Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This town in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes has a population of 3,849.
Plenty in its favour, and one clear drawback. Jobs and pay hold up well: 0.4 jobs per working resident; 5.7% unemployment. It also does well on schools: brevet results 1.4 points below the expected rate. The trade-off is cost of living — at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 7.2 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Safety lags: an average of 8.5 recorded violent incidents and 15.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. All told, that adds up to a B overall, better than just over three fifths of compared French towns. Its place in the ranking is #32 of 53 in Ain. Its other grades sit near the middle: B for health and B for walkability.
Figures: employment and commuting, INSEE census 2023 · brevet and bac results, Ministry of Education · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior) · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
Each subject compares Villieu-Loyes-Mollon 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.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The one thing Villieu-Loyes-Mollon does most differently from other towns.
Villieu-Loyes-Mollon has 1 historic monument on the Culture ministry’s list, none at the highest level (classé).
The oldest protected part dates from the 19th century; the first monument here was protected in 2008.
Villieu-Loyes-Mollon has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
Château de Loyes: Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Villieu-Loyes-Mollon.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Advertised rents are estimated at €13.20/m² a month, higher than both Ain’s towns (€12.27/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). Renting a house costs an estimated €10.87/m² a month. The market in Villieu-Loyes-Mollon: 110 sales of houses and apartments between July 2023 and June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,873/m² | 99 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
36% of adults hold a degree, above Ain’s towns (32%) and compared French towns (30%) alike. Retirement age and beyond: 17% of residents are 65 or older. People aged 15 to 24 make up a tenth of the town.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ain 51.0%, France 51.8%.
| Villieu-Loyes-Mollon | Ain median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 21% | 20% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 24% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 17% | 19% | 22% |
| No diploma | 14% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 19% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 36% | 32% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Ain median and France median: the median of compared communes
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
At the collèges within 5 km of Villieu-Loyes-Mollon, 92.4% passed the brevet, about level with Ain’s towns (91.0%) and above compared French towns (87.5%). General-bac pupils go 6.2 mi to the nearest lycée. For exam results, it comes #20 of 54 in Ain.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège VaugelasNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 215 | 90%−3 pts |
| Collège de la Plaine de l'AinBest against expectations: a point above the expected rateCollège | Collège | 148 | 96%+1 pt |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Half of residents lived on more than €29,770 a year per consumption unit, above Ain’s towns (€27,670) and compared French towns (€25,970) alike. At the census, 5.2% of working residents in Villieu-Loyes-Mollon didn’t travel to work at all. Public transport took 9.7% of the town’s working residents to work at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
76 offenses were reported in Villieu-Loyes-Mollon during 2025. Criminal damage topped the graded crimes in Villieu-Loyes-Mollon (2025).
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 armed robbery go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 3.3% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
Homes from before 1919 make up 9.7% of the total, higher than both Ain’s towns (7.9%) and compared French towns (7.4%). The earliest of these monuments dates from the 19th century.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
The nearest emergency department to Villieu-Loyes-Mollon is Hopital Prive D Amberieu, 7 mi away. From 2016 to 2025, 219 residents of Villieu-Loyes-Mollon died, against 241 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 9% fewer. In Ain, women can expect to live 85.9 years and men 82 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France. 6 GPs practise locally.
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 · Note: TownRatings models the care-home adjustment; it is not an official figure. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from C to A−.
Heritage, other places to visit and museums in and near Villieu-Loyes-Mollon. Best known first.
Wikidata places 2 people here, but for none of them do the articles confirm Villieu-Loyes-Mollon as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
Commune in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Villieu-Loyes-Mollon is a commune of 3,849 people in the Communauté de communes de la Plaine de l'Ain. 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Villieu-Loyes-Mollon | 3,849 | — | B | C | C+ | B |
| Meximieux | 8,247 | 1.9 | C+ | C− | C+ | B− |
| Chalamont | 2,533 | 5.7 | A | B+ | B+ | C+ |
| Lagnieu | 7,411 | 5.8 | B+ | B− | B | C+ |
| Ambérieu-en-Bugey | 15,934 | 6.4 | C− | C+ | C− | C |
| Béligneux | 3,535 | 6.8 | B+ | C− | B+ | C |
| Saint-Maurice-de-Gourdans | 2,903 | 7.8 | — | D | — | A |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C+ for safety, #40 of 53 in Ain. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 10 burglaries and 24 acts of criminal damage.
They grade B+, better than 67% of compared French towns and #20 of 54 in Ain. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Villieu-Loyes-Mollon grades C for cost of living.
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 9, 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.