“Ô mon paîs, ô Toulouse, ô Toulouse… je reprends l’avenue vers… ” l’université?!
As it does every year, the L’Étudiant website ranks the best student cities in France. After losing its title of champion two years running, Toulouse is back where it belongs: at the top of the rankings. Better resources, better living environment for students… The ranking is based on five different criteria. As a result, Toulouse is the best student city in France in 2025. We tell you all about it.
Toulouse best student city in France 2025
After winning the title of France’s best student city five times, Toulouse came in behind Montpellier (1st), Rennes (2nd) and tied with Caen (3rd) in 2023 and 2024. This year, Besançon is second and Montpellier 3rd.
The curse seems to have been broken. Compared with last year, the Rugby capital is back on the podium. Produced by the L’Étudiant website, this ranking published in early June 2025 is based on 5 criteria: living environment, employment, attractiveness, accessibility and, of course, student life.
For the 2025 edition of this ranking, l’Etudiant’s editorial staff compared the 47 French cities with more than 8,000 students. Toulouse scored 88 points out of 111 (last year we won 91 out of 121). Its strong points? Employment (9/10), attractiveness (8/10) and training (9.5/10). Student life also scores well (7/10) – in a sub-category of this criterion, local initiatives score 10/10. As for the living environment, Toulouse scored 11/11 for mobility, but only 4.5/10 for housing. So there’s room for improvement.
L’Étudiant website analysis
Thomas Despeyroux | Unsplash
If Toulouse has regained its place as best student city, it’s because it has a certain influence. The analysis of the specialized website L’Étudiant bears witness to this:
“Described as “warm” by its students, the Pink City seduces with its colors and architecture. The city’s accessibility, particularly its public transport network (including a metro that runs until 3 a.m.), is also appreciated. For those who prefer to pedal, Toulouse also boasts 1,462 km of cycle paths.
A culture pass is also available to students, as are free concerts. The training offer is dense and varied, with a wide range of engineering schools and, in total, 2,230 courses in the urban area”.
To celebrate the return of our place as France’s best student city, here are the top student deals in Toulouse! Because like it or not, the pink city is a bastion of student life!
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