11th arrondissement (Popincourt)

The 11th arrondissement, officially Popincourt, lies east of the Marais between the Place de la République, the Place de la Bastille and the Place de la Nation. It covers about 3.7 km² and had 138,170 residents in the 2023 legal population (Insee). At around 37,700 people per km², it is the most densely populated arrondissement. Its quartiers are Folie-Méricourt, Saint-Ambroise, Roquette and Sainte-Marguerite.

The population is young: 32% of residents were aged 25 to 39 in the 2023 census (Paris: 26%).

Local services such as civil status, identity documents, crèche requests and school enrolment are handled by the district town hall, the Mairie du 11e, at 12 place Léon-Blum.

• Folie-Méricourt and Oberkampf: rue Oberkampf and rue Jean-Pierre-Timbaud are known for bars, cafés and restaurants. The boulevard Richard-Lenoir is laid out over the covered section of the Canal Saint-Martin, with gardens and a large open-air market.
• Roquette and Bastille: rue de la Roquette and rue de Lappe lead from the Place de la Bastille, which the 11th shares with the 4th and 12th, into a dense grid of streets with shops, bars and the Square de la Roquette.
• Sainte-Marguerite and the Faubourg Saint-Antoine: historically the district of furniture makers, with courtyards and passages that once held workshops. Rue de Charonne and rue Paul-Bert have restaurants and independent shops.
• Saint-Ambroise: residential streets around the church of Saint-Ambroise and the avenue Parmentier.

The 11th has a high concentration of small independent businesses, restaurants and studios at street level.

• Métro: line 9 crosses the arrondissement diagonally (Oberkampf, Saint-Ambroise, Voltaire, Charonne, Rue des Boulets, Nation). Line 3 serves Parmentier, Rue Saint-Maur and Père Lachaise, line 5 Oberkampf, Richard-Lenoir and Bréguet–Sabin, and line 8 Filles du Calvaire, Bastille and Faidherbe–Chaligny. Line 11 stops at République, Goncourt and Belleville, and line 2 runs along the eastern boundary with the 20th (Belleville to Nation, including Philippe Auguste). Line 1 is at Bastille and Nation on the edges.
• RER: RER A at Nation (on the border with the 12th) and at Gare de Lyon a little further south.

Distances are short and the 11th is easy to cross by bike.

Most homes are flats. In the 2023 census, 34% of main residences were in buildings completed before 1919 and 41% in buildings from 1946 to 1990. Small flats dominate: 62% had one or two rooms, among the highest shares in Paris (Paris: 54%).

Of the 101,500 dwellings counted, 8% were second homes or occasional-use flats and 12% vacant. Among main residences, 59% were rented, including 16% furnished and 11% social housing (Paris: 18%). Owner-occupiers made up 36%.

Competition for well-located small flats is strong. Rent control applies: check the reference rent with the City of Paris tool and OLAP's market-rent estimates by quartier for early 2026.

Children under 15 made up 10.5% of residents in 2023 (Paris: 12.8%). The density means green space per resident is limited. The largest city-run spaces are the Square de la Roquette, the Square Maurice-Gardette and the Square Colbert, and the gardens along the boulevard Richard-Lenoir. The Coulée verte René-Dumont and the Bois de Vincennes in the 12th, and the Père-Lachaise cemetery in the 20th, are within reach.

Crèche requests and school enrolment go through the Mairie du 11e. Public schools are allocated by home address.