This paper examines the issues related to the double-sided dimension of wellbeing: subjective and objective. In the theoretical framework developed by Fleuret and Atkinson (2007, The New Zealand Geographer 63 106–29), spaces of wellbeing are shaped by four dimensions (spaces of security, spaces of capability, therapeutic spaces and integrative spaces). In the case of the student population in Angers, we observe a major imbalance: the component that really stands out is capability, which is quite logical because students are a population in a transition between youth and adulthood. The results reveal that the student population has a specific relation to space due to a transitory presence in the university town, with, as a consequence, a simultaneous embedding in different places. This could explain why the students do not perceive the characteristics of place to be a major influence on their wellbeing; instead it is the perception they have of their wellbeing that influences their perception of place.