Your vote
Air conditioning?
One tap. No email needed.
Is it really a cultural thing?
Partly, and the cultural part is more specific than stubbornness. There is a genuine and widely held French belief that moving between conditioned and outside air makes you unwell — you will be told this by people who are otherwise entirely reasonable. Attached to it is a long-standing view of AC as an American solution to a problem the building should have solved.
And the building really did solve it
Thick stone, shutters closed by mid-morning, cross-ventilation at night. Those techniques work, and they worked for centuries, which is exactly the problem: they were calibrated for summers that no longer happen. A shutter is not a match for 40 degrees.
Is it changing?
Quickly. Demand has climbed with each heatwave, and the aesthetic objection is losing to the mortality figures. It has become a live political argument in France rather than a settled preference — the kind of thing that shifts within a decade.
The official test
How American Are You?
Ice, coffee, pumpkins and pajama pants. Eight questions, graded by a Frenchman.
Take the quizWhat does he say?
That American buildings are cold enough to require a jacket in August, which is true, and that this is madness, which is arguable. He has not yet reconciled this with his position during the last heatwave, and I have not pressed it.
Questions, answered
Why don’t French homes have air conditioning?
Around a quarter do. French buildings were traditionally designed for passive cooling with thick walls and shutters, and there is a widespread cultural belief that conditioned air causes illness. AC has also long been seen as unnecessary and distinctly American.
What percentage of French homes have air conditioning?
Roughly 24% according to France’s energy transition agency, up from about 18% two years earlier. The comparable American figure is around 90%.
Is France getting more air conditioning?
Yes. Demand has risen sharply with successive heatwaves, and the cultural resistance has softened considerably as heat-related deaths have mounted.
Still wondering?
Ask my French husband.
A short ruling in a few seconds. Written by AI from our Journal, in his voice.
Sources
- CNN — on French AC adoption rates, schools, and the cultural debate, July 2026. Cnn
- France 24 — on rising French demand for air conditioning during the 2026 heatwaves. France24
Verified August 2026.
He judges America weekly on Instagram, and Le Bulletin collects the best of it.
Before you go
Your First Day in Paris
You land in Paris at nine in the morning. He is watching what you do next.
