57% of homes in Arques are second homes
Empty homes are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. There were 120 households in Arques at the 2023 Census, home to 248 residents. Here, 17% of households are couples with children. In Arques, 2.5% of households rent social housing (HLM), beside 12% in the typical compared French town.
Throughout this page, the Aude 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 Arques
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 160 second homes and occasional dwellings in Arques, 57% of its 290 homes: higher than in 98% of compared French towns. 66% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Immigrants
INSEE counts 0 immigrants in Arques (people born abroad who weren’t French at birth, whatever their nationality now): 15% of residents, against 6% for the median compared commune in Aude. 12% are foreign nationals. Immigrants and foreign nationals ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Arques ranks below 64% of compared French towns on flats: 22%
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
Recent arrivals (under two years) make up 14% of households; long-stayers (30 years or more) 19%. At 9.6%, the share of households without a car is lower than in 56% of compared French towns. One household in 10 has no car, against 11% in the median compared French town.
Arques changed by −2% from 2012 to 2023, slower than 76% 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 those years, the median Aude town changed +4% and the median compared French town +5%. Between 2012 and 2017 the population moved +1%, then −2% to 2023.
Arques is older than 85% of compared French towns: a median age of 50.6
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Arques 50.6. The median compared French town: 44.
29% of residents are 65 or over, against 22% in the typical compared French town. For Arques, the census puts residents aged 15 to 24 at 12%.
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About 106 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Aude 52.3%, France 51.8%.
43% of households are one person living alone, more than in 79% of compared French towns
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 Aude median and the France median
Living alone · share
Just over one in ten households are single parents; in the typical compared French town the figure is 10%. Set beside that, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. The average household has 2 people.
A typical living standard of €19,250 a year
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.
At €19,250 a year per consumption unit, the median standard of living here is lower than in 98% of compared French towns.
Fewer households headed by a manual worker than 88% of compared French towns: 7.8%
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
Against a figure of 32% in the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a retired person in Arques comes in at 36%. Households headed by a manager or professional are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. Measured more widely, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Arques: 15% of residents are immigrants, above 86% 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.
In the typical compared French town, the share of foreign nationals is 4.3%; Arques has 12%. The share of immigrants in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
A higher share of single residents than 89% of compared French towns, at 34%
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
In the typical compared French town, 43% of residents 15 and over are married; in Arques, 42%. The share of single residents in the typical compared French town is 25%.
Below 82% of compared French towns: 13% of adults out of school have no qualification
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
Across Arques, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification. As a yardstick, nearly a fifth of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Ranked by age, 13th oldest of 41 French towns this size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Villejust (37.2), the oldest Prayssac (62.3).
Arques is younger than 1 of its 3 nearest neighbors
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
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 Arques
What is the population of Arques?
248 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% fewer than in 2012 (252).
How old are Arques’ residents?
The median age is 50.6, older than 85% of compared French towns. 21% are under 18 and 29% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Arques?
160, with occasional dwellings: 57% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Arques?
INSEE counts 38 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 15% of residents, and 30 foreign nationals (12%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Arques?
€19,250 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 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.