Half of Saignes is over 59.8, older than 98% of compared French towns
Where nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town, Saignes has 1.1%. 6.8% of households are single parents, fewer than in 92% of compared French towns. At the 2023 Census, 835 people lived in the town, in 420 households. Locally, 5.9% of households rent social housing (HLM).
Throughout this page, the Cantal 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 Saignes
One home in five is a second home
The census counted 120 second homes and occasional dwellings in Saignes, 20% of its 580 homes: higher than in 93% of compared French towns. 90% 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 Saignes’ residents are under 59.8 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 41% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 18% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Saignes had 883 residents at the 2012 census and 835 in 2023, down 5%: slower growth than in 89% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Many people living alone
47% of Saignes’ households are one person: higher than in 88% of compared French towns; 31% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
A larger share of second homes than 93% of compared French towns: 20%
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
In the last two years, just over one in ten households moved in; at the other end, 27% have stayed 30 years or more. Measured more widely, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. At 19%, the share of flats is lower than in 69% of compared French towns. Set against 11% in the typical compared French town, 9.8% of households have no car in Saignes.
Since 2012, Saignes has changed by −5%, slower than 89% 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
The median Cantal town changed −3% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought −5% and the next six ±0%.
Residents aged 65 and over: 41%, a higher share than 98% 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
■ Saignes 59.8. The median compared French town: 44.
With residents aged 15 to 24 at 5.9%, Saignes is behind 99% of compared French towns on that count. Set beside that, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 85 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Cantal 53.4%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
In Saignes, 12% of households are couples with children, fewer than in 97% 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 Cantal median and the France median
Living alone · share
Households here average 1.8 people each. The wider picture: a quarter of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town. Saignes has more one-person households than 88% of compared French towns, at 47%.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €23,560 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.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €23,560 a year: lower than in 77% of compared French towns.
46% of households are headed by a retired person, more than in 94% 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
The share of households headed by a manual worker stands at 15%. Households headed by a retired person make up 32% in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Below 90% of compared French towns: 2.2% of residents are immigrants
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.
Compared with 4.3% in the typical compared French town, 1.2% of residents are foreign nationals here. The usual figure: 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.
A smaller share of married residents than 80% of compared French towns: 38%
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, nearly a quarter of residents 15 and over are single. The comparison figure for married residents is 43% in the typical compared French town.
Saignes ranks below 99% of compared French towns on graduates of higher education: 14%
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 make up 27%, against 19% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 4th oldest of 41 French towns of 835 to 2,582 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 37.2 in Villejust to 62.3 in Prayssac.
Every neighbor is younger than Saignes
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 Saignes
What is the population of Saignes?
835 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 5% fewer than in 2012 (883).
How old are Saignes’ residents?
The median age is 59.8, older than 98% of compared French towns. 13% are under 18 and 41% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Saignes?
120, with occasional dwellings: 20% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Saignes?
INSEE counts 18 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 2.2% of residents, and 10 foreign nationals (1.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Saignes?
€23,560 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.