A smaller share of flats than 99% of compared French towns: 0.8%
Set against 11% in the typical compared French town, 5.8% of households have no car in Saint-Léger-le-Petit. 3% of households are headed by a manager or professional. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are scarce here: 8.3%, fewer than in 90% of compared French towns. This Cher town counted 362 residents and 180 households at the 2023 Census.
Throughout this page, the Cher 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 Saint-Léger-le-Petit
One home in six is a second home
The census counted 43 second homes and occasional dwellings in Saint-Léger-le-Petit, 17% of its 260 homes: higher than in 92% of compared French towns. 100% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Empty homes
The census found 42 homes empty (16%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
An older town
Half of Saint-Léger-le-Petit’s residents are under 52 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 27% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 3.6% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Saint-Léger-le-Petit had 378 residents at the 2012 census and 362 in 2023, down 4%: slower growth than in 86% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Saint-Léger-le-Petit: 16% of homes stand empty, above 97% of compared French towns
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
Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. The share of empty homes in the typical compared French town is 6.7%. Second homes account for 17%.
From 2012 to 2023, 86% of compared French towns grew faster than Saint-Léger-le-Petit: −4%
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
Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Cher town −4%. From 2012 to 2017 the change was −6%; from 2017 to 2023, +2%.
Older than 89% of compared French towns: half of Saint-Léger-le-Petit is over 52
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Saint-Léger-le-Petit 52. The median compared French town: 44.
In Saint-Léger-le-Petit, 27% of residents are 65 or over, beside 22% in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Cher 52.2%, France 51.8%.
Saint-Léger-le-Petit sits above 61% of compared French towns for couples with children (27%)
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 Cher median and the France median
Living alone · share
On average, 2.1 people share a household. Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. Couples with children: 25% in the typical compared French town, for comparison. There is little gap on one-person households: 35%, about the same as in the typical compared French town.
Standard of living at the median: €21,700 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 €21,700 a year: lower than in 90% of compared French towns.
Saint-Léger-le-Petit: 38% of households are headed by a retired person, above 77% 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 Saint-Léger-le-Petit, 11% of households are headed by a manual worker, beside 14% in the typical compared French town. Typically, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A smaller share of immigrants than 93% of compared French towns: 1.9%
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.
Against a figure of 4.3% in the typical compared French town, the share of foreign nationals in Saint-Léger-le-Petit comes in at 1.4%. Measured more widely, 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.
In Saint-Léger-le-Petit, 17% of residents 15 and over are single, fewer than in 99% 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
The census found that 43% of residents 15 and over are married in Saint-Léger-le-Petit. In the typical compared French town, single residents come to 25%.
Saint-Léger-le-Petit sits below 98% of compared French towns for graduates of higher education (15%)
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: 17%, below 61% of compared French towns. The share of graduates of higher education in the typical compared French town is 30%.
Ranked by age, 9th oldest of 41 French towns this size
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.
2 of 6 neighbors are older than Saint-Léger-le-Petit
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Léger-le-Petit | 52 | 27% | 17% | 1.9% |
| La Charité-sur-Loire 4,705 · 4.5 mi | 54 | 36% | 6.7% | 5.7% |
| Garchizy 3,648 · 7.2 mi | 45 | 23% | 1.4% | 3.9% |
| Fourchambault 3,992 · 8 mi | 49.3 | 27% | 1.2% | 6.3% |
| Guérigny 2,505 · 9.6 mi | 48.2 | 26% | 2.8% | 1.5% |
| Varennes-Vauzelles 9,146 · 9.9 mi | 53.7 | 34% | 1.1% | 6.1% |
| Marzy 3,623 · 9.9 mi | 49.1 | 25% | 1.5% | 4.5% |
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 Saint-Léger-le-Petit
What is the population of Saint-Léger-le-Petit?
362 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 4% fewer than in 2012 (378).
How old are Saint-Léger-le-Petit’s residents?
The median age is 52, older than 89% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 27% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Saint-Léger-le-Petit?
43, with occasional dwellings: 17% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Saint-Léger-le-Petit?
INSEE counts 7 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.9% of residents, and 5 foreign nationals (1.4%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Saint-Léger-le-Petit?
€21,700 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 9, 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.