Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,102 in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Viriat grades B+ overall: better than 67% of compared French towns, and #30 of 53 in Ain. Its weakest subject is walkability (C+): 49% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 9% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. At the median price of €2,252/m², a 70 m² home costs 6 times the median annual income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size) in the Communauté d'agglomération du Bassin de Bourg-en-Bresse. Its strongest is jobs & income (A): 1.6 jobs per working resident; 7.4% unemployment.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 2 things Viriat does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Viriat 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 Culture ministry lists 1 historic monument in Viriat, none of them classé, France’s highest protection.
The oldest protected part dates from the 18th century; the first monument here was protected in 2013.
Wikidata records 3 people born in Viriat before 1900, the earliest Jean Marie Mathias Debelay, in 1800.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Viriat.
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Viriat sits close to Ain’s towns (91.0%) and above compared French towns (87.5%) on this measure.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège du RevermontNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 121 | 93%+7 pts |
| Lycée LalandeNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 339 | 99%±0 pts |
| Lycée professionnel Saint-Joseph PrivateBest against expectations: 6 points above the expected rateVocational lycée | Vocational lycée | 132 | 98%+6 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
That puts Viriat below both Ain’s towns (13.8%) and compared French towns (13.4%). The median disposable income is €28,600 a year per consumption unit.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Police and gendarmerie recorded 187 offenses in the graded categories in Viriat in 2025. For sexual violence and armed robbery, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 1.7% of the index here. With 5,000 jobs for 3,050 working residents, Viriat draws people from neighboring communes, and crimes are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its number of residents.
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
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The median price, €2,252/m², comes from 127 sales of houses and apartments in Viriat from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,252/m² | 115 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 1 historic monument in Viriat, none of them classé, France’s highest protection.
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.
From 2016 to 2025, 525 residents of Viriat died, against 553 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 5% fewer. Its care home for older people (25 places) counts its residents as Viriat’s; allowing for it, deaths were 9% below expected. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
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
11% of residents are 15 to 24 and 20% are 65 or over, against 11% and 19% in the median compared commune of Ain. 31% of adults who have left education hold a higher-education diploma (Ain 32%, France 30%).
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ain 51.0%, France 51.8%.
| Viriat | Ain median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 20% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 24% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 19% | 22% |
| No diploma | 16% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 29% | 26% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 19% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 31% | 32% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Ain median and France median: the median of compared communes
Heritage, other places to visit and museums in and near Viriat. Best known first.
Viriat has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
Château de Fleyriat: Photo: Chabe01 · CC BY-SA 4.0
12 notable people were born in Viriat.
Guillaume Rufin: Robbie Mendelson, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geoffrey Soupe: Natalie Muir, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Chloé Jacquet: Sivolc, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Aurélie Favre: Stephanedaupley, CC BY-SA 4.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viriat | 7,102 | — | B+ | C+ | C+ | C+ |
| Bourg-en-Bresse | 42,372 | 2.9 | C | B− | D | C+ |
| Saint-Denis-lès-Bourg | 6,160 | 3 | A | C+ | B | A |
| Attignat | 3,409 | 3.8 | — | B− | — | A |
| Polliat | 2,741 | 4.1 | — | B | — | A+ |
| Péronnas | 6,444 | 4.2 | A | C+ | B | A |
| Saint-Étienne-du-Bois | 2,584 | 4.4 | — | B | — | A+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C+ for safety, #39 of 53 in Ain. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 66 burglaries and 33 acts of criminal damage.
They grade A−, better than 78% of compared French towns and #13 of 54 in Ain. 99% of 339 candidates passed the bac at Lycée Lalande in 2025, at the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Prices are close to the median of compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €2,252/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Estimated advertised apartment rents are €12.21/m² a month, charges included. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Viriat grades C+ for cost of living.
Commune in Ain, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Viriat is a commune of 7,102 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 October 30, 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.