Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town, home to 9,647 people, lies in Cher, Centre-Val de Loire. It skews older: 29% of residents are 65 or over.
Jobs & income is its strong suit (A−) — 1.6 jobs per working resident; 10.2% unemployment. It also does well on health — after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 17% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. Homes sell for a median €1,806/m²: 70 m² comes to 4.9 years of the median income per consumption unit in the Communauté d'agglomération Bourges Plus. Overall, that makes a B+, good for #5 of 14 in Cher. Set against the rest, it does better than 70% of compared French towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for safety, B− for schools and B for walkability.
Figures: employment and commuting, INSEE census 2023 · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior) · brevet and bac results, Ministry of Education · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 3 things Saint-Doulchard does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Saint-Doulchard 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 no building in Saint-Doulchard as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Ancien Hôtel-Dieu, in Bourges, 1.6 mi away.
3% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Museums, heritage and gardens in and near Saint-Doulchard. Best known first.
AttractionCathédrale Saint-Étienne de Bourges3.5 km southeast, in Bourges
MuseumPalais Jacques-Cœur3 km southeast, in Bourges
MuseumMusée du Berry2.9 km southeast, in Bourges
MuseumHôtel Cujas2.9 km southeast, in Bourges
Historic houseHôtel des Échevins3 km southeast, in BourgesPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Saint-Doulchard.
People 65 and over make up 29% of the town. Degrees are held by 30% of adults, above Cher’s towns (20%) and close to compared French towns (30%). At 51.4, the median resident of Saint-Doulchard sits in the middle of the age range.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Cher 52.2%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Saint-Doulchard | Cher median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 9.2% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 20% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 29% | 29% | 22% |
| No diploma | 20% | 25% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 29% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 16% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 30% | 20% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Cher median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
From 2016 to 2025, 1,153 residents of Saint-Doulchard died, against 1,245 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 7% fewer. In Cher, life expectancy at birth reaches 84 years for women and 78.4 for men (2025), next to 85.9 and 80.3 for France. This Cher town has 14 family doctors.
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 · The adjustment for care homes is TownRatings’ own modeling, not an official figure.
10.5% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, below both Cher’s towns (11.9%) and compared French towns (13.4%). At the census, 3.1% of working residents in Saint-Doulchard didn’t travel to work at all. Unemployment stands at 10.2%.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
The 2025 count: 257 offenses in Saint-Doulchard. The yearly rates for 2023–2025: 4.3 violent offenses and 18.4 graded property crimes per 1,000 residents. This Cher town has 5,950 jobs for 3,650 working residents, so people come in from nearby communes to work. In 2025, criminal damage led the graded crimes locally.
Not in the gradeTheft without violence, drug use and fraud are shown for information but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence plus burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and criminal damage per resident.
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · Small counts of sexual violence and armed robbery go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 1.0% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses. Crimes are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its residents, so a town that draws people in from around can look higher.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The median price, €1,806/m², comes from 311 sales of houses and apartments in Saint-Doulchard from July 2023 to June 2026. No town in Cher costs more to buy into than Saint-Doulchard, at €1,806/m², the highest of 16. Renting a house costs an estimated €9.97/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,831/m² | 303 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
On results, collèges and lycées here come #4 of 14 in Cher. Near Saint-Doulchard, 93.0% of lycée candidates passed the bac, in line with Cher’s towns (92.4%) and compared French towns (92.9%). At the five general lycées, 98% of 1,212 candidates passed the bac, at the expected rate.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Louis ArmandNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 158 | 87%−4 pts |
| Lycée Marguerite de NavarreNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 330 | 98%±0 pts |
| Collège Victor HugoBest against expectations: 4 points above the expected rateCollège | Collège | 99 | 85%+4 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Nothing in Saint-Doulchard is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
16 notable people were born in Saint-Doulchard.
Morgan Sanson: Steindy 22:57, 13 June 2013 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Baptiste Santamaria: Kb25130, CC BY-SA 4.0 · William Bonnet: Kriztobal, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Romain Combaud: Jérémy-Günther-Heinz Jähnick, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Romain Girouille: Ian Patterson, CC BY 2.0 · Loïc Jacquet: Clément Bucco-Lechat, CC BY-SA 3.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Doulchard | 9,647 | — | B+ | C+ | C+ | B+ |
| Bourges | 64,186 | 2.2 | C+ | B | C− | C+ |
| La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin | 3,681 | 3.4 | A | B | A+ | B− |
| Trouy | 4,055 | 5 | B | B | A | C |
| Saint-Germain-du-Puy | 4,779 | 5.5 | C | B+ | C− | B− |
| Saint-Martin-d'Auxigny | 2,546 | 6.9 | — | A | — | D |
| Mehun-sur-Yèvre | 6,380 | 7.3 | C | A | C+ | D |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C+ for safety, #8 of 14 in Cher. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 72 burglaries and 95 acts of criminal damage.
They grade B−, better than 51% of compared French towns and #4 of 14 in Cher. 98% of 330 candidates passed the bac at Lycée Marguerite de Navarre in 2025, at the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €1,806/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Saint-Doulchard grades C+ for cost of living.
Commune in Cher, Centre-Val de Loire
Saint-Doulchard is a commune of 9,647 people in the Communauté d'agglomération Bourges Plus. 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) · DGFiP, DVF property sales, July 2023 to June 2026 · 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.