47% of households are couples with children, a share 99% of compared French towns don’t reach
The figure for households without a car is 3.1% in Sainte-Croix and 11% in the typical compared French town. Meanwhile, 26% of households are headed by a manager or professional, more than in 95% of compared French towns. This Ain town counted 544 residents and 200 households at the 2023 Census. Residents aged 65 and over account for 13%.
Throughout this page, the Ain median and the France median are the median of compared communes (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
What stands out about the people of Sainte-Croix
A town of families
47% of households are couples with children and 5% single parents with children; 19% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Sainte-Croix changed by +4% from 2012 to 2023, behind 53% of compared French towns
Residents at INSEE’s last three censuses, each recast in the 2026 commune boundaries. France has no yearly estimate by commune between censuses.
2012 to 2023
2017 to 2023
From 2012 to 2017 the change was +9%; from 2017 to 2023, −5%.
A median age of 42: Sainte-Croix is younger than 65% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Sainte-Croix 42. The median compared French town: 44.
Compared with 11% in the typical compared French town, 12% of residents are 15 to 24 here.
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ain 51.0%, France 51.8%.
Fewer one-person households than 99% of compared French towns: 21%
A household is everyone who shares a main home (résidence principale). Household types come from INSEE’s fuller sample of a quarter of census forms.
Against the Ain median and the France median
Living alone · share
The figure for single-parent households is 5% in Sainte-Croix and 10% in the typical compared French town. For one-person households, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 35%. Households here average 2.7 people each.
Sainte-Croix ranks below 98% of compared French towns on households in social housing: 1.4%
Every home the census counted: main residences, second homes and occasional dwellings (INSEE counts them together), and empty homes. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
All homes · share of homes
Type of home
Cars per household · share of households
3.1% of households have no car, against 11% in the median compared French town. Across the comparison, just over one in ten households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Put another way, about one in 13: 8% of homes are second homes. At 5%, the share of flats is lower than in 95% of compared French towns.
Per consumption unit, the median standard of living is €30,950 a year
The standard of living (niveau de vie) is a household’s disposable income after taxes and benefits, divided by its consumption units (UC) to allow for its size and make-up: 1 for the first adult, 0.5 for each other person 14 or older, 0.3 for each child under 14.
Medians of compared communes. Source: INSEE, Filosofi 2023.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €30,950 a year: higher than in 88% of compared French towns.
Below 79% of compared French towns: 9.6% of households are headed by a manual worker
Households by the socio-professional group (PCS) of their reference person, INSEE’s own categories. Jobs and commuting are on the Work & commute page.
Households by reference person’s group · share of households
In the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a retired person is 32%; Sainte-Croix has 35%. The wider picture: 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
In Sainte-Croix, 2.4% of residents are immigrants, fewer than in 87% of compared French towns
INSEE publishes two measures, which overlap but aren’t the same. Neither is the UK’s “born abroad”.
Share of residents · census 2023
Immigrant (immigré)
Born abroad, not French at birth. Someone stays an immigrant after becoming French. A French citizen born abroad (for example in Algeria before 1962) is not one.
Foreign national (étranger)
Not a French citizen today, wherever born. A child born in France to foreign parents can be a foreign national without being an immigrant.
1.3% of residents are foreign nationals; in the typical compared French town the figure is 4.3%. The share of immigrants in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
In Sainte-Croix, 52% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 96% of compared French towns
Residents 15 and over by how they live: the census asks both the legal status and whether people live as a couple.
Residents 15 and over · share
Compared with 25% in the typical compared French town, 23% of residents 15 and over are single here. In the typical compared French town, the share of married residents is 43%.
A lower share of adults with no qualification than 98% of compared French towns, at 8.5%
Highest diploma of residents 15 and over who have left education, in French terms: the levels don’t map one-to-one to UK or U.S. ones.
Highest diploma · 15 and over, out of education
30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town, against 37% in Sainte-Croix. To put it in context, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Ranked by age, 8th youngest of 41 French towns this size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Villejust is the youngest (37.2); Prayssac the oldest (62.3).
Sainte-Croix is older than every town around it
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Census 2023. INSEE’s census is a rolling survey: a fifth of small communes each year, 8% of homes in large ones each year. “2023” pools the surveys of 2021 to 2025, so the figures describe the town around 2023, not on one day.
- Medians of compared communes. The comparisons are the median of the département’s compared communes and of France’s (those with an overall grade), each figure its own median: not the total for the département or for France, which large cities pull towards their own figures.
- Immigrants and foreign nationals. INSEE’s two measures: an immigrant was born abroad without French nationality; a foreign national isn’t French today. Neither is a count of people born abroad, which INSEE doesn’t publish by commune.
- Second homes. Homes used for holidays or weekends, with occasional dwellings (kept for work, for example), which INSEE counts together. Their owners are counted where they live, not here.
- Standard of living. INSEE’s Filosofi: disposable income per consumption unit, from tax and benefit files, 2023. The poverty rate is the share of residents below 60% of France’s median. Not published for the smallest communes.
- What France doesn’t ask. The French census asks nothing about ethnicity, religion, language or health, so this page has no such section.
Questions about who lives in Sainte-Croix
What is the population of Sainte-Croix?
544 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 4% more than in 2012 (523).
How old are Sainte-Croix’s residents?
The median age is 42, younger than 65% of compared French towns. 26% are under 18 and 13% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Sainte-Croix?
18, with occasional dwellings: 8% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Sainte-Croix?
INSEE counts 13 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 2.4% of residents, and 7 foreign nationals (1.3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Sainte-Croix?
€30,950 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). Source: INSEE, Filosofi.
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, ages, households, homes, marital status, diplomas, immigrants, foreign nationals, employment), 2026 geography · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (standard of living, poverty) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · Medians and percentiles: TownRatings, over compared French towns, 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.