A median age of 58.6: Balaguères is older than 97% of compared French towns
Flats: 4.5% here and 30% in the typical compared French town. Balaguères has fewer households in social housing than 99% of compared French towns, at 0.8%. At the 2023 Census Balaguères was home to 196 people in 120 households. About one in 23: that is how common households headed by a manager or professional are in Balaguères (4.3%).
Throughout this page, the Ariège 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 Balaguères
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 110 second homes and occasional dwellings in Balaguères, 45% of its 250 homes: higher than in 97% of compared French towns. 100% 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 Balaguères’ residents are under 58.6 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 34% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 12% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
50% of Balaguères’ households are one person: higher than in 94% of compared French towns; 47% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
45% of homes are second homes, a share 97% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
11% of households have no car in the typical compared French town, against 8.5% in Balaguères. By way of comparison, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Turnover: 4.7% of households moved in less than two years ago, and 24% have lived in their home 30 years or more. Few places have as many empty homes: 7.9% here, more than in 63% of compared French towns.
From 2012 to 2023, 78% of compared French towns grew faster than Balaguères: −2%
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 whole period the median compared French town changed +5%, and the median Ariège town +2%.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 7.3% in Balaguères, less than in 96% 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
■ Balaguères 58.6. The median compared French town: 44.
Where 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town, Balaguères has 34%. Set beside that, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Ariège 52.2%, France 51.8%.
A larger share of one-person households than 94% of compared French towns: 50%
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 Ariège median and the France median
Living alone · share
On average, 1.7 people share a household. Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. One-person households make up 35% in the typical compared French town. Here 20% of households are couples with children, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 25%.
At the median, €23,440 a year to live on
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.
Half of Balaguères’ residents live in households with a standard of living below €23,440 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 78% of compared French towns.
A higher share of households headed by a retired person than 92% of compared French towns, at 44%
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
Set against 14% in the typical compared French town, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manual worker in Balaguères. For households headed by a retired person, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Foreign nationals make up 7.7% in Balaguères, more than in 73% 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.
Immigrants make up 8.1%, against 6.5% in the typical compared French town. The share of foreign nationals in the typical compared French town is 4.3%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
34% of residents 15 and over are married, below 93% of compared French towns
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 single residents is 24%, against 25% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
14% of adults out of school have no qualification, fewer than in 77% 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 24% in Balaguères and 30% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, adults with no qualification come to 19%.
4th highest median age among 41 French towns of 196 to 2,582
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 old as Balaguères
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balaguères | 58.6 | 34% | 45% | 8.1% |
| Saint-Girons 6,008 · 5.6 mi | 51.9 | 33% | 6.7% | 9.1% |
| Cazères 4,854 · 17.8 mi | 44.6 | 24% | 2.5% | 7.8% |
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 Balaguères
What is the population of Balaguères?
196 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% fewer than in 2012 (200).
How old are Balaguères’ residents?
The median age is 58.6, older than 97% of compared French towns. 10% are under 18 and 34% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Balaguères?
110, with occasional dwellings: 45% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Balaguères?
INSEE counts 16 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 8.1% of residents, and 15 foreign nationals (7.7%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Balaguères?
€23,440 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.