Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,343 in Allier, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Diou has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is jobs & income (C−): 0.8 jobs per working resident; 12.0% unemployment. Its strongest is cost of living (A+): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 2.8 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 2 things Diou does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Diou 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 Diou as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Saint-Aubin, in Saint-Aubin-sur-Loire, 2.6 mi away.
17% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Diou.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
On this, Diou is below both Allier’s towns (€9.45/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). The median price, €939/m², comes from 34 sales of houses and apartments in Diou from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €932/m² | 33 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
In the comparison, Diou comes below both Allier’s towns (9.3%) and compared French towns (11%). Children are 13% of the town.
47% women, 53% men
About 113 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Allier 52.6%, France 51.8%.
| Diou | Allier median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.3% | 9.3% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 19% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 31% | 30% | 22% |
| No diploma | 30% | 24% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 35% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 14% | 17% | 18% |
| Higher education | 15% | 22% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Allier median and France median: the median of compared communes
For Diou, that is below both Allier’s towns (12.1%) and compared French towns (13.4%).
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.
After the care-home adjustment, Diou’s deaths ran at 95 per 100 expected, above both Allier’s towns (89) and compared French towns (88). The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from D to B.
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
Police and gendarmerie recorded 0 offenses in the graded categories in Diou in 2025. For family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence, armed robbery, burglary, vehicle theft, theft from vehicles and criminal damage, 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, 100.0% 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
Nothing in Diou is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Diou as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diou | 1,343 | — | — | A+ | — | C |
| Dompierre-sur-Besbre | 2,959 | 3.1 | A− | A+ | A+ | B− |
| Bourbon-Lancy Saône-et-Loire | 4,674 | 6.5 | A+ | A+ | A | B |
| Digoin Saône-et-Loire | 7,353 | 12 | B+ | A+ | C | B− |
| Gueugnon Saône-et-Loire | 6,528 | 16 | A+ | A+ | B | B+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Diou has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. Recorded figures: an average of 2.7 recorded violent incidents and 4.3 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €939/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Diou grades A+ for cost of living.
Commune in Allier, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Diou is a commune of 1,343 people in the Communauté de communes Entr'Allier Besbre et Loire. 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.