3rd arrondissement (Temple)

The 3rd arrondissement, officially Temple, covers the northern half of the Marais (often called the Haut-Marais) between rue Beaubourg, the Place de la République and the boulevards towards the 11th. At about 1.2 km², it is small and densely built: 32,179 residents in the 2023 legal population (Insee), roughly 27,500 people per km². Its four quartiers are Arts-et-Métiers, Enfants-Rouges, Archives and Sainte-Avoie.

The 3rd hosts the shared town hall of the Paris Centre sector (1st to 4th arrondissements): the Mairie de Paris Centre, 2 rue Eugène Spuller. Civil status, identity documents, elections, childcare and school enrolment for all four arrondissements are handled there, mostly by appointment.

• Archives and the Marais mansions: many 17th- and 18th-century private mansions (hôtels particuliers) now house institutions, including the Archives nationales and the Musée Carnavalet (history of Paris, rue de Sévigné), the Musée Picasso in the Hôtel Salé on rue de Thorigny.
• Enfants-Rouges: the area around rue de Bretagne, with the covered Marché des Enfants-Rouges, food shops, cafés, galleries and small fashion shops.
• Arts-et-Métiers: the Musée des Arts et Métiers on rue Réaumur, the Square Émile-Chautemps and streets with wholesale and jewellery businesses.
• Temple: the Square du Temple – Elie-Wiesel is the largest green space in the arrondissement, beside the town hall.

The Place de la République, a large pedestrian square, forms the north-eastern corner where the 3rd meets the 10th and 11th. The Place des Vosges is on the border with the 4th.

• Métro: line 3 serves Arts et Métiers, Temple and République. Line 11 stops at Arts et Métiers, with Rambuteau on the border with the 4th. Line 8 runs along the eastern edge (Filles du Calvaire, Saint-Sébastien–Froissart, Chemin Vert), and line 4 stops at Réaumur–Sébastopol on the western edge. République is a major interchange (lines 3, 5, 8, 9 and 11).
• RER: there is no RER station in the 3rd. Châtelet–Les Halles (RER A, B, D) is about 15 minutes' walk away, or a few stops by métro.

The 3rd is inside the Paris Centre limited traffic zone (from 5 November 2024), which bans through traffic by motor vehicles with exceptions. Cycling and walking are practical for most trips.

The 3rd consists almost entirely of flats in old buildings. In the 2023 census, 68% of main residences were in buildings completed before 1919, and 62% had one or two rooms.

Of the 26,400 dwellings counted, 17% were second homes or occasional-use flats and 10% vacant. Among main residences, 59% were rented, with 19% let furnished, one of the highest furnished shares in Paris, and 9% social housing (Paris: 18%). Owner-occupiers accounted for 35%.

Many buildings are listed or in protected areas, so renovation is regulated and lifts are not always present. Rent control applies: check the reference rent for the address with the City of Paris tool, and the OLAP market-rent estimates by quartier for early 2026.

Children under 15 made up 9.9% of residents in 2023 (Paris: 12.8%). Green space consists of small squares and museum gardens: the Square du Temple – Elie-Wiesel, the Square Émile-Chautemps, the Jardin Anne-Frank and the Square Georges-Cain. The Place des Vosges is close by.

The Mairie de Paris Centre, located in the 3rd, handles crèche requests and school enrolment for the whole sector. Public schools are allocated by home address.