Public service residence allowance

Verified 14 April 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

As a public official, your remuneration consists of different elements. According to your municipality of assignment, it may in particular include a residence allowance. This is equal to 1% or 3% of your index treatment. We present you with the information you need to know.

The purpose of the residence allowance is to compensate for disparities in the cost of living in different geographical areas.

The residence allowance is equal to a percentage of your index treatment raw.

The communes of France are classified as 3 areas. For each zone there is a percentage of the gross index treatment:

  • Area 1: 3%
  • Area 2: 1%
  • Area 3: 0%.

The residence allowance is obligatory paid to any public official, official or contractor, posted in a municipality giving entitlement to a residence allowance.

Please note

In a couple of public officials, the two members of the couple receive the residence allowance.

The residence allowance shall be equal to 1% or 3% of your raw index treatment.

The percentage depends on the municipality in which you actually carry out your duties. You are not employed by the municipality of the administrative office.

If you get a new index enhancement (NBI), the NBI is in addition to the index salary for the calculation of your residence allowance.

For example, if you are remunerated on the basis of the index plus 427 and receive an NBI of 10 points, your residence allowance is calculated on the basis of the index salary corresponding to the index plus 437.

The amount of the residence allowance may not be less than the amount of the residence allowance corresponding to the index plus 366, namely:

  • €54.05 in zone 1
  • €18.01 in zone 2.

FYI  

The amount of the monthly index salary and the residence allowance is determined by ignoring the thousandths of euro.

If you are posted to a municipality within a multi-communal urban agglomeration, you will benefit from the highest percentage applicable within the agglomeration.

If you work within the boundaries of a new agglomeration, you will receive the highest percentage applicable within the agglomeration.

The residence allowance is paid monthly like your index treatment.

It is paid in the same proportions as your index salary, in particular in the following situations:

However, if you are a civil servant, the residence allowance is paid in full to you for the duration of the following leave: