Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 4,259 in Allier, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Désertines grades B overall: better than 57% of compared French towns, and #12 of 19 in Allier. Its weakest subject is schools (D): bac results 3.8 points below the expected rate; brevet results 7.6 points below the expected rate. Its strongest is cost of living (A−): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality.
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 Désertines does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Désertines 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 no building in Désertines as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Saint-Paul, in Montluçon, 1.3 mi away.
Explore the history →Heritage, museums and gardens in and near Désertines. Best known first.
MuseumMuPop2 km southwest, in MontluçonChâteauChâteauChâteau des Étourneaux3.1 km west, in MontluçonGardenGardenJardins Wilson2 km southwest, in MontluçonFortFortMaison Perrot de Saint-Angel2.2 km southwest, in MontluçonChâteauChâteauChâteau de Bien-Assis3.7 km west, in MontluçonPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Désertines.
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
In the comparison, Désertines comes below both Allier’s towns (84.2%) and compared French towns (87.5%).
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Marie CurieNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 98 | 85%−5 pts |
| Lycée général Madame de StaëlNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 273 | 96%−1 pt |
| Lycée professionnel privé Saint-Joseph PrivateBest against expectations: 9 points above the expected rateVocational lycée | Vocational lycée | 56 | 96%+9 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
For Désertines, that is above both Allier’s towns (30%) and compared French towns (22%). People aged 15 to 24 make up 8.1% of the town.
54% women, 46% men
About 84 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Allier 52.6%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Désertines | Allier median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 14% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.1% | 9.3% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 19% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 32% | 30% | 22% |
| No diploma | 18% | 24% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 34% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| Higher education | 23% | 22% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Allier median and France median: the median of compared communes
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Half the homes sold went for more than €1,014/m², close to Allier’s towns (€1,320/m²) and below compared French towns (€2,430/m²). A home here costs 3 years of the median income in Communauté d'agglomération Montluçon Communauté.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,096/m² | 168 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Police and gendarmerie recorded 61 offenses in the graded categories in Désertines in 2025. Violence against people ran at 4.2 per 1,000 residents a year and the graded property crimes at 11.6 (2023–2025 average). For other physical violence, armed robbery, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles, 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, 6.4% of the index here.
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
Désertines sits below both Allier’s towns (12.1%) and compared French towns (13.4%) on this measure. Désertines has 1,150 jobs for 1,550 working residents, 0.7 per worker.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
From 2016 to 2025, 687 residents of Désertines died, against 695 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 1% fewer. Its care home for older people (80 places) counts its residents as Désertines’; allowing for it, deaths were 11% below expected. The adjustment lowers most towns’ figures, so the comparison is what counts: the median of compared French towns is 12% 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
Nothing in Désertines is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
12 notable people were born in Désertines.
Jean-Daniel Lafond: Majdafilm, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Denis Mesples: Henry Bucklow/Lazy Photography ( Sffubs ), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Valérie Thomas: Jean-Luc Hauser, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Désertines | 4,259 | — | B | A− | A− | B− |
| Montluçon | 33,147 | 1.6 | C | A | D | C |
| Domérat | 8,622 | 3.6 | B | A | A | C+ |
| Prémilhat | 2,540 | 3.9 | — | A | — | C− |
| Huriel | 2,536 | 6.4 | — | A+ | — | C |
| Commentry | 6,017 | 7.5 | B+ | A | B | D |
| Saint-Éloy-les-Mines Puy-de-Dôme | 3,480 | 17 | B+ | A+ | C | B |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades A− for safety, #8 of 19 in Allier. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 26 burglaries and 23 acts of criminal damage.
They grade D, better than 9% of compared French towns and #16 of 21 in Allier. 96% of 273 candidates passed the bac at Lycée général Madame de Staël in 2025, a point below the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Désertines grades A− for cost of living.
Commune in Allier, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Désertines is a commune of 4,259 people in the Communauté d'agglomération Montluçon Communauté. 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.