This short paper tracks annual trends in French residential mobility from 1973 (end of the post-war boom years) to 2006. Two different estimation methods are used: Daniel Courgeau’s migrants-migration model and a more direct method applicable to the Housing Survey and to the Labour Force Survey series. The results of these estimates are compared with those already published in the French literature by various authors using the migrants-migration model. Residential mobility fell between 1973 and 1984, then rose to a peak for the study period in 1999. It then declined and subsequently stabilized – temporarily at least – at a high level. The increase in mobility since the early 1980s has mainly involved moves over short distances: changing residence within the same commune or moving to a new commune in the same département. This finding suggests that the changes in family structure over this period have had a greater impact than occupational mobility.