Fewer households headed by a manager or professional than 99% of compared French towns: 1.9%
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 7.8%, against 11% in the typical compared French town. Molinet’s 510 households held 1,104 residents at the 2023 Census. Here, 4.8% of homes are flats. Empty homes are more common here than in 84% of compared French towns.
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 Molinet
An older town
Half of Molinet’s residents are under 51.5 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 29% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 8.6% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Molinet had 1,169 residents at the 2012 census and 1,104 in 2023, down 6%: slower growth than in 90% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
From 2012 to 2023, 90% of compared French towns grew faster than Molinet: −6%
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 −4% to 2023. Medians for comparison: +5% across compared French towns, −1% in Allier.
A median age of 51.5: Molinet is older than 88% 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
■ Molinet 51.5. The median compared French town: 44.
The share of residents aged 65 and over tops just over four fifths of compared French towns: 29%.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Allier 52.6%, France 51.8%.
Only 30% of households are one person living alone in Molinet
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
Each household has 2.2 people on average. Single-parent households are rarer here than in 81% of compared French towns. The share of one-person households in the typical compared French town is 35%. A quarter of households are couples with children, about the same as in the typical compared French town.
6.3% of households have no car, below 78% 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 that moved in under two years ago: 5.9%. Those in their home 30 years or more: 27%. Set beside that, just over one in ten households have no car in the typical compared French town. Compared with other places, households in social housing are scarce here: 8.4%, fewer than in 69% of compared French towns. Second homes are about as common here as in the typical compared French town: 3%.
The median resident lives on €23,830 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 €23,830 a year: lower than in 73% of compared French towns.
Households headed by a retired person: 44%, a higher share than 92% 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
20% of households are headed by a manual worker (typical compared French town: 14%). Set beside that, 32% 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).
Immigrants make up 3.5% in Molinet, less than in 78% of compared French towns
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 78% of compared French towns. The share of immigrants in the typical compared French town is 6.5%. Foreign nationals: 2.1% of the total.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Molinet ranks below 90% of compared French towns on single residents: 20%
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
Against a figure of 43% in the typical compared French town, the share of married residents in Molinet comes in at 49%. Set beside that, a quarter of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 96% of compared French towns, at 15%
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
The figure for adults with no qualification is 26% in Molinet and 19% in the typical compared French town. Elsewhere, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 1,104 to 2,582 people, the 10th oldest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Prayssac (62.3), the oldest.
No nearby town is as young as Molinet
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Molinet | 51.5 | 29% | 3% | 3.5% |
| Digoin 7,353 · 3.1 mi | 53.9 | 34% | 1.9% | 15% |
| Paray-le-Monial 9,291 · 8.3 mi | 54.2 | 36% | 3.4% | 7.2% |
| Gueugnon 6,528 · 10.9 mi | 58 | 38% | 1.8% | 8.6% |
| Dompierre-sur-Besbre 2,959 · 12.9 mi | 54.3 | 34% | 4.5% | 4.6% |
| Bourbon-Lancy 4,674 · 13.8 mi | 57.2 | 39% | 14% | 4.3% |
| Charolles 2,772 · 16.1 mi | 53.6 | 34% | 4.9% | 4% |
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 Molinet
What is the population of Molinet?
1,104 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 6% fewer than in 2012 (1,169).
How old are Molinet’s residents?
The median age is 51.5, older than 88% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 29% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Molinet?
18, with occasional dwellings: 3% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Molinet?
INSEE counts 38 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.5% of residents, and 23 foreign nationals (2.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Molinet?
€23,830 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 4, 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.