Nantes vs Saint-Étienne
for digital nomads
Under balanced weights the two cities tie at 64. Neither leads on any factor by 10 points or more. Change the weights in the ranker to see which one wins for you.
Creative Atlantic city with a strong tech scene
Full Nantes profile →Plan a trip to Nantes →Former coal and design city under an hour from Lyon, with low rents
Full Saint-Étienne profile →Plan a trip to Saint-Étienne →Where they differ
Where they are close. Within five points on internet, getting there & around, cost of living, air quality, safety, healthcare, visa ease, climate, quality of life.
Pick Nantes if you want
- no clear edge over Saint-Étienne in the data
Pick Saint-Étienne if you want
- to spend about $28 less a month
Factor scores (0–100, balanced weights)
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of living | 30 | 31 ✓ |
| Safety | 68 | 68 |
| Healthcare | 87 | 87 |
| Internet | 76 | 81 ✓ |
| Visa ease | 61 | 61 |
| Getting there & around | 44 ✓ | 40 |
| Climate | 33 | 33 |
| Air quality | 93 ✓ | 93 |
| Quality of life | 81 | 81 |
Cost
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost, one personcountry-level estimate for at least one city | $2,478 | $2,450 ✓ |
| Central one-bedroom rent | no data | no data |
Safety and health (country-level)
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Homicides per 100k | 1.33 | 1.33 |
| Political stability (0–100) | 64 | 64 |
| UHC service coverage (0–100) | 82 | 82 |
| Life expectancy | 82.5 yrs | 82.5 yrs |
Internet (M-Lab measured medians)
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Download | 57.4 Mbps | 61 Mbps ✓ |
| Upload | 17.6 Mbps | 42.8 Mbps ✓ |
Visa
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Nomad visa | none listed | none listed |
| Minimum income for the visa | no data | no data |
| Entry, US passport | 90 days | 90 days |
| Entry, EU passport | unlimited | unlimited |
| Entry, UK passport | 90 days | 90 days |
Getting there and around
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Non-stop airport destinations | 97 | 142 ✓ |
| Walkability (1–5, editorial) | 4 ✓ | 3 |
| Transit (1–5, editorial) | 4 ✓ | 3 |
Climate and air
| Metric | Nantes | Saint-Étienne |
|---|---|---|
| Comfortable months per year | 4 | 4 |
| Annual mean PM2.5 | 8 µg/m³ ✓ | 8.1 µg/m³ |
✓ marks the better value in each row; ties and missing data are left unmarked.
Frequently asked
- Which is cheaper, Nantes or Saint-Étienne?
- Saint-Étienne is cheaper: about $2,450 per month versus $2,478 for one person.
- Is Nantes or Saint-Étienne safer?
- Nantes and Saint-Étienne score the same on safety (68), based on national homicide rates and World Bank political-stability scores.
- Where is the internet faster, Nantes or Saint-Étienne?
- Saint-Étienne: a measured median of 61 Mbps versus 57.4 Mbps (M-Lab, 2024).
More comparisons
- Nantes vs Rennes
- Nantes vs Clermont-Ferrand
- Saint-Étienne vs Angers
- Saint-Étienne vs Strasbourg
- All comparisons
Sources: Cost of Living Global 2026 (city rows); 2026 Cost of Living Index (country level); Digital Nomad Visas 2026; Worldwide Governance Indicators — Political Stability and Absence of Violence (score 0–100); Victims of intentional homicide per 100,000 population (national data, latest year); UHC service coverage index; Life expectancy at birth (years), both sexes; M-Lab NDT statistics (city aggregates, 2024); Airport destinations (Wikipedia airline and destination tables); NASA POWER climatology (2001–2020 monthly means); WHO Ambient Air Quality Database, June 2026 update (V8); Human Development Index (HDR 2025, HDI 2023); EF English Proficiency Index 2024 (band); Walkability and transit ratings (editorial); Passport Index dataset (visa requirements, 199 passports × 199 destinations); WhereNext city cost estimates 2026 (city pages); OpenStreetMap restaurants (Overpass API); Starlink availability map. Dataset 2026.11.2. See each city page for per-metric footnotes and the methodology.