France
Paris makes sense if
- Access to stronger healthcare matters most to you.
- You want the broader career options in this comparison.
- You want the deeper culture and food scene.
Paris vs Toulouse
Paris and Toulouse share strong French healthcare, but Toulouse is safer and far cheaper while Paris leads decisively on career breadth and museums; their public-life scores are nearly level.
The grey shape is all 283 cities; each row says whether lower or higher is better. Ratings out of 10 are our reviewed estimates; the rest is published data. How we measure
The choice in one minute
Toulouse makes sense if
- You want the easier housing and budget equation in this comparison.
- A calmer day-to-day safety profile matters most to you.
What matters to you
Set how much each area counts. The ranking updates as you go. Climate and values are left out because there is no better or worse there, only your taste.
Money
Nature & outdoors
City life
Safety & health
Work & family
Moving & settling in
- 1Paris68
Leads on city life, work & family and moving & settling in; stands out for flight connections and startup & tech scene.
- 2Toulouse67
Leads on money and nature & outdoors; stands out for mountains and easier house-hunting.
Scores out of 100, averaged from the areas you weighted. For a ranking built around your own situation, take the quiz.
Side by side
Money
Rent on a new lease, everyday prices and tax.
Section score out of 100
Toulouse70Paris65
One-bedroom rent
Per month, new lease, citywide
€118/mo€2,140/mo
- €1,090/mo
- €554/mo, leads
Rent as share of local pay
One-bedroom rent vs. typical net local pay
21%120%
- ~32%
- ~21%, leads
Everyday prices
Excluding rent · United States = 100
25131
- 85
- 85
Income tax + social contributions
Range: average-wage rate to top marginal rate; the dot marks its midpoint
0%46%
- 28–55%
- 28–55%
Climate
The year month by month. Whether it suits you is yours to judge.
Solid line: average daytime high. Dashed: night-time low. Point at the chart for any month; point at a city name to shade its range.
Bright days
Under 80% cloud and under 1 mm rain
30 days347 days
- 165 days
- 196 days, leads
Muggy days
Days that feel sticky (dew point)
0 days365 days
- 21 days, leads
- 45 days
Air pollution
Annual mean fine particles (PM2.5)
4.6 µg/m³84 µg/m³
- 10.7 µg/m³
- 10.2 µg/m³
Nature & outdoors
How easily you get to water, mountains and green space.
Section score out of 100
Toulouse62Paris52
Beach & sea
110
- 4/10
- 4/10
Mountains
110
- 3/10
- 7/10, leads
City parks
110
- 8/10, leads
- 7/10
Weekend escapes
110
- 7/10
- 9/10, leads
City life
Getting around on foot, food, culture and the feel of the streets.
Section score out of 100
Paris80Toulouse69
Walkability
110
- 10/10, leads
- 8/10
Public transport
110
- 10/10, leads
- 7/10
Restaurants
110
- 10/10, leads
- 7/10
Public spaces
110
- 9/10, leads
- 8/10
Safety & health
Crime, how safe people feel, and the care you would get.
Section score out of 100
Paris71Toulouse71
Homicide rate
Per 100,000 residents per year
0.247
- 1.3
- 1.3
Feels safe day to day
110
- 6/10
- 7/10, leads
Healthcare quality
110
- 10/10, leads
- 9/10
English-speaking care
110
- 7/10, leads
- 6/10
Work & family
Jobs, working culture, schools and raising kids.
Section score out of 100
Paris75Toulouse69
Job market
110
- 10/10, leads
- 7/10
Jobs in English
110
- 7/10, leads
- 6/10
Work–life balance
110
- 9/10
- 9/10
Schools
110
- 8/10, leads
- 7/10
Moving & settling in
Visas, language, paperwork and staying connected.
Section score out of 100
Paris64Toulouse58
Visa & residence difficulty
Typical case; your passport changes this
110
- 5/10
- 5/10
Language barrier
For an English speaker
110
- 6/10
- 6/10
Openness to newcomers
110
- 5/10
- 6/10, leads
Flight connections
110
- 10/10, leads
- 6/10
Society & values
Where each city sits. There is no right end of these scales.
Social attitudes
ConservativeLiberal
- 9/10
- 8/10
LGBTQ+ acceptance
LowHigh
- 8/10
- 8/10
Diversity
HomogeneousDiverse
- 9/10
- 6/10
Religion in public life
ReligiousSecular
- 9/10
- 9/10
Life in each city
Daily life
Paris
The neighbourhoods have real character. The catch is space, with apartments running small even by the standards of Lyon or Berlin.
Toulouse
A mid-sized city that feels human-scaled, with a walkable old centre of pink-brick streets and solid, livable neighbourhoods. Density is moderate and homes tend to come with more room than a Parisian flat.
Safety
Paris
Serious violent crime is low and the roads are relatively safe. Recorded crime per resident sits in the middle of the large French cities we cover, below Lyon and Bordeaux on both violence and theft, but pickpocketing is a genuine daily nuisance and the feel after dark is decent rather than reassuring.
Toulouse
Toulouse is a safe place to settle by most measures, with low serious-crime levels and strong road safety. Walking after dark feels comfortable in most areas.
Work and healthcare
Paris
Paris has a deep, broad job market, strong industry coverage, and a dense professional network. The medical care is excellent and out-of-pocket costs stay low once a resident is in the system, with strong hospitals and reliable emergency care.
Toulouse
Toulouse has a strong local market built around high-value industries, with a sizeable technology ecosystem and professional networks that are useful without being deep. Care quality is high and largely free at the point of use, with reliable hospitals and emergency services and very low out-of-pocket exposure.
Culture and public life
Paris
The museum and gallery scene is essentially unmatched, the restaurants and cafes set a global standard, and the music and art life runs deep across every register. The public realm, though, is canonical: the boulevards, the quais, the gardens and squares that define the city.
Toulouse
A lively southern food and cafe culture, anchored in hearty regional cooking like cassoulet and the wider Occitan table, with a strong sense of local identity from a big student population. Toulouse, the pink-brick city, keeps decent upkeep though grime gathers in spots.
Summary
Choose Paris for international careers, museums and restaurant depth, accepting its much heavier housing burden. Toulouse suits a lower-cost, safer base with aerospace work, cassoulet and a walkable brick centre, though its job market is narrower.
Read on
Which of these fits you?
These numbers treat everyone the same. The quiz weighs them by your budget, climate taste, family and work, and ranks all 283 cities for you.