Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 2,584 people, this town lies in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Saint-Étienne-du-Bois’s strongest is health (A+) — after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 39% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. At the median price of €2,167/m², a 70 m² home costs 5.8 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the Communauté d'agglomération du Bassin de Bourg-en-Bresse. Most journeys need a car: 58% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 4% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work.
Figures: deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting, INSEE census 2023 · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi. Saint-Étienne-du-Bois has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The one thing Saint-Étienne-du-Bois does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Saint-Étienne-du-Bois with other French towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far its rank is from the middle. American and UK towns are graded separately.
Saint-Étienne-du-Bois has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry lists no building in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Saint-Oyen, in Meillonnas, 3.9 mi away.
11% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
5 GPs practise in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois. Life expectancy in Ain: 85.9 years for women and 82 for men (2025); France averages 85.9 and 80.3. 179 deaths locally between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 264: 32% below.
Source: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025; DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 · Licence Ouverte · The care-home step is TownRatings’ own calculation, not an official number.
7.7% of the labour force were unemployed, below both Ain’s towns (8.3%) and compared French towns (10.1%). Jobs based in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois number 650, against 1,150 residents in work (0.6 per worker). At the census, 3.9% of working residents in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois didn’t travel to work at all.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Behind the median of €2,167/m²: 62 houses and apartments sold in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois between July 2023 and June 2026. Of the homes sold, 85% were houses. A house rents for an estimated €7.95/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,238/m² | 53 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Children under 15 make up 17%, below Ain’s towns (20%) and close to compared French towns (17%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.8% of residents. Graduates make up 27% of adults.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ain 51.0%, France 51.8%.
| Saint-Étienne-du-Bois | Ain median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 20% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 24% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 24% | 19% | 22% |
| No diploma | 16% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 33% | 26% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 27% | 32% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Ain median and France median: the median of compared communes
The commonest graded crime in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois was burglary (2025). On average over 2023–2025, every 1,000 residents saw 3.8 violent offenses and 7.6 graded property crimes a year. In 2025, 23 offenses were recorded locally.
Not in the gradeTheft without violence, drug use and fraud are shown for information but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence plus burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and criminal damage per resident.
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · Small counts of family violence, other physical violence, armed robbery, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 32.4% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Museums, family days out and heritage in and near Saint-Étienne-du-Bois. Best known first.
MuseumMaison des pays de Bressein townTheme parkTheme parkAventure de la Bressein townFortFortFortification moyen âge (fossé)4.8 km northwest, in MarbozPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Nothing in Saint-Étienne-du-Bois is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Saint-Étienne-du-Bois as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more. The map uses IGN’s commune boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Étienne-du-Bois | 2,584 | — | — | B | — | A+ |
| Viriat | 7,102 | 4.4 | B+ | C+ | C+ | C+ |
| Attignat | 3,409 | 6 | — | B− | — | A |
| Bourg-en-Bresse | 42,372 | 6.3 | C | B− | D | C+ |
| Saint-Denis-lès-Bourg | 6,160 | 7 | A | C+ | B | A |
| Ceyzériat | 3,328 | 7.2 | A+ | C+ | A− | B+ |
| Péronnas | 6,444 | 7.8 | A | C+ | B | A |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Saint-Étienne-du-Bois has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 11 burglaries and 7 acts of criminal damage.
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €2,167/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Saint-Étienne-du-Bois grades B for cost of living.
Commune in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Saint-Étienne-du-Bois is a commune of 2,584 people in the Communauté d'agglomération du Bassin de Bourg-en-Bresse. TownRatings compares communes, France’s local unit: each has its own mayor and its own statistics. Its area takes in the town and the countryside around it.
Built from INSEE’s 2026 official geography (COG) and IGN Admin Express boundaries
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, employment, commuting) · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (income per consumption unit, poverty) · DGFiP, DVF property sales, July 2023 to June 2026 · Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025 · SSMSI, recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Ministry of Education (DEPP), brevet and bac results and value-added indicators, 2025 · INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses 2012–2023; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025 (care homes, emergency and maternity units, GPs, pharmacies); DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 (provisional) · INSEE, BPE 2025 and Filosofi 200 m grid (walking distances) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, updated November 4, 2026. Under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.