Living in Bordeaux
33 · Bordeaux and the Gironde département · 267,991 residents
Bordeaux is a large town, with a lively cultural scene and well served by local shops — but with a higher recorded-crime rate.
82nd of 145 large towns in France
See the full Bordeaux page, every figure and benchmark (in French) →
Bordeaux in figures
| Flat price | 4,250 €/m² (median) |
|---|---|
| House price | 5,038 €/m² (median) |
| Safety | less safe than 98% of all French towns |
| Brevet exam (avg. written score) | 11.5/20 |
| Main station | Palais de Justice |
| Property tax (taxe foncière) | 48.5 % |
Frequently asked questions
Is Bordeaux a safe place to live?
Bordeaux records 8.9 home burglaries per 1,000 main residences per year and 89.3 street offences per 1,000 estimated present residents (French Ministry of the Interior / SSMSI). These two measures make up Icioola’s safety score, weighted 65% and 35%, making it less safe than 98% of all French towns. The street-offence denominator is an ESTIMATE (residents + 0.4 × tourist beds + 0.2 × second homes): the score inherits that, and we say so rather than choose between an incomplete measure and an approximate one.
How much does property cost in Bordeaux?
The median flat price in Bordeaux is 4,250 €/m² (from DVF, France’s official record of actual sale prices). Houses sell for around 5,038 €/m². Indicative figure — not financial or property advice.
Are the schools in Bordeaux good?
State middle schools (collèges) in Bordeaux average 11.5/20 in the written brevet exam (French Ministry of Education, 2025 (annuaire, live) ; DNB : session la plus récente disponible par établissement (2023-2025 selon dépt)) — a score out of 20, not a pass rate. In France, your child’s state school is assigned by home address (the carte scolaire), so check the exact catchment for a given street.
Nearby towns
Talence · Le Bouscat · Bègles · Floirac · Cenon · Bruges · Mérignac · Lormont
A few French terms, explained
Price per m² (DVF)
French property is priced per square metre. DVF is the government’s open dataset of actual recorded sale prices, so these are real transactions, not asking prices.
School catchment (carte scolaire)
State primary and middle schools are assigned by home address, not chosen freely. Your street determines the school. Private schools are not bound by the catchment map.
Property tax (taxe foncière)
An annual local tax paid by property owners, set as a rate by each town — a real difference in running costs between otherwise similar communes.
Brevet & bac
The brevet is the exam at the end of middle school (age ~15); the bac is the end-of-high-school exam (age ~18). Pass and distinction rates are common quality proxies.
Compared to similar-sized towns
The public quality-of-life score and the thematic rankings compare a commune to others of its own size — a village against villages, a city against cities. Your own ranking, and the percentiles shown on a commune page, compare against the whole of France (since 1 September 2026).
Icioola ranks French communes by your life — budget, household, commute — always compared to towns of a similar size. The interactive tool is currently in French. Data under France’s Open Licence / ODbL (DVF, SSMSI, Ministry of Education, IGN, ARCEP, DGFiP…), with dated sources shown in the app. No personal data, no account required.