Russians in Monaco: who lives there, housing, getting there

Russians in Monaco: how many, and which passports

Monaco is a country of its own, 2.02 km², not a French town and not part of the EU. At the end of 2025 it had 38,857 residents, among them 1,209 Russian citizens (3.1%) and 361 Ukrainian citizens (0.9%). The figures come from IMSEE, the national statistics office, and its 2025 census counts people by citizenship, not by the language they speak. We found no separate rows for citizens of Belarus or Kazakhstan in the open tables, so these numbers can’t tell you how many Russian speakers live there.

Few people actually manage to live in the principality: far more often they work in Monaco and go home to Nice or Menton at night. We don’t run a separate Monaco chat. There is one shared Vibe South of France chat (700+ people), open both to those who live in the principality and to those who commute there for work. In the chat export of 25 October 2026, fewer than three members name Monaco as their city, new home or place they travel to. Say you’re there, and our people will find you.

Back in 2016 there were 749 Russians and 99 Ukrainians. By our own calculation that makes 61% more Russians in nine years and 3.6 times as many Ukrainians, but take it as a rough guide: since 2023 IMSEE has counted residents from administrative registers, and it warns that comparisons with earlier years need care. On 31 December 2025 Monaco had 38,857 residents (IMSEE), 434 more than a year earlier (+1.1%), holding 144 nationalities between them.

Figures by citizenship: IMSEE, 2025 census. The shares for the British, Swiss, Belgians and Germans are our own calculation. In the IMSEE report Russians are the sixth-largest group, right after the Swiss.

Living in Monaco: where the people who work there live

Most people who work in Monaco live not in Monaco but in France. According to IMSEE at the end of 2025, 81.5% of private-sector employees, about 48,000 people, live in France. Only one in ten manages to live and work in the principality at the same time: 5,975 people, or 10.1%. In 2017 the figure was 13.4%.

At the end of 2025 the principality had 77,866 jobs in all, 64,770 of them in the private sector. Those are jobs, not people: one person can hold several, as domestic staff often do. The private sector has about 60,000 employees.

For us that is the key point. Someone searching for “Russians in Monaco” is often really looking for neighbours on the Côte d’Azur. So have a look at our guides to Nice and Menton as well: that’s where the addresses, the housing and everything else you need after a move are, and Monaco is 10 minutes or more away from either. The coast as a whole is covered on our Côte d’Azur page.

There is an official reason to live nearby, too. When it comes to hiring, Monegasques and their families come first, then Monaco residents, and then people living in the neighbouring communes of Cap-d’Ail, La Turbie, Beausoleil and Roquebrune-Cap-Martin who have already worked in Monaco (MonEntreprise portal).

Flat prices in Monaco: IMSEE figures for 2025

In 2025 a square metre in Monaco cost €57,569 on average, and more than €70,000 in Larvotto (Real Estate Observatory, IMSEE, February 2026). New homes (built 2020-2029) come out at about €65,602 a metre. There were 493 sales over the year, 5.8% more than the year before.

By our own calculation, a 50 m² flat at the average price costs about €2.9 million. For comparison, the median price of a flat in Menton, on our own calculation from DGFiP data, is €5,000 a metre, roughly 11 times less. The methods differ, so this is a ballpark, not a like-for-like comparison. The IMSEE statistics office has changed its method (linear regression), but its report still compares the years: -1.4% on 2024, when a square metre cost €58,402.

Renting. The IMSEE report has no rent figures, and we don’t take numbers from blogs or agencies. For real listings and the experience of people who rent, ask in the chat.

Below are six of the eight districts in the IMSEE division (residents: IMSEE, 2025). The two other large ones are Jardin Exotique, 4,997 residents (12.9%), and Les Moneghetti, 4,498 (11.6%).

• Monte-CarloThe most populous district: 8,318 residents, 21.4% of the principality (IMSEE, 2025). This is the casino district, founded in 1866; plenty of people say “Monte-Carlo” when they mean Monaco.
• La RousseThe second most populous district: 7,992 residents, 20.6%.
• La Condamine5,446 residents, 14.0%.
• Fontvieille4,297 residents, 11.1%.
• Larvotto2,287 residents, 5.9%. According to IMSEE for 2025, a square metre here costs more than €70,000, above the principality's average.
• Monaco-Ville (“the Rock”)The old district up on the Rocher: 1,022 residents, 2.6%.

How to get from Nice to Monaco, and from Menton

The train is the simplest way. The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco says in its brochure (April 2026) that there are more than 50 TER trains a day, 20 minutes from Nice. From the station to the museum is about a 20-minute walk. From Menton to Monaco it’s about 10 minutes by train (see our Menton guide).

The bus and parking figures come from Monaco Tribune (February 2026 and August 2025). We didn’t open the official tariffs of the operator or the city, so check the price before you travel.

The nearest big airport is in Nice. The Oceanographic Museum in 2026: adult ticket €22.50, children aged 4 to 17 €14, under 4s free. As of 25 October 2026 the Prince’s Palace is closed for the season (since 15 October, according to the museum’s brochure), and the combined ticket can’t be bought until it reopens next season.

Is Monaco part of France? Language, Schengen, Monte-Carlo

These are the questions people ask most often, answered from primary sources only: Monaco’s constitution and the portals of the government and the statistics office.

• How it is governed. Monaco is a sovereign and independent state (Article 1 of the constitution) and a hereditary constitutional monarchy (Article 2), with executive power under the high authority of the Prince (Article 3). The whole principality is a single commune (Article 78).
• Language. Monaco’s official language is French (Article 8). The government’s website calls Monégasque the “national language”: schools teach it up to cinquième (the 7th year of schooling), and after that it is optional.
• Currency. Monaco isn’t in the euro area, yet the euro is its official currency under a monetary agreement with the EU in force since 1 December 2011; the country itself has used the euro since 1 January 1999.
• The EU and Schengen. Monaco isn’t an EU member but does belong to the EU customs territory. Association talks opened in 2015 and were put on hold in 2023. The principality isn’t in Schengen and has no visa of its own: if you need a Schengen visa, you get it from the country you enter through, and your visit to Monaco then goes ahead “without further formalities”.
• Monte-Carlo. Not a town and not a country but Monaco’s most populous district: 8,318 residents. The casino stands there, hence the habit of saying “Monte-Carlo” instead of “Monaco”.
• Time. Same as France (1911 ordinance). In 2026 the clocks went forward an hour on 29 March and back an hour at 3:00 on 25 October.

If you’re thinking of living in the principality rather than just visiting, there are three things to remember. From the age of 16 you need a residence card (carte de séjour) if you live there more than three months a year. Nationals of countries outside the EEA need a visa D before they apply, issued by the French consulate closest to their last place of residence. Anyone who has already lived in France for more than a year asks for a transfer of residency through the French Embassy in Monaco instead of a visa. And Monaco has no income tax for Monegasques or for residents (French nationals pay it in France), and the exemption covers only those who genuinely live and work in the principality; this doesn’t cancel the tax rules of other countries. Work through the procedure, the fees and the deadlines on the official portal: the office addresses are below.

Russian-speaking Monaco: Orthodox community, shops in Nice, consulates

These are the Monaco government offices newcomers end up dealing with. We took the addresses and hours from the official portals of the government and the social security funds on 25 October 2026; check them again before you go.

• Section des Résidents (residence card, carte de séjour)9 rue Suffren-Reymond, Monaco · Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00 · tel. +377 93 15 30 15

  You apply for the card online at teleservice.gouv.mc or on paper at this office. Everyone aged 16 or over who lives in Monaco for more than three months a year needs one. The first card costs €80. Nationals of countries outside the EEA first need a visa D from a French consulate; anyone who has lived in France for more than a year asks instead for a transfer of residency through the French Embassy in Monaco.

  Official site - Section des Résidents (residence card, carte de séjour) →

• Service de l'Emploi (employment service)17 rue Princesse Florestine, Monaco · by appointment only · tel. +377 98 98 88 14 · emploi@gouv.mc

  The employer files the vacancy and the hiring application here; the employee gets a work permit (permis de travail) and registration numbers with the CCSS and CAR funds.

  Official site - Service de l'Emploi (employment service) →

• Direction des Services Fiscaux (tax department)Le Panorama, 57 rue Grimaldi, Monaco · Mon-Fri 9:30-17:00 · tel. +377 98 98 81 21

  Monaco levies no income tax on Monegasques or on residents; French nationals pay it in France (1963 convention). The exemption covers only those who genuinely live and work in the principality.

  Official site - Direction des Services Fiscaux (tax department) →

• Caisses Sociales de Monaco (social security funds)11 rue Louis Notari, Monaco · Mon-Fri 8:30-12:00 and 13:30-17:00

  Employees are insured with the CCSS, the self-employed with the CAMTI. Medical costs are reimbursed at 80%, or 100% with an exemption from the co-payment.

  Official site - Caisses Sociales de Monaco (social security funds) →

Church. An Orthodox community has existed in Monaco since the end of 2017 (Diocese of Chersonese). We found no current address or service schedule, so we don’t give one. If you need a service every week, the nearest parish is in Nice, 20 minutes away by train. Menton has a parish too, but open sources give no regular schedule for it.

Shops, schools, associations. We found no Russian shops, schools or associations in Monaco. The nearest checked Russian shops are in Nice, and their addresses are on our page of Russian shops in Nice.

Consulates. Russia has no embassy or consulate general in Monaco: the Russian Embassy in Paris represents it in the principality as well, and its official name says so, the embassy “in France and the Principality of Monaco” (mid.ru, 25 October 2026). In Monaco itself the embassy lists an honorary consulate general of Russia at 2 avenue Saint-Charles, 98000 Monaco, tel. +377 97 70 80 65. Its page gives no opening hours, so phone to find out which services it offers. The nearest staffed consular point is the office of the Russian Consulate General in Marseille at Villefranche-sur-Mer: 17bis rue de l’Église, 06230 Villefranche-sur-Mer, tel. +33 4 93 88 73 59, by appointment (Mon, Tue, Thu 9:00-12:00, Wed 14:00-17:00; villefranche.mid.ru, 25 October 2026). Whether Monaco falls within the Marseille consular district, the official pages we opened on 25 October 2026 don’t confirm. Ukrainian international passports for people living in Monaco are handled by the consular section in Paris and the consulate general in Lyon; the details are on our page Ukrainians in France.

How the chat helps

We haven’t held a meet-up in Monaco, or anywhere on the Côte d’Azur for that matter: almost all our meet-ups have taken place in and around Montpellier, and from late October 2026 near Toulouse as well (the listing is in Events). Monaco has rarely come up in our chat, and nobody has asked a practical question about it.

So, to be honest, we have little data of our own on Monaco, and we’d be glad if you brought some. The chat deals with housing, documents and the préfecture, and you can also ask which members live in Beausoleil or Menton and commute to the principality. Tell us you’re in Monaco.

Vibe South of France community chat on Telegram - Monaco, Nice, Menton and the whole Côte d’Azur

See also: Nice · Menton · Cannes · Antibes · Cagnes-sur-Mer · Grasse · Côte d’Azur · Moving to Monaco · Monaco taxes 2026 · Monaco salary and jobs 2026 · Healthcare, schools and housing in Monaco · Moving to France