Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,516 in Charente, Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
Dirac has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is walkability (D−): 0% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 4% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. Its strongest is health (A−): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 23% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The one thing Dirac does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Dirac with other French towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far its rank is from the middle. American and UK towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry lists 1 historic monument in Dirac: 1 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 0 inscrit (the second level).
The oldest protected part dates from the 12th century; the first monument here was protected in 1913.
13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dirac.
4.0% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, below both Charente’s towns (10.1%) and compared French towns (13.4%). The median disposable income is €27,670 a year per consumption unit. Dirac has 200 jobs for 600 working residents, 0.3 per worker.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Dirac sits below both Charente’s towns (88) and compared French towns (88) on this measure. From 2016 to 2025, 246 residents of Dirac died, against 223 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 10% more. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
Source: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025; DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 · Licence Ouverte
That puts Dirac above both Charente’s towns (28%) and compared French towns (22%). Young adults of 15 to 24 are 8.3% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Charente 52.4%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Dirac | Charente median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 9.6% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 32% | 28% | 22% |
| No diploma | 14% | 22% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 28% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 21% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 33% | 25% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Charente median and France median: the median of compared communes
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Too few homes sold here for a reliable median price, so the Cost Grade uses rent alone.
Source: Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 1 historic monument in Dirac: 1 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 0 inscrit (the second level). 13% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Dirac has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
Église Saint-Martial: Photo: rosier · CC BY-SA 4.0
Wikidata has nobody with a French article born in Dirac yet.
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more. The map uses IGN’s commune boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dirac | 1,516 | — | — | A− | — | A− |
| Soyaux | 10,087 | 4.1 | C+ | B | C− | C+ |
| Magnac-sur-Touvre | 3,255 | 4.2 | A | A− | A+ | A− |
| L'Isle-d'Espagnac | 5,682 | 4.9 | A− | B | B | A− |
| Ruelle-sur-Touvre | 7,408 | 5.5 | C+ | B+ | B− | C+ |
| Angoulême | 41,908 | 5.5 | C+ | B | D− | B+ |
| Gond-Pontouvre | 5,862 | 6.4 | C | B+ | D | C− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Dirac has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. Recorded figures: an average of 3.2 recorded violent incidents and 3.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Commune in Charente, Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Dirac is a commune of 1,516 people in the Communauté d'agglomération du Grand Angoulême. TownRatings compares communes, France’s local unit: each has its own mayor and its own statistics. Its area takes in the town and the countryside around it.
Built from INSEE’s 2026 official geography (COG) and IGN Admin Express boundaries
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, employment, commuting) · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (income per consumption unit, poverty) · Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025 · SSMSI, recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Ministry of Education (DEPP), brevet and bac results and value-added indicators, 2025 · INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses 2012–2023; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025 (care homes, emergency and maternity units, GPs, pharmacies); DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 (provisional) · INSEE, BPE 2025 and Filosofi 200 m grid (walking distances) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, 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.