Photo: Chaitanya · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 33.7: Caen is younger than 98% of compared French towns
The figure for households in social housing is 22% in Caen and 12% in the typical compared French town. The town’s 62,610 households held 109,400 residents at the 2023 Census. Couples with children come to 11% here, about one in ten. 29% of households have no car, a higher share than in 95% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Calvados 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 Caen
A young town
Half of Caen’s residents are under 33.7 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 12% are under 15 and 19% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
61% of Caen’s households are one person: higher than in 99% 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.
Caen changed by +1% from 2012 to 2023, behind 66% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the change was −3%; from 2017 to 2023, +4%. Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Calvados town +1%.
Caen: 24% of residents are 15 to 24, above 99% 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
■ Caen 33.7. The median compared French town: 44.
Here 19% of residents are 65 or over, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 22%. The usual figure: 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Calvados 52.0%, France 51.8%.
One-person households make up 61% in Caen, more than in 99% 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 Calvados median and the France median
Living alone · share
The figure for single-parent households is 8.1% in Caen and 10% in the typical compared French town. For one-person households, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 35%. A household here holds 1.7 people on average.
Flats make up 83% in Caen, more than in 96% of compared French towns
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
With second homes at 3.7%, Caen is ahead of 68% of compared French towns on that count. What’s more, nearly one in ten homes stand empty, a higher share than in 72% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of flats is 30%.
€23,650 a year: the median standard of living
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.
Living standards centre on €23,650 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 75% of compared French towns. Residents below the poverty line make up 24.2%.
Households headed by a retired person: 24%, a lower share than 85% 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
In Caen, one in ten households are headed by a manual worker, beside 14% in the typical compared French town. The benchmark for households headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town: 32%. Households headed by a manager or professional are more common here than in 74% of compared French towns.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Caen: 9.1% of residents are foreign nationals, above 79% 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 11%, against 6.5% in the typical compared French town. That is higher than in 73% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Calvados has 3.1%. For foreign nationals, the comparison 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.
In Caen, 23% of residents 15 and over are married, fewer than in 99% 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
Single residents make up 46%, 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.
A higher share of graduates of higher education than 86% of compared French towns, at 44%
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
Adults with no qualification come to 18% in Caen, about two in ten. The share of graduates of higher education in the typical compared French town is 30%.
Ranked by age, 8th youngest 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.
Ages run from 30 in Poitiers to 46.3 in Marseille 8e.
Every neighbor is older than Caen
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caen | 33.7 | 19% | 3.7% | 11% |
| Hérouville-Saint-Clair 23,470 · 2.1 mi | 34.5 | 18% | 0.9% | 13% |
| Louvigny 2,612 · 2.2 mi | 46.1 | 26% | 1.7% | 3.7% |
| Fleury-sur-Orne 5,941 · 2.3 mi | 36.3 | 17% | 1.2% | 7.6% |
| Bretteville-sur-Odon 4,494 · 2.3 mi | 43.6 | 26% | 0.8% | 4% |
| Cormelles-le-Royal 5,377 · 2.4 mi | 43.8 | 25% | 0.6% | 5.8% |
| Mondeville 10,331 · 2.4 mi | 43.2 | 22% | 1.2% | 5.2% |
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 Caen
What is the population of Caen?
109,400 at INSEE’s 2023 census, about the same as in 2012 (108,365).
How old are Caen’s residents?
The median age is 33.7, younger than 98% of compared French towns. 15% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Caen?
2,630, with occasional dwellings: 3.7% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Caen?
INSEE counts 11,610 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 11% of residents, and 9,940 foreign nationals (9.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Caen?
€23,650 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 24.2% of residents live below the poverty line. 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.