What is the population of Lyon?
Lyon has a city population of 520,774. That is the population within the city's own boundary, not its wider metropolitan area. City population, GeoNames.
City profile · France · Europe
Lyon
City population
520,774
#3
in France
#1
in Rhone-Alpes
#1,087
worldwide
45.749, 4.848 · 393 km from Paris
About Lyon
At 393 km from Paris, this city of 520,774 is France's third-largest by city proper population. It ranks first in the Rhone-Alpes region and accounts for 0.8% of the national population. Villeurbanne, the nearest listed city, lies 3 km away with 131,445 residents; four other cities of 16,000 to 25,600 people sit within 5 km.
This summary is AI-generated from the figures on this page. The figures themselves come from the sources cited beside each value.
Key Facts
Country
Region
Rank in region
#1of 60
Elevation
173 m
Approximate — modelled, not surveyed
Time zone
Europe/Paris
Coordinates
45.749, 4.848
Record updated
2025-12-09
Entry edited, not measured
City population, GeoNames. GeoNames publishes no year for its population figures, so “record updated” is when the entry was last edited — not the date the population was measured. Elevation is modelled from a digital elevation model rather than surveyed, so it is approximate.
Nearby Cities
All 640 in FranceClosest listed cities by great-circle distance from the city centre.
Compared with the World's Largest Cities
City-proper population against the fifteen largest cities in the dataset.
| Name | City population |
|---|---|
| Shanghai | 24.9M |
| Beijing | 19M |
| Shenzhen | 17.5M |
| Guangzhou | 16.1M |
| Kinshasa | 16M |
| Istanbul | 15.7M |
| Lagos | 15.4M |
| Ho Chi Minh City | 14M |
| Chengdu | 13.6M |
| Lahore | 13M |
| Mumbai | 12.7M |
| São Paulo | 12.4M |
| Mexico City | 12.3M |
| Karachi | 11.6M |
| Tianjin | 11.1M |
| Lyon | 521K |
Lyon Population FAQ
Where is Lyon?
Lyon is in Rhone-Alpes, France, 393 km from the capital, Paris. Its coordinates are 45.749, 4.848.
How big is Lyon compared with other cities in France?
It is the 3rd largest of the 640 cities of 15,000 or more listed in France, holding 0.8% of the national population.