Abstract : While a burgeoning literature has documented the unequal distribution of COVID-19 confirmed cases, there is still little evidence on the causal e_ect of the epidemic on mortality inequalities. In this paper, we exploit exhaustive municipality-level data in France, one of the most severely hit country in the world, to identify a persistent negative relationship between income and excess mortality within urban areas. Over the year 2020, the poorest municipalities experienced a 42% higher increase in excess mortality. Our analyses further reveal that the policy responses to the epidemic - including the lockdowns - play no role in this heterogeneous impact. Last, we show that both labour-market expo- sure and housing conditions are major determinants of the direct effect of the epidemic on mortality inequalities, but that their respective role depends on the state of the epidemic and the lockdown policy.