A smaller share of couples with children than 91% of compared French towns: 15%
The median age in Pons is 50.3, higher than in 84% of compared French towns. On the census count, 5.2% of households are headed by a manager or professional. The town counted 4,343 residents and 2,230 households at the 2023 Census. Households in social housing: 6% here and 12% in the typical compared French town.
Throughout this page, the Charente-Maritime 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 Pons
Empty homes
The census found 370 homes empty (14%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Pons has changed by +5%, slower than 50% 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 years 2012 to 2017 brought +1%; 2017 to 2023, +4%.
In Pons, 30% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 85% 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
■ Pons 50.3. The median compared French town: 44.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 tops 78% of compared French towns: 12%. As a reference point, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Charente-Maritime 53.1%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
A higher share of one-person households than 87% of compared French towns, at 47%
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 Charente-Maritime median and the France median
Living alone · share
On average, 1.9 people share a household. As a reference point, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Compared with other places, single-parent households are scarce here: 8.3%, fewer than in 76% of compared French towns.
A higher share of empty homes than 93% of compared French towns, at 14%
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
The figure for flats is 27% in Pons and 30% in the typical compared French town. Meanwhile, more households without a car than in 66% of compared French towns: 14%. Across the comparison, 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town. Second homes: 3.1% of the total.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €23,020 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 €23,020 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is lower than in 81% of compared French towns. Under the poverty line sit 18.0% of residents.
Pons ranks above 71% of compared French towns on households headed by a manual worker: 17%
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 Pons, 33% of households are headed by a retired person. 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).
Foreign nationals: 6.1%, a higher share than 65% 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.
On the census count, 7.1% of residents are immigrants. That is higher than in 54% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Charente-Maritime has 3.1%. Elsewhere, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals 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.
37% of residents 15 and over are married, below 84% 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
About one in four: that is how common single residents are in Pons (26%). As a yardstick, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
20% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, fewer than in 85% 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
Adults with no qualification make up 24%, against 19% in the typical compared French town. Set beside that, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 4,310 to 4,378 people, the 9th oldest
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 Tigery (33.7), the youngest, and Le Château-d'Oléron (55), the oldest.
A younger town than 4 of the 6 around it: Pons
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 Pons
What is the population of Pons?
4,343 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 5% more than in 2012 (4,144).
How old are Pons’ residents?
The median age is 50.3, older than 84% of compared French towns. 15% are under 18 and 30% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Pons?
82, with occasional dwellings: 3.1% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Pons?
INSEE counts 310 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 7.1% of residents, and 270 foreign nationals (6.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Pons?
€23,020 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 18.0% 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.