris urban-planning agency, states that the surface area of Paris includes the woods of Boulogne and Vincennes, and the City of Paris describes the two as forest to the west and east of Paris. Both lie inside the commune boundary, so any polygon of the commune contains them, and part of the Paris outline on a map is woodland. Apur and the City of Paris give combined areas for the woods that are more than one percent apart, so we do not publish a separate woods figure. We also do not publish a figure for Paris without the woods: the one we found has no primary source and does not match Apur's own numbers.
The second problem is the source of the commune figure. We did not find an INSEE or IGN page that states the area of the commune of Paris. The figure here rests on Apur, the Paris urban-planning agency, and is corroborated by the Ministry of Culture's Paris fact sheet. The two were published separately by different publishers and differ by a single hectare: Apur states the area in hectares, the ministry in square kilometres to two decimal places. Neither source states a reference year, and neither says whether the Seine is counted.
The third problem is the Métropole. Its area is stated in the Métropole's 2019 planning document without a reference year, and the City of Paris appears to repeat it; we found no independent measurement. Published counts of its member communes also differ depending on the date and the database you consult. In OpenStreetMap it is mapped as a local authority area rather than an administrative unit, and the app's city search for Paris on 17 October 2026 did not return it.
The commune of Paris vs the Métropole du Grand Paris
The commune of Paris lies within the Métropole du Grand Paris, so the two boundaries overlay in place. The commune covers 105.4 km²1,2, including the Bois de Boulogne to the west and the Bois de Vincennes to the east. The Métropole covers 814 km²3,4, which the City of Paris describes as eight times the area of Paris.
Drawn at true scale, the commune is a small shape inside a much larger territory. A comparison that labels both as "Paris" is comparing one commune with a grouping of 131 communes.
- Commune of Paris, total surface including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes (Apur, page dated March 2021) — 105.4 km²
- Métropole du Grand Paris, "zone dense urbaine", as stated by the Métropole (2019 planning document, no reference year given) — 814 km²
| Definition | Official area | Year | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commune of Paris, total surface including the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes (Apur, page dated March 2021) | 105.4 km² | Undated | 1,2 |
| Métropole du Grand Paris, "zone dense urbaine", as stated by the Métropole (2019 planning document, no reference year given) | 814 km² | Undated | 3,4 |
Frequently asked questions
How big is Paris in km²?
The commune of Paris covers 105.4 km²1,2, according to Apur, the Paris urban-planning agency; the Ministry of Culture's separately published figure differs from it by a single hectare. That area includes the Bois de Boulogne and the Bois de Vincennes. The Métropole du Grand Paris covers 814 km²3,4.
Are the Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes part of Paris?
Yes. Both woods lie inside the boundary of the commune of Paris, and Apur states that the surface area of Paris includes them. Any map outline of the commune therefore includes both woods.
How big is the Métropole du Grand Paris?
The Métropole du Grand Paris, an intercommunal body of 131 communes including Paris, covers 814 km²3,4, as stated by the Métropole in a 2019 planning document. The Île-de-France region is a separate unit; we did not source its area for this page.
Why do sources give different areas for Paris?
Mostly because they describe different places. The commune is 105.4 km²1,2; the Métropole du Grand Paris is 814 km²3,4. Figures for Paris without the woods also circulate, but we found none with a primary source. The two commune figures were published separately by different publishers and differ by a single hectare.
Compare Paris with another city on the map
Sources
- Apur (Atelier parisien d'urbanisme). Paris, aerial view (Map library). Retrieved 16 October 2026. Archived copy.
- Ministère de la Culture, Service territorial de l'architecture et du patrimoine de Paris. Paris (75) STAP fact sheet (PDF). States 105.4 km². Retrieved 16 October 2026. Archived copy.
- Métropole du Grand Paris. scot2019.pdf (Métropole du Grand Paris planning document). Retrieved 16 October 2026. Archived copy.
- Ville de Paris (paris.fr). La Métropole du Grand Paris : c'est quoi ?. Retrieved 16 October 2026. Archived copy.
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