Charnas: 37% of households are couples with children, above 96% of compared French towns
Households headed by a retired person: 22%, below 92% of compared French towns. 5.8% of households rent social housing (HLM), fewer than in 83% of compared French towns. Charnas’s 360 households held 925 residents at the 2023 Census. The census found that 4.5% of homes are flats in the town.
Throughout this page, the Ardèche 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 Charnas
A town of families
37% of households are couples with children and 12% single parents with children; 23% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
A young town
Half of Charnas’ residents are under 38.6 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 23% are under 15 and 14% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
A growing town: +7% since 2012, faster than 59% 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
Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Ardèche town +4%. From 2012 to 2017 the change was +8%; from 2017 to 2023, −1%.
In Charnas, 14% of residents are 65 or over, fewer than in 94% 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
■ Charnas 38.6. The median compared French town: 44.
The median age in Charnas is 38.6, lower than in 86% of compared French towns. As a reference point, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town. Locally, just over one in ten residents are 15 to 24.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ardèche 52.7%, France 51.8%.
A lower share of one-person households than 99% of compared French towns, at 20%
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 Ardèche median and the France median
Living alone · share
Average household size: 2.6 people. Compared with other places, single-parent households are common here: 12%, more than in 73% of compared French towns. The usual figure: just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
Only 4.1% of households have no car in Charnas
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
Here 5.5% of homes are second homes, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 2.1%. At 7.5%, the share of empty homes is higher than in nearly three fifths of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of households without a car is 11%. 4.3% of households arrived within the last two years, while 20% have stayed 30 years or more.
€27,130 a year is the median standard of living here
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 €27,130 a year: higher than in 62% of compared French towns.
Households headed by a manager or professional: 5.8%, a lower share than 78% 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
Households headed by a manual worker: 10%, below just over three quarters of compared French towns. The benchmark for households headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town: 9.4%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Fewer immigrants than 96% of compared French towns: 1.5%
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.
In the typical compared French town, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals; in Charnas, 0.2%. The comparison figure for immigrants is 6.5% in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Ardèche has 9.3%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 96% 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.
Below 99% of compared French towns: 17% of residents 15 and over are single
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
The share of married residents is 49%, against 43% in the typical compared French town. As a yardstick, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
In Charnas, 12% of adults out of school have no qualification, fewer than in 88% 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
The figure for graduates of higher education is 33% in Charnas and 30% in the typical compared French town. Measured more widely, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Of 41 French towns its size (925 to 2,582 people), the 2nd youngest
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 Charnas
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charnas | 38.6 | 14% | 5.5% | 1.5% |
| Le Péage-de-Roussillon 6,718 · 3.7 mi | 41.8 | 24% | 0.9% | 25% |
| Salaise-sur-Sanne 4,606 · 3.7 mi | 43.3 | 22% | 0.7% | 11% |
| Saint-Maurice-l'Exil 6,889 · 4.2 mi | 38.9 | 17% | 1.2% | 13% |
| Roussillon 8,595 · 4.2 mi | 42.8 | 21% | 2% | 15% |
| Chanas 2,706 · 4.4 mi | 40.6 | 18% | 3% | 11% |
| Saint-Rambert-d'Albon 7,001 · 5.4 mi | 39.2 | 18% | 1% | 16% |
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 Charnas
What is the population of Charnas?
925 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 7% more than in 2012 (865).
How old are Charnas’ residents?
The median age is 38.6, younger than 86% of compared French towns. 28% are under 18 and 14% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Charnas?
23, with occasional dwellings: 5.5% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Charnas?
INSEE counts 14 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.5% of residents, and 2 foreign nationals (0.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Charnas?
€27,130 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.