Small upheaval on the podium of the largest cities in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
For decades, Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble have made up the top three. And even the integration in 2015 of Auvergne with Clermont-Ferrand did not call this order into question.
However, this January 1, 2025, INSEE throws a wrench in the pond with the downgrading of Grenoble, now the 4th city in the region with its 156,389 intramural inhabitants. This is less than in 2011, since at the time there were 157,424 Grenoble residents.
The capital of the Alps is doubled by Lyon's little sister, Villeurbanne, which has 162,207 inhabitants. Enough to grant it a new status as the third most populous city in the region, alongside Lyon (520,774 inhabitants) and Saint-Etienne (172,569 inhabitants).
This is the 2022 vintage population, which comes into force this Wednesday. Due to Covid-19, the 2021 annual census survey was postponed by one year.
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has seen its population increase significantly. It is the second most populous region in France with more than 8.1 million inhabitants.
Isère, for its part, has a population of 1,291,380 inhabitants. The three most populated towns in the department are Grenoble (156,389 inhabitants), Saint-Martin-d'Hères (38,022 inhabitants) and Echirolles (36,708 inhabitants).
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