As a former Parisian, now expatriated to South East Asia, what is the most striking in Paris is the ratio between salaries and housing costs. Salaries in France are not high because of the heavy taxations, which has some good effects – free education, healthcare, etc... A 50 square meters in a really not nice area of Paris (XIXe arrondissement) would cost around 1400 / 1500 euros ( USD 1800 to 2000 ). As a rule, to be able to rent this, you need at least 3 or 4 times this amount as revenue, so between 4500 and 6000 euros a month. A little statistics I like : only 3% of the french household has a monthly revenue higher than 4000 EUR. Also the renting market is really not liquid in France, because it is really hard to make someone move out in case they do not pay ( it can take as long as 2 years ). So as a consequence, the selection to find a tenant is hard ( you need people to guarantee you, and more and more often, you need also people guaranteeing your guarantee... )... Crazy...