20th arrondissement (Ménilmontant)

The 20th arrondissement, officially Ménilmontant, covers the hills of Belleville and Ménilmontant and the former village of Charonne, between the 11th and the ring road. It covers about 6 km² and had 185,140 residents in the 2023 legal population (Insee), about 30,900 per km². Its quartiers are Belleville, Saint-Fargeau, Père-Lachaise and Charonne.

Almost all homes are lived in permanently: only 3% of dwellings were second homes or occasional-use flats in the 2023 census, the lowest share in Paris.

Local services such as civil status, identity documents, crèche requests and school enrolment are handled by the district town hall, the Mairie du 20e.

• Belleville: one of the most diverse areas of Paris, shared with the 10th, 11th and 19th, with a busy market on the boulevard de Belleville, shops and restaurants from many regions, artists' studios, and the Parc de Belleville with wide views over the city.
• Ménilmontant and Père-Lachaise: rue de Ménilmontant and rue Oberkampf's eastern end, with bars and cafés, and the Père-Lachaise cemetery, the largest green space in the arrondissement and the largest cemetery inside the city.
• Charonne: the former village around the church of Saint-Germain-de-Charonne, quieter residential streets and the Petite Ceinture.
• Saint-Fargeau: residential streets around rue des Pyrénées and Porte des Lilas, and the Square Séverine.

• Métro: line 2 runs along the western boundary with the 11th (Belleville, Couronnes, Ménilmontant, Père Lachaise, Philippe Auguste, Alexandre Dumas, Avron, Nation). Line 3 serves Gambetta and Porte de Bagnolet, and the short line 3bis links Gambetta, Pelleport, Saint-Fargeau and Porte des Lilas. Line 11 serves Pyrénées, Jourdain and Télégraphe, line 9 Buzenval, Maraîchers and Porte de Montreuil, and line 1 Porte de Vincennes.
• Tram: the T3b runs along the eastern boulevards, and the T3a starts at Porte de Vincennes.
• RER: there is no RER station in the 20th. Nation (RER A) is on the southern edge, and Rosa Parks (RER E) is a few stops away by tram.

The 20th is hilly, particularly around Belleville, Ménilmontant and Télégraphe.

The housing stock is largely post-war: 53% of main residences were in buildings from 1946 to 1990, and only 14% in buildings completed before 1919 (2023 census). Older village streets sit alongside larger estates.

Of the 108,900 dwellings counted, 3% were second homes or occasional-use flats and 8% vacant. Among main residences, 68% were rented, and 32% were social housing (Paris: 18%). Owner-occupiers made up 29%.

Rent control applies to private leases. 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 13.4% of residents in 2023 (Paris: 12.8%). Green spaces include the Parc de Belleville, the Square Séverine, the Square Emmanuel-Fleury, the Parc Aretha-Franklin, the Jardin de la Gare de Charonne and sections of the Petite Ceinture walkway. The Bois de Vincennes is reachable by tram or métro line 1.

Crèche requests and school enrolment go through the Mairie du 20e. Public schools are allocated by home address.