Saint-Étienne-de-Fontbellon · 0ups · CC BY-SA 3.0How Ardèche stacks up
Ardèche ranks 31st of 97 French départements overall, ahead of most: best on safety, weakest on getting about.
Each subject puts an official figure for the whole département beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
34th of 100B+67/100 Better than most départements for safety. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
All eight crimes the town grades count (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, damage): 18.9 per 1,000 a year (France 25.2), 18th of 100.
Source: SSMSI, crime recorded by police and gendarmerie by commune, 2023 to 2025; where a commune’s count is hidden (five or fewer cases), SSMSI’s average for the département’s hidden communes, which adds up to the département’s own total; INSEE populations.
Measure: our Safety grade: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, damage) per resident. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 3,862 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 16 towns in Ardèche. Covers 86% of the residents of its graded towns.
Schools
40th of 100B61/100 Better than most départements for schools. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Value added at the brevet (results against what the pupils’ backgrounds predict): −1.5 points (France −1.0), 57th of 100.
Source: DEPP, 2025 brevet results and value added (IVAC) for every collège in the département with published results, weighted by candidates.
Measure: our Schools grade: brevet and bac results and value added of the collèges and lycées within 5 km. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 3,926 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 21 towns in Ardèche.
Cost of living
35th of 97B+65/100 Better than most départements for cost of living. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
A year’s rent for a 70 m² flat: 33% of median income (France 45%), 22nd of 97.
Typical price: €2,070 per m², the median of its communes’ sale prices (France €2,740), 46th of 97.
Typical advertised rent for a flat: €9.7 per m² a month (France €14.1).
Source: DVF sales July 2023 to June 2026, houses and flats; ANIL/DHUP rent map 2025 (predicted advertised rents, charges included); INSEE Filosofi 2023 incomes. The département’s price is the median of its communes’ median prices, weighted by sales, and its income the average of its communes’ medians, weighted by residents: INSEE’s and DVF’s own département figures aren’t loaded yet.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against the area’s income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,406 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 22 towns in Ardèche.
Health
37th of 100B64/100 Better than most départements for health. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Deaths 2016–2025 against those France’s rates for each age give: 1.02 (France 1.00), 61st of 100.
Source: INSEE life expectancy by département, 2025; INSEE deaths by commune of residence 2016 to 2025, against France’s rates by age and sex.
Measure: our Health grade: the 10-year death ratio, adjusted for care-home places. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 22 towns in Ardèche.
Jobs & income
46th of 100B55/100 Near the middle for jobs and income. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Unemployment (census, ages 15–64): 10.8% (France 11.4%), 47th of 100.
Source: INSEE Filosofi 2023 (median disposable income per consumption unit; the département’s figure is the average of its communes’ medians, weighted by residents); INSEE census 2023 (unemployment, ages 15 to 64).
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: income, unemployment and jobs per working resident. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 22 towns in Ardèche.
Getting about
88th of 100D12/100 Among France’s weakest départements for getting about. The département’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Drive to work: 88% (France 72%).
Source: INSEE census 2023, main way of getting to work; people who don’t travel to work left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: everyday places within 800 m of residents, and walking, cycling and public transport to work. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,433 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 22 towns in Ardèche.
Flood risk
Not gradedShown, not graded. France has no national map of flood zones yet (flood maps cover designated areas only), so flood risk isn’t graded for towns or départements. These figures show the record instead.
Communes with a flood or coastal-flood risk plan in force: 44% (France as a whole 34%).
Source: Géorisques: CatNat natural-disaster declarations (GASPAR) and natural-risk prevention plans (PPRN), every commune.
Towns aren’t graded on flood risk either. Each town’s Flood & hazards page lists its disaster declarations, risk plans, clay, seismic zone and radon.
Growth
47th of 100B−54/100 Near the middle for growth. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Since 2017: +2.6% (France +2.4%), 35th of 100.
Source: INSEE census populations, 2012, 2017 and 2023.
Measure: population change from 2012 to 2023 (INSEE census). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 22 towns in Ardèche.
How Ardèche compares with its neighbours
| Ardèche | Drôme | Gard | Isère | Loire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B+ 6931st of 97 | C+ 3861st of 97 | C 2870th of 97 | B+ 7030th of 97 | A− 8218th of 97 |
| Safety | B+ 6724th official · 28% in top towns | C 3064th official · 19% in top towns | B− 5252nd official · 30% in top towns | C 3253rd official · 17% in top towns | B 6236th official · 29% in top towns |
| Schools | B 6145th official · 45% in top towns | D 1466th official · 8% in top towns | C+ 3674th official · 19% in top towns | C+ 4353rd official · 20% in top towns | A− 7525th official · 31% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B+ 6548th official · 90% in top towns | B− 5152nd official · 44% in top towns | C 3060th official · 22% in top towns | C+ 4058th official · 26% in top towns | B+ 7116th official · 84% in top towns |
| Health | B 6445th official · 23% in top towns | B+ 6531st official · 12% in top towns | B 6131st official · 11% in top towns | A 859th official · 25% in top towns | B+ 7430th official · 21% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B 5562nd official · 22% in top towns | B− 4846th official · 17% in top towns | D 1487th official · 5% in top towns | A 9113th official · 36% in top towns | C+ 4067th official · 16% in top towns |
| Getting about | D 1289th official · 0% in top towns | B 5545th official · 0% in top towns | C 3367th official · 0% in top towns | A− 8217th official · 19% in top towns | B 6433rd official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Growth | B− 5433rd official · 7% in top towns | A− 7824th official · 26% in top towns | A− 7528th official · 25% in top towns | B+ 7429th official · 22% in top towns | C+ 3949th official · 2% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the département’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for France. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole département, its towns, villages and countryside together, added up from every one of its communes and ranked against France’s other départements. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the département’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for France. Quarters are of people, not towns, so a département of big cities isn’t marked down just for being urban. A département can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the département’s standing among France’s 100 départements, overseas included: the two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best département, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs and income 12, getting about 8, growth 8 (out of 100), over the subjects a département has, and needs a Safety grade. Départements with fewer than 5 graded towns are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A département figure averages everyone, so it can’t show whether a département is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Flood risk isn’t graded: France has no national flood map yet. Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana have no income figures, so no Cost grade and no overall grade. Alsace and Moselle publish no sale prices, so their cost uses rents. Where a commune’s crime count is hidden, the département’s average for its hidden communes stands in: added up, these give the département’s own total. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, run #47 of October 30, 2026 · Département figures: every commune added up from SSMSI, INSEE, DEPP, DVF, ANIL and Géorisques data. 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.