Essey ranks below 99% of compared French towns on households without a car: 2%
In the typical compared French town, the share of flats is 30%; Essey has 8.8%. Here, 6.6% of residents are 15 to 24. On single-parent households, Essey sits lower than 89% of compared French towns: 7.1%. This Côte-d'Or town had 315 residents in 140 households at the 2023 census.
Throughout this page, the Côte-d'Or 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 Essey
One home in nine is a second home
The census counted 21 second homes and occasional dwellings in Essey, 12% of its 180 homes: higher than in 89% of compared French towns. 94% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Growing fast
Essey had 256 residents at the 2012 census and 315 in 2023, up 23%: faster growth than in 93% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Empty homes
The census found 21 homes empty (12%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Second homes make up 12% in Essey, more than in 89% 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
In the typical compared French town, 6.7% of homes stand empty; in Essey, 12%. Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. Across the comparison, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Just over one in ten households have been in place 30 years or more; 9.5% moved in within the last two years.
Essey grew +23% from 2012 to 2023, ahead of 93% 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 compared French town changed +5% over the same years, the median Côte-d'Or town −2%. The change was +7% from 2012 to 2017 and +15% from 2017 to 2023.
Younger than 83% of compared French towns: half of Essey is under 39.3
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Essey 39.3. The median compared French town: 44.
Against a figure of 22% in the typical compared French town, the share of residents aged 65 and over in Essey comes in at 17%.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Côte-d'Or 52.8%, France 51.8%.
In Essey, 23% of households are couples with children, fewer than in 63% 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 Côte-d'Or median and the France median
Living alone · share
One-person households: 33%, below 64% of compared French towns. As a yardstick, 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town. Households here average 2.2 people each.
At the median, €26,540 a year to live on
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.
The median standard of living in Essey is €26,540 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 56% of compared French towns.
Essey ranks below 89% of compared French towns on households headed by a retired person: 23%
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
By its share of households headed by a manager or professional (7.1%), Essey is below two thirds of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a retired person is 32%. Households headed by a manual worker account for 17%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Essey sits below 77% of compared French towns for foreign nationals (2.1%)
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.
In the typical compared French town, the share of immigrants is 6.5%; Essey has 4.5%. Immigrants make up a share lower than in 68% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Côte-d'Or has 7.3%. Foreign nationals: 4.3% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
22% of residents 15 and over are single, fewer than in 82% 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
Against a figure of 43% in the typical compared French town, the share of married residents in Essey comes in at 42%. In the typical compared French town, single residents come to 25%.
A smaller share of adults with no qualification than 77% of compared French towns: 14%
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
With graduates of higher education at 36%, Essey is ahead of 70% of compared French towns on that count. Across the comparison, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
41 French towns of 315 to 2,582 people: this is the 2nd youngest
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 Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Prayssac (62.3), the oldest.
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 Essey
What is the population of Essey?
315 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 23% more than in 2012 (256).
How old are Essey’s residents?
The median age is 39.3, younger than 83% of compared French towns. 24% are under 18 and 17% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Essey?
21, with occasional dwellings: 12% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Essey?
INSEE counts 14 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.5% of residents, and 7 foreign nationals (2.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Essey?
€26,540 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.