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Despite more than thirty site-specific studies, carried out in different French residential contexts, an open question remains as to which social classes draw most resources from the neighborhood. It remains difficult to say whether residential space counterbalances other types of social inequalities, or whether it contributes to widening them. To answer this question, this article is based on a statistical survey of 2,572 respondents, supplemented by 210 semi-structured interviews. The survey was carried out in fourteen sites in the Paris and Lyon metropolitan areas. This methodological breadth provides a rare opportunity to draw comparisons both between social classes and residential contexts, whilst simultaneously being attentive to the conditions under which the survey was conducted. The article highlights a paradox: While the working class draw more fundamental resources from their neighborhood than other groups, they are nevertheless more distant from the neighborhood and the opportunities it provides. This paradoxical inequality in local space is rooted in differences in housing conditions and residential constraints, in the capacity of social classes to control their residential space and, ultimately, in the greater dependence of the working classes on local social ties.