More second homes than 88% of compared French towns: 9.9%
Just over a fifth of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town, against 26% in Sorbais. This Aisne town is home to 266 residents in 120 households, by the 2023 Census. Put another way, about one in three: 31% of households are couples with children. Flats are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Aisne 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 Sorbais
Fewer residents than in 2012
Sorbais had 285 residents at the 2012 census and 266 in 2023, down 7%: slower growth than in 92% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Sorbais has changed by −7%, slower than 92% 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
The years 2012 to 2017 brought −4%; 2017 to 2023, −3%.
A smaller share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 84% of compared French towns: 8.8%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Sorbais 47.1. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Sorbais’s residents are over 47.1, older than in 70% of compared French towns. On average, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Aisne 52.5%, France 51.8%.
33% of households are one person living alone, below 63% of compared French towns
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 Aisne median and the France median
Living alone · share
Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, one-person households come to 35%. A household here holds 2.3 people on average.
6.8% of households have no car, fewer than in 74% of compared French towns
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
Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. On the census count, nearly one in ten homes stand empty. For households without a car, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 11%.
The median resident lives on €24,590 a year per consumption unit
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 €24,590 a year: lower than in 65% of compared French towns.
28% of households are headed by a retired person, below 72% of compared French towns
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
Compared with 14% in the typical compared French town, 12% of households are headed by a manual worker here. At the same time, households headed by a manager or professional are more common here than in 63% of compared French towns. Typically, nearly a third of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Only 0.8% of residents are immigrants in Sorbais
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.
4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town, against 1.1% in Sorbais. As a yardstick, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Aisne has 5.7%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 99% of compared French towns.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
In Sorbais, 20% of residents 15 and over are single, fewer than in 90% 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
In Sorbais, 42% of residents 15 and over are married. The benchmark for single residents in the typical compared French town: 25%.
Graduates of higher education make up 25% in Sorbais, less than in 67% of compared French towns
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
Where 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town, Sorbais has 21%. Elsewhere, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 15th oldest of 41 French towns of 266 to 2,582 people
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Villejust (37.2), the oldest Prayssac (62.3).
Sorbais 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 Sorbais
What is the population of Sorbais?
266 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 7% fewer than in 2012 (285).
How old are Sorbais’ residents?
The median age is 47.1, older than 70% of compared French towns. 21% are under 18 and 26% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Sorbais?
14, with occasional dwellings: 9.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Sorbais?
INSEE counts 2 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 0.8% of residents, and 3 foreign nationals (1.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Sorbais?
€24,590 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 8, 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.