1.2% of homes are flats, below 99% of compared French towns
With households without a car at 4.7%, Val-de-Cognac is behind 90% of compared French towns on that count. Residents aged 65 and over are more common here than in just over four fifths of compared French towns. At the 2023 Census Val-de-Cognac was home to 3,471 people in 1,600 households. In Val-de-Cognac, 40% of households are headed by a retired person.
Throughout this page, the Charente 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 Val-de-Cognac
Fewer residents than in 2012
Val-de-Cognac had 3,700 residents at the 2012 census and 3,471 in 2023, down 6%: slower growth than in 91% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Val-de-Cognac changed by −6% from 2012 to 2023, slower than 91% 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 Charente town changed +1% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought −4% and the next six −3%.
Older than 85% of compared French towns: half of Val-de-Cognac is over 50.5
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Val-de-Cognac 50.5. The median compared French town: 44.
Set against 11% in the typical compared French town, nearly one in ten residents are 15 to 24 in Val-de-Cognac.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Charente 52.4%, France 51.8%.
One-person households make up 31% in Val-de-Cognac, less than in 73% 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 Charente median and the France median
Living alone · share
In the typical compared French town, the share of couples with children is 25%; Val-de-Cognac has 22%. Set beside that, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Single-parent households: 7.8% of the total.
Val-de-Cognac ranks below 99% of compared French towns on households in social housing: 1.1%
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
Second homes make up 3.9%, against 2.1% in the typical compared French town. Few places have as many empty homes: 9.7% here, more than in 77% of compared French towns. As a yardstick, 12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. 7.5% of households moved in less than two years ago; 31% have been in their home 30 years or more.
Half above, half below €26,610 a year in 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.
At €26,610 a year per consumption unit, the median standard of living here is higher than in 57% of compared French towns. Living below the poverty line: 8.0% of residents.
4.4% of households are headed by a manager or professional, fewer than in 90% 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 the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a manual worker is 14%; Val-de-Cognac has 23%. Set beside that, 9.4% of households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants: 3.1%, a lower share than 81% 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.
Compared with 4.3% in the typical compared French town, 2.1% of residents are foreign nationals here. For immigrants, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Only 20% of residents 15 and over are single in Val-de-Cognac
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
Nearly half of residents 15 and over are married; in the typical compared French town the figure is 43%. For single residents, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 25%.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 79% of compared French towns, at 22%
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: 21%, above nearly three fifths of compared French towns. As a yardstick, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 12th oldest of 41 French towns of 3,441 to 3,500 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 35.9 in Moult-Chicheboville to 60.1 in Bréhal.
Nearby, 3 of 6 towns have older populations than Val-de-Cognac
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 Val-de-Cognac
What is the population of Val-de-Cognac?
3,471 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 6% fewer than in 2012 (3,700).
How old are Val-de-Cognac’s residents?
The median age is 50.5, older than 85% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 28% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Val-de-Cognac?
71, with occasional dwellings: 3.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Val-de-Cognac?
INSEE counts 110 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.1% of residents, and 74 foreign nationals (2.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Val-de-Cognac?
€26,610 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 8.0% 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.