Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,019 in Ardèche, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Ucel has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is walkability (C−): 39% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 6% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. At the median price of €2,194/m², a 70 m² home costs 6.4 times the median annual income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size) in the Communauté de communes du Bassin d'Aubenas. Its strongest is health (A): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 27% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The one thing Ucel does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Ucel 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 Ucel as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Chapelle Saint-Benoît, in Aubenas, 1.2 mi away.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ucel.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
That puts Ucel below both Ardèche’s towns (90) and compared French towns (88). From 2016 to 2025, 293 residents of Ucel died, against 313 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 6% fewer. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
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
On this, Ucel is below both Ardèche’s towns (13.3%) and compared French towns (10.1%). Ucel has 400 jobs for 850 working residents, 0.5 per worker. 5.7% of commuters went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
In the comparison, Ucel comes above both Ardèche’s towns (87.6%) and compared French towns (87.5%).
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège RoquaNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 116 | 88%−3 pts |
| Lycée polyvalent AstierNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 79 | 97%+2 pts |
| Lycée polyvalent Marcel GimondBest against expectations: 8 points above the expected rateVocational lycée | Vocational lycée | 50 | 96%+8 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
For Ucel, that is above both Ardèche’s towns (27%) and compared French towns (22%). Under-15s account for 13% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Ardèche 52.7%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Ucel | Ardèche median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.9% | 9.9% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 32% | 27% | 22% |
| No diploma | 16% | 24% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 20% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 31% | 25% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Ardèche median and France median: the median of compared communes
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Advertised rents are estimated at €9.90/m² a month, close to Ardèche’s towns (€10.27/m²) and below compared French towns (€12.41/m²). The median price, €2,194/m², comes from 57 sales of houses and apartments in Ucel from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,379/m² | 45 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Museums, heritage and other places to visit in and near Ucel. Best known first.
Nothing in Ucel is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
One notable person was born in Ucel.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ucel | 2,019 | — | — | B− | — | A |
| Aubenas | 12,416 | 1.5 | B+ | B | D | A− |
| Vals-les-Bains | 3,474 | 2.3 | A− | B | B+ | B+ |
| Saint-Étienne-de-Fontbellon | 2,920 | 3 | A | C+ | A | B |
| Villeneuve-de-Berg | 3,031 | 7.8 | C | B+ | B+ | C− |
| Privas | 8,538 | 12 | B− | A− | C | C |
| Chomérac | 3,183 | 14 | — | B | — | B |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Ucel has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. Recorded figures: an average of 5.1 recorded violent incidents and 3.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
They grade A−, better than 80% of compared French towns. The lycée stands out: 97% of 79 candidates passed the bac at Lycée polyvalent Astier in 2025, 2 points above the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Prices are close to the median of compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €2,194/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Ucel grades B− for cost of living.
Commune in Ardèche, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Ucel is a commune of 2,019 people in the Communauté de communes du Bassin d'Aubenas. 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.