Paris or the Suburbs: Where to Live as a Student

For the same budget you usually get more space just outside Paris, in Hauts-de-Seine (92) or Val-de-Marne (94), and the transport pass costs the same. What you give up is a quick trip home late at night and, for some campuses, a short commute. This guide compares official rents, transport, rent control and housing aid to help you choose where to live in Paris as a student.

1. Rent levels: what the official map shows

To compare the city with its suburbs, use the government’s rent map (carte des loyers), in which the housing agency ANIL estimates the advertised rent per square metre in every commune from adverts on SeLoger and leboncoin. The figures below are for an unfurnished flat of one or two rooms and 37 m², charges included, in the third quarter of 2025.

Source: «Estimations ANIL, à partir des données du Groupe SeLoger et de leboncoin». Across Paris the indicator runs from about €30 in the 19th arrondissement to about €40 in the 4th; in the 92 from about €24 to about €37; in the 94 from about €21 to about €34.

Leaving Paris is therefore not an automatic discount: Boulogne-Billancourt and Vincennes are priced like the cheaper Paris districts. The gap opens further out. As a simple illustration, €1,000 a month divided by the indicator gives roughly 31 m² in the 13th, 35 m² in Montrouge and 39 m² in Antony.

The map covers unfurnished flats, while many students rent furnished ones, so use it to compare places, not to price a given flat. Any town can be looked up in the carte des loyers data.

2. Transport: one pass at one price

The monthly Navigo pass (forfait Navigo Mois) for all zones costs €90.80 (price applicable from 1 January 2026; see the Navigo Mois page) and is valid across the whole Île-de-France region, so an address in the 92 or 94 does not make it dearer. Employers refund at least 50% to their employees.

Students under 26 living in Île-de-France can take the yearly Imagine R Étudiant pass instead: €401.30 for 2026-2027, fees included.

Official network pages show these lines, among others:

• Metro to the 92: lines 1, 3, 4, 10 and 12 (line 4 ends at Bagneux), and line 13 to Châtillon–Montrouge.
• Metro to the 94: lines 1, 7 and 8, plus line 14, now extended to Orly airport.
• Tram: T9 from Paris 13th through Ivry-sur-Seine and Vitry-sur-Seine to Orly town centre; T10 between Antony and Clamart.
• RER: five lines cross Paris underground and run on into the suburbs; RER E now reaches Nanterre.

The list is not complete. Before signing, enter the flat’s address and your campus in the Île-de-France Mobilités route planner at your real travel hours: a town on a direct line can beat a Paris address that needs two changes.

3. What you give up outside Paris

• Late nights. The metro runs from about 5.30 am to about 1.15 am, an hour later on Friday and Saturday nights. After that, Noctilien night buses run from 12.30 am to 5.30 am; check which one stops near the flat.
• Distance from your campus. A campus on the far side of Paris can turn a cheap flat into a long daily trip. Measure from your campus, not from the centre of Paris.

4. Rent control: the Paris ceiling does not cover the 92 or 94

As of October 2026, Paris applies rent control (encadrement des loyers) with a ceiling: the base rent, excluding charges, must not exceed the loyer de référence majoré, a figure that varies with the type of let (furnished or not), the number of rooms and the building period. In Île-de-France the same ceiling applies in the Est Ensemble and Plaine Commune groups of towns. No town of the 92 or 94 is on the list.

In Paris, if the rent in your lease is above the ceiling, you can ask the landlord for a reduction and a refund of the excess; Service-Public describes the rule. The scheme is an experiment which, according to ANIL (page updated 23 July 2026), runs until 25 November 2026 unless a new law extends it; after that date, check on Service-Public whether the ceiling still applies.

In towns classed as high-demand areas (zone tendue), a lighter rule applies: the lease must state the previous tenant’s rent, which the landlord may raise only in certain cases. A Service-Public simulator shows whether rent control applies in a given commune.

5. Housing aid and guarantors: no difference

Housing aid such as APL (aide personnalisée au logement) is not reserved for Paris addresses. It is paid by the family benefits office (Caf) for your main residence, and foreign tenants need a valid residence permit. Since 1 July 2026, students from outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland on a student residence permit qualify in three cases only: a needs-based grant (bourse sur critères sociaux), a professional activity, or an apprenticeship or professionalisation contract. The amount depends on your resources, your rent, the location of the home and your household, so run the Caf simulator with the real rent of each flat.

The guarantor question is also the same wherever the flat is. If you have no guarantor in France, read our guide to renting without a guarantor: Visale and paid guarantors.

6. How to decide

ViveFrance lists homes for rent in Paris and the nearby suburbs, and the website and advisers work in Chinese, English, Korean and French. Book a viewing online and ask the adviser how an address connects to your campus. See homes for rent

Frequently asked questions

Is it always cheaper to live outside Paris?

No. On the 2025 rent map, Neuilly-sur-Seine (about €37 per m²) and Saint-Mandé (about €34) are above many Paris districts. The saving appears in towns such as Antony or Vitry-sur-Seine, at about €24 to €26.

Does transport cost more if I live in the 92 or 94?

No. The all-zones Navigo monthly pass costs €90.80 wherever you live in Île-de-France. What changes is the travel time, not the price.

Does Paris rent control apply in the suburbs?

As of October 2026 the reference-rent ceiling applies in Paris, Est Ensemble and Plaine Commune, not in the 92 or 94. Other rules may still limit increases between two tenants; check your commune with the Service-Public simulator.

Updated 2 October 2026

Sources: Carte des loyers 2025 (data.gouv.fr), Service-Public: rent control, ANIL: rent-control experiment, Navigo Mois, Imagine R Étudiant, Paris region metro, Service-Public: APL. This article is for information only and is not legal advice; check amounts and rules on the official sites.