---
title: "Living in Rennes as a digital nomad: cost, safety, visa, internet"
url: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/rennes
description: "Brittany's capital: a student city with a metro and a TGV to Paris"
dataset: 2026.10.7 (2026-10-13)
license: CC BY 4.0
---

# Rennes, France

Rennes scores 67.5/100 for digital nomads under balanced weights, ranking 272 of 1000 cities. Expect about $2,450 per month (country-level estimate), no dedicated nomad visa, and a measured median download speed of 56 Mbps.

Rennes is Brittany's capital, a university city with around 70,000 students, a half-timbered old town, a two-line driverless metro and a TGV that reaches Paris in about 90 minutes. Rents are moderate for a French city of its size and Saint-Malo and the coast are an hour away, but the weather is grey and damp for much of the year and the city is little known internationally.

Known for: Half-timbered old town, Two-line driverless metro, Place des Lices market, Paris in 90 min by TGV.

## Scores (balanced weights, 0–100)

| Factor | Score |
| --- | --- |
| Overall | 67.5 |
| Cost of living | 25 |
| Safety | 68 |
| Healthcare | 85 |
| Internet | 80 |
| Visa ease | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 80 |
| Climate | 33 |
| Air quality | 94 |
| Quality of life | 81 |

## The numbers behind the scores

| Metric | Value | Level | As of | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Monthly cost, one person | $2,450 | country | 2026-09 | [^2] |
| Central 1-bedroom rent | — | city | 2026-09 | [^3] |
| Outskirts 1-bedroom rent (basis of the monthly total) | — | city | 2026-09 | [^3] |
| Homicide rate (per 100k) | 1.33 | country | 2024 | [^4] |
| Political stability (0–100) | 64 | country | 2025 | [^5] |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 82 | country | 2023 | [^6] |
| Life expectancy (years) | 81.9 | country | 2021 | [^7] |
| Median download (Mbps) | 56 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Median upload (Mbps) | 53.5 | city | 2024 | [^8] |
| Starlink residential service | Available | country | 2026-10 | [^9] |
| Nomad visa | none listed | country | 2026-07 | [^10] |
| Entry for US / EU / UK passports | 90 days / unlimited / 90 days | country | 2026-02 | [^11] |
| Non-stop destinations (RNS/NTE) | 97 | city | 2026-08 | [^12] |
| Restaurants within 3 km of the centre (OpenStreetMap) | 355 | city | 2026-10 | [^16] |
| Walkability / transit (1–5) | 4 / 5 | editorial | 2026-09 | [^13] |
| Comfortable months | 4 of 12 | city | 2001–2020 | [^14] |
| Annual mean PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 7.9 | city | 2024 | [^15] |
| Human Development Index | 0.92 | country | 2023 | [^17] |
| English proficiency band | moderate | country | 2024 | [^18] |

## Climate (2001–2020 normals)

| Month | Mean °C | Rain mm | Humidity % | Comfortable |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Jan | 5.2 | 69 | 92 | no |
| Feb | 5.4 | 58 | 88 | no |
| Mar | 7.6 | 57 | 84 | no |
| Apr | 10.4 | 46 | 79 | no |
| May | 13.5 | 58 | 78 | no |
| Jun | 17 | 50 | 76 | yes |
| Jul | 18.7 | 48 | 74 | yes |
| Aug | 18.5 | 47 | 75 | yes |
| Sep | 16 | 42 | 76 | yes |
| Oct | 12.6 | 75 | 85 | no |
| Nov | 8.7 | 77 | 90 | no |
| Dec | 5.6 | 80 | 93 | no |

## Airports and nonstop flights

| Airport | IATA | Nonstop destinations | International | From US airports |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport | RNS | 15 | 5 | 0 |
| Nantes Atlantique Airport | NTE | 97 | 80 | 0 |

Unique destinations across all airports: 97, of which 80 international (Wikipedia, 2026-08).

## Similar cities

- [Angers](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/angers) (67.4) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/angers-vs-rennes)
- [Nantes](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/nantes) (66.8) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/nantes-vs-rennes)
- [Tours](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/tours) (68.7) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/rennes-vs-tours)
- [Bordeaux](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/bordeaux) (68.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/bordeaux-vs-rennes)
- [Annecy](https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/annecy) (66.2) — [compare](https://nostos.navoy.io/compare/annecy-vs-rennes)

## FAQ

### How much does it cost to live in Rennes as a digital nomad?

A single person typically spends about $2,450 per month in Rennes (a country-level estimate for France). That is a 25/100 cost score, where 100 is the cheapest city in the dataset.

### Is Rennes safe for digital nomads?

Rennes scores 68/100 on safety. France records 1.33 homicides per 100,000 people per year (WHO, 2024) and a political-stability score of 64/100 (World Bank WGI). Both figures are national, so neighbourhood-level risk can differ.

### Does France have a digital nomad visa?

No dedicated digital nomad visa was listed for France as of 2026-07. Visitors from the US can stay 90 days visa-free.

### How fast is the internet in Rennes?

Measured median download speed in Rennes was 56 Mbps (upload 53.5 Mbps) across 22,656 M-Lab tests in 2024. Measured speeds run below advertised plan speeds everywhere, so compare cities rather than reading the number as a plan.

### Is Starlink available in Rennes?

Yes. Starlink's availability map lists residential service as available in France (checked 2026-10), so a dish can serve as a backup line in Rennes. Check the exact address on starlink.com before ordering, since capacity varies by area.

### Which airports serve Rennes and how many nonstop flights are there?

Rennes is served by Rennes–Saint-Jacques Airport (RNS) with 15 nonstop destinations and Nantes Atlantique Airport (NTE) with 97 nonstop destinations, 97 unique destinations across all of them, of which 80 are international. 0 US airports have a nonstop link. Source: Wikipedia, 2026-08.

### When is the best time of year to be in Rennes?

The most comfortable months are Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep. Mean temperatures range from 41°F (5°C) in Jan to 66°F (19°C) in Jul (NASA POWER 2001–2020 climatology).

### Rennes or Angers: which is better for digital nomads?

Angers is the city with the closest factor profile to Rennes in this dataset. Which one wins depends on your weights; the comparison page puts every factor side by side with the numbers behind them.

## Plan a trip

[Hotels in France](https://navoy.io/hotels/france) on Navoy, the AI travel planner behind Nostos.

## Sources

[^1]: City population (latest census or official estimate), Wikipedia (citing national statistics offices). CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^2]: 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level), WhereNext. CC BY 4.0. https://getwherenext.com/data/cost-of-living-2026 (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^3]: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows), WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^4]: Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, dataUNODC. UNODC data, free to reuse with attribution. https://data.unodc.org/datareport/hom-victim (retrieved 2026-10-12)
[^5]: Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100), World Bank. CC BY 4.0. https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/worldwide-governance-indicators (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^6]: UHC service coverage index, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/uhc-index-of-service-coverage (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^7]: Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes, World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/data/gho/data/indicators/indicator-details/GHO/life-expectancy-at-birth-(years) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^8]: M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024), Measurement Lab. CC0 1.0. https://statistics.measurementlab.net/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^9]: Starlink availability map, SpaceX (Starlink). Factual status cited from starlink.com. https://www.starlink.com/map (retrieved 2026-10-07)
[^10]: Digital Nomad Visas 2026, WhereToEmigrate. CC BY 4.0. https://github.com/0brien18/global-emigration-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^11]: Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations), Ilya Ilyankou (compiled from passportindex.org). MIT. https://github.com/ilyankou/passport-index-dataset (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^12]: Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables), Wikipedia contributors; countries via Wikidata. CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/ (retrieved 2026-09-24)
[^13]: Walkability and transit ratings (editorial), Navoy. CC BY 4.0. https://nostos.navoy.io/methodology (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^14]: NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means), NASA Langley Research Center. Public domain (US Government). https://power.larc.nasa.gov/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^15]: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8), World Health Organization. CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO (WHO data policy). https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/who-ambient-air-quality-database-(update-jun-2026) (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^16]: OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API), OpenStreetMap contributors. ODbL 1.0. https://overpass-api.de/ (retrieved 2026-10-02)
[^17]: Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023), United Nations Development Programme. CC BY 3.0 IGO. https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/documentation-and-downloads (retrieved 2026-09-22)
[^18]: EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band), EF Education First. Proprietary; band cited as a fact with attribution. https://www.ef.com/epi/ (retrieved 2026-09-22)

HTML page: https://nostos.navoy.io/cities/rennes