A median age of 56.2: La Motte-Chalancon is older than 95% of compared French towns
One in ten homes are flats, against 30% in the typical compared French town. At the 2023 Census, 395 people lived in La Motte-Chalancon, in 220 households. Single-parent households make up about one in 22 here (4.5%). Households in social housing are rarer here than in 90% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Drôme 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 La Motte-Chalancon
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 210 second homes and occasional dwellings in La Motte-Chalancon, 45% of its 470 homes: higher than in 97% of compared French towns. 96% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
An older town
Half of La Motte-Chalancon’s residents are under 56.2 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 34% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 11% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
52% of La Motte-Chalancon’s households are one person: higher than in 96% of compared French towns; 46% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Second homes make up 45% in La Motte-Chalancon, more than in 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
One household in seven has no car (median compared French town: 11%). Households without a car account for 15%. Empty homes are more common here than in three quarters of compared French towns. As a reference point, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town.
±0% since 2012, a pace below 71% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved +8%, and from 2017 to 2023 −7%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Drôme town +8%.
Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than 99% of compared French towns: 5.7%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ La Motte-Chalancon 56.2. The median compared French town: 44.
By its share of residents aged 65 and over (34%), La Motte-Chalancon is above 92% of compared French towns. Across the comparison, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Drôme 51.8%, France 51.8%.
A smaller share of couples with children than 99% of compared French towns: 9.7%
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 Drôme median and the France median
Living alone · share
The share of one-person households is 52%, against 35% in the typical compared French town. Measured more widely, 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town. The average household has 1.7 people.
Median standard of living: €21,460 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.
The median standard of living in La Motte-Chalancon is €21,460 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 91% of compared French towns.
2.5% of households are headed by a manager or professional, below 99% 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
Households headed by a retired person: 39%, above four fifths of compared French towns. Across the comparison, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town. About one in 11: that is how common households headed by a manual worker are in La Motte-Chalancon (8.9%).
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
La Motte-Chalancon sits below 73% of compared French towns for immigrants (4.1%)
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.
The median compared commune in Drôme has 6.5%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 73% of compared French towns. On the census count, 2.4% of residents are foreign nationals.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Below 90% of compared French towns: 35% of residents 15 and over are married
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
Single residents: 31%, above 81% of compared French towns. Set beside that, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
La Motte-Chalancon: 30% of adults out of school have no qualification, above 91% of compared French towns
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
Graduates of higher education make up 24%, against 30% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Ranked by age, 5th 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.
No nearby town is as young as La Motte-Chalancon
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 La Motte-Chalancon
What is the population of La Motte-Chalancon?
395 at INSEE’s 2023 census, about the same as in 2012 (396).
How old are La Motte-Chalancon’s residents?
The median age is 56.2, older than 95% of compared French towns. 10% are under 18 and 34% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in La Motte-Chalancon?
210, with occasional dwellings: 45% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in La Motte-Chalancon?
INSEE counts 16 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.1% of residents, and 9 foreign nationals (2.4%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in La Motte-Chalancon?
€21,460 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.