Empty homes: 14%, a higher share than 94% of compared French towns
Households in social housing make up 27%, against 12% in the typical compared French town. Higher than in nearly four fifths of compared French towns: 54% of homes are flats. Falaise’s 3,760 households held 7,680 residents at the 2023 Census. Across Falaise, 26% of residents are 65 or over.
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 Falaise
Fewer residents than in 2012
Falaise had 8,413 residents at the 2012 census and 7,680 in 2023, down 9%: slower growth than in 96% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Empty homes
The census found 640 homes empty (14%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Many people living alone
47% of Falaise’s households are one person: higher than in 88% of compared French towns; 39% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
From 2012 to 2023, 96% of compared French towns grew faster than Falaise: −9%
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
The change was −3% from 2012 to 2017 and −6% from 2017 to 2023. The median compared French town changed +5% over the same years, the median Calvados town +1%.
Falaise is older than 64% of compared French towns: a median age of 46
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Falaise 46. The median compared French town: 44.
Just over one in ten residents are 15 to 24; in the typical compared French town the figure is 11%.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 85 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Calvados 52.0%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Couples with children: 17%, a lower share than 85% 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 average household has 1.9 people. At 47%, the share of one-person households is higher than in 88% of compared French towns. For couples with children, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 25%. Compared with 10% in the typical compared French town, just over one in ten households are single parents here.
Above 85% of compared French towns: 21% of households have no car
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
One household in five has no car, against 11% in the median compared French town. The census found that 2% of homes are second homes in Falaise.
Half of residents have a standard of living above €23,070 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.
Half of residents live in households above €23,070 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is lower than in 81% of compared French towns. The poverty rate is 19.0%.
Falaise ranks above 79% of compared French towns on households headed by a manual worker: 19%
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 9.4% in the typical compared French town, 6.7% of households are headed by a manager or professional in Falaise. By way of comparison, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town. The census found that 38% of households are headed by a retired person in the town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Fewer immigrants than 85% of compared French towns: 2.6%
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.
Foreign nationals make up 1.8%, against 4.3% in the typical compared French town. Against that, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
In Falaise, 34% of residents 15 and over are married, fewer than in 92% 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
Here 28% of residents 15 and over are single, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 25%. The benchmark for married residents in the typical compared French town: 43%.
Falaise ranks above 95% of compared French towns on adults with no qualification: 32%
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
Set against 30% in the typical compared French town, 20% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in Falaise. The usual figure: 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 17th oldest of 41 French towns of 7,574 to 7,786 people
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 33 in Chessy to 56.6 in Sausset-les-Pins.
Of the 6 towns nearest Falaise, 3 are older
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Falaise | 46 | 26% | 2% | 2.6% |
| Saint-Pierre-en-Auge 7,100 · 12 mi | 49.7 | 29% | 7.8% | 2.8% |
| Argentan 13,527 · 13.3 mi | 46.3 | 27% | 2.3% | 8.2% |
| Mézidon Vallée d'Auge 9,766 · 14.2 mi | 40.9 | 20% | 6.8% | 1.8% |
| Athis-Val de Rouvre 4,201 · 14.5 mi | 49 | 27% | 9.4% | 1.9% |
| Moult-Chicheboville 3,441 · 14.9 mi | 35.9 | 13% | 0.9% | 1.4% |
| Thury-Harcourt-le-Hom 3,600 · 15 mi | 42.2 | 22% | 3.6% | 1.5% |
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 Falaise
What is the population of Falaise?
7,680 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 9% fewer than in 2012 (8,413).
How old are Falaise’s residents?
The median age is 46, older than 64% of compared French towns. 20% are under 18 and 26% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Falaise?
89, with occasional dwellings: 2% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Falaise?
INSEE counts 200 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 2.6% of residents, and 140 foreign nationals (1.8%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Falaise?
€23,070 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 19.0% 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.