A median age of 62.7: Hérisson is older than 99% of compared French towns
The share of couples with children is 12%, against 25% in the typical compared French town. There were 280 households in Hérisson at the 2023 Census, home to 555 residents. Locally, 1.8% of households rent social housing (HLM). Fewer flats than in 90% of compared French towns: 8.4%.
Throughout this page, the Allier 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 Hérisson
One home in three is a second home
The census counted 140 second homes and occasional dwellings in Hérisson, 29% of its 470 homes: higher than in 95% of compared French towns. 93% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
An older town
Half of Hérisson’s residents are under 62.7 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 47% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 22% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Hérisson had 636 residents at the 2012 census and 555 in 2023, down 13%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Many people living alone
54% of Hérisson’s households are one person: higher than in 97% of compared French towns; 32% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
In Hérisson, 29% of homes are second homes, more than in 95% 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
In Hérisson, just over one in ten homes stand empty, beside 6.7% in the typical compared French town. Nearly one in ten households arrived within the last two years, while 23% have stayed 30 years or more. At 10%, the share of households without a car is lower than in 52% of compared French towns. Across the comparison, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town.
Hérisson changed by −13% from 2012 to 2023, behind 99% 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
Here the change came as −2% to 2017, then −11% to 2023. Medians for comparison: +5% across compared French towns, −1% in Allier.
47% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 99% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Hérisson 62.7. The median compared French town: 44.
5.3% of residents are 15 to 24 (typical compared French town: 11%). As a yardstick, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
56% women, 44% men
About 80 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.
One-person households make up 54% in Hérisson, more than in 97% 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 Allier median and the France median
Living alone · share
The average household has 1.7 people. As a reference point, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €24,290 a year
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.
The median standard of living in Hérisson is €24,290 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 68% of compared French towns.
48% of households are headed by a retired person, a share 96% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
Here 12% of households are headed by a manual worker, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 14%. Set beside that, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town. The census found that 7% of households are headed by a manager or professional in Hérisson.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Hérisson sits below 69% of compared French towns for immigrants (4.5%)
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.
The median compared commune in Allier has 4.6%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 69% of compared French towns. Foreign nationals account for 3.4%. The wider picture: 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Only 33% of residents 15 and over are married in Hérisson
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 the typical compared French town, a quarter of residents 15 and over are single; in Hérisson, 24%. For married residents, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 43%.
Hérisson sits below 80% of compared French towns for graduates of higher education (22%)
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
19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town, against 26% in Hérisson. The usual figure: 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The oldest of 41 French towns of 555 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.
Ages run from 37.2 in Villejust to 62.7 in Hérisson.
Every neighbor is younger than Hérisson
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 Hérisson
What is the population of Hérisson?
555 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 13% fewer than in 2012 (636).
How old are Hérisson’s residents?
The median age is 62.7, older than 99% of compared French towns. 12% are under 18 and 47% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Hérisson?
140, with occasional dwellings: 29% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Hérisson?
INSEE counts 25 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.5% of residents, and 19 foreign nationals (3.4%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Hérisson?
€24,290 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 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.