Nantes (France) – Location, History, Facts

Nantes is a city and official commune in western France, serving as the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique and the administrative seat of the Pays de la Loire region.

Nantes, France.

Country: France
Coordinates: 47.2172° N, 1.5539° W
Country and administrative status: France; commune, prefecture of Loire-Atlantique, and administrative seat of Pays de la Loire
Official commune code: INSEE 44109; department code 44; region code 52
Population: 327,734 inhabitants in 2023

Nantes overview

Nantes is a city and official commune in western France, serving as the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique and the administrative seat of the Pays de la Loire region. Its civic role is closely linked to its position on the Loire, about 50 kilometres from the Atlantic coast, and to a long history as a ducal residence, Atlantic port, and industrial centre. The commune had 327,734 inhabitants in 2023 and remains culturally associated with Brittany, although it is administratively part of Pays de la Loire.

Official recorded sales

Residential property prices in Nantes

The median recorded residential sale price was €3,793 per m² across 27,179 qualifying transactions in 2021–2025. This is a historical transaction measure, not a live asking price or a valuation.

Apartment median: €3,667/m²
House median: €4,438/m²
Source updated: 2026-07-17

Open the full data analysis and methodology

Nantes coordinates

Nantes is commonly mapped at approximately 47.2172° N, 1.5539° W, or 47.2172, -1.5539 in decimal degrees.

Degrees: 47.2172° N, 1.5539° W

Decimal: 47.2172, -1.5539

Where Nantes is located

Nantes lies on the Loire River in western France, approximately 50 kilometres from the Atlantic coast. The commune covers 65.19 square kilometres and uses the postal codes 44000, 44100, 44200, and 44300. Its official INSEE commune code is 44109, while the wider metropolitan area had 1,041,894 inhabitants in 2022. This distinction matters: the commune is the legally defined city-level unit, while the metropolitan figure describes the larger urban area around it.

A departmental prefecture and regional administrative seat

Nantes performs both departmental and regional administrative functions within France.

The city is the prefecture of Loire-Atlantique and the administrative seat of the Pays de la Loire region. These roles place it above the level of an ordinary commune in the territorial organisation described by the sources: it serves the department while also hosting the regional administrative seat. The official commune record identifies the municipality as Nantes, with department code 44 and region code 52. Its EPCI code, 244400404, further records its participation in an intercommunal structure, linking the commune to governance beyond its municipal boundary.

A Loire-side city between the Atlantic and a metropolitan region

The urban setting is defined by the Loire, proximity to the Atlantic, and a metropolitan area extending beyond the commune.

The river is the central geographic relationship in the dossier: the city stands on the Loire, near the confluence with the Erdre, and lies about 50 kilometres from the Atlantic coast. That position helps explain its historical development as an Atlantic port while also locating it within a larger metropolitan system. The commune itself covers 65.19 square kilometres, whereas the metropolitan area counted 1,041,894 inhabitants in 2022. The two figures describe different spatial scales rather than conflicting population measures.

From ducal residence and slave-trade port to post-industrial service centre

Nantes changed from a medieval ducal centre and major Atlantic port into an industrial city and later a service-oriented economy.

The settlement’s historical uses have shifted substantially. It was an important medieval ducal residence associated with the Dukes of Brittany, and the Château des ducs de Bretagne remains a major landmark. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it became France’s largest port and was responsible for nearly half of the French Atlantic slave trade. After economic decline following the French Revolution, shipbuilding and food processing became important industries. Later deindustrialization contributed to a move toward a service economy.

The commune, department, region, and metropolitan institutions

Nantes’s public role is shaped by municipal, departmental, regional, and intercommunal institutions operating at different scales.

The official data identifies the municipality as commune 44109, within department 44 and region 52, while recording its SIREN as 214401093 and its EPCI code as 244400404. The source does not describe these bodies’ individual programmes, but the codes establish the city’s place in France’s administrative system. Its prefecture and regional-seat functions add further institutional weight. Together, these layers explain why the city serves both its own residents and wider departmental, regional, and metropolitan populations.

A French regional capital with a contested Breton affiliation

Nantes represents both the administrative capital of Pays de la Loire and a city historically and culturally associated with Brittany.

The city’s identity contains a recognised administrative and historical tension. It is located in Pays de la Loire and serves as that region’s administrative seat, yet it is historically and culturally associated with Brittany. The dossier describes its exclusion from modern Brittany as controversial. That association is reinforced by its connection with the Dukes of Brittany and by the Breton name Naoned. Historical nicknames such as “City of the Dukes” and “Venice of the West,” the latter referring to former waterways, add further layers to its public cultural image.

Nantes facts

France; commune, prefecture of Loire-Atlantique, and administrative seat of Pays de la Loire
INSEE 44109; department code 44; region code 52
327,734 inhabitants in 2023
65.19 km² for the commune
On the Loire River, about 50 km from the Atlantic coast
1,041,894 inhabitants in 2022
Culturally and historically associated with Brittany, while administratively in Pays de la Loire