Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
In Drôme, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, this town has 10,477 residents.
With a D overall, Portes-lès-Valence is better than 13% of compared French towns and ranks #31 of 36 in Drôme. School results trail most towns: bac results 6 points below the expected rate; brevet results 4 points below the expected rate. Fewer journeys need a car: 97% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 13% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. At the median price of €2,398/m², a 70 m² home costs 6.6 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the Communauté d'agglomération Valence Romans Agglo.
Figures: amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting, INSEE census 2023 · brevet and bac results, Ministry of Education · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
Each subject compares Portes-lès-Valence 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 one thing Portes-lès-Valence does most differently from other towns.
The Culture ministry’s list holds 1 historic monument in Portes-lès-Valence; none is classé, France’s top protection.
3.1% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Marcelle Vioux, born in 1895, is the one person born in Portes-lès-Valence before 1900 that Wikidata records.
Portes-lès-Valence has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
Chapelle Saint-Gervais: Photo: Celeda · CC BY-SA 4.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Portes-lès-Valence.
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Near Portes-lès-Valence, 84.0% of collège pupils passed the brevet, close to Drôme’s towns (85.1%) and below compared French towns (87.5%). The closest lycée for the general bac is 3.7 mi off. Also worth knowing: on results, collèges and lycées here come #27 of 32 in Drôme.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Jean MacéNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 146 | 84%−4 pts |
| Lycée professionnel Victor HugoNearest lycéeVocational lycée | Vocational lycée | 113 | 78%−6 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Portes-lès-Valence has 6,250 jobs for 4,250 working residents, 1.5 per worker. Half of residents lived on more than €24,070 a year per consumption unit, below Drôme’s towns (€25,300) and compared French towns (€25,970) alike. At the census, 6.9% of working residents in Portes-lès-Valence went to work by public transport.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
333 sales of houses and apartments in Portes-lès-Valence, from July 2023 to June 2026, give the median of €2,398/m². Apartments in Portes-lès-Valence sell for €2,177/m², houses for €2,539/m². Advertised rents are estimated at €12.77/m² a month, about level with compared French towns (€12.41/m²) and above Drôme’s towns (€11.33/m²).
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,539/m² | 178 |
| Apartments | €2,177/m² | 155 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
For 2025, the figures show 253 offenses in Portes-lès-Valence. Violence against people averaged 6.4 per 1,000 residents a year over 2023–2025; graded property crimes averaged 20.6. Among the graded crimes locally, the most frequent was criminal damage (2025).
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 · When armed robbery number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (0.4% of the index here). The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 1 historic monument in Portes-lès-Valence, none of them classé, France’s highest protection. 3.1% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
People 65 and over make up just over a fifth of the town, below Drôme’s towns (23%) and compared French towns (22%) alike. Children under 15 make up nearly a fifth of residents. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 11% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Drôme 51.8%, France 51.8%.
| Portes-lès-Valence | Drôme median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 9.8% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 23% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 23% | 22% |
| No diploma | 23% | 20% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 30% | 25% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 17% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 24% | 32% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Drôme median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
France’s death rates at each age would predict 910 deaths in Portes-lès-Valence from 2016 to 2025; there were 921, 1% more. Its two care homes for older people (114 places) count their residents as Portes-lès-Valence’s; allowing for them, deaths were 10% below expected. There are 7 general practitioners locally. In Drôme, women can expect to live 85.7 years and men 80.6 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France.
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 care-home step is TownRatings’ own calculation, not an official number.
Heritage, museums and family days out in and near Portes-lès-Valence. Best known first.
2 notable people were born in Portes-lès-Valence.
Marcelle Vioux: Le Jardin des lettres, Public domain · Serge Cohen: Alain Pignon, CC BY-SA 3.0
Commune in Drôme, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Portes-lès-Valence is a commune of 10,477 people in the Communauté d'agglomération Valence Romans Agglo. 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portes-lès-Valence | 10,477 | — | D | C | C | B− |
| Charmes-sur-Rhône Ardèche | 3,143 | 2.1 | — | B− | — | A− |
| Étoile-sur-Rhône | 5,468 | 2.4 | B− | C+ | B− | B |
| Beaumont-lès-Valence | 4,337 | 3.3 | C+ | C− | A+ | C |
| Valence | 64,458 | 4 | D | C+ | D | C+ |
| Malissard | 3,294 | 4.2 | B+ | C | A+ | B− |
| Guilherand-Granges Ardèche | 11,235 | 4.2 | A− | C+ | B+ | B+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C for safety, #19 of 36 in Drôme. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 27 burglaries and 83 acts of criminal damage.
They grade D, better than 15% of compared French towns and #27 of 32 in Drôme. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Prices are close to the median of compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €2,398/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns, so Portes-lès-Valence grades C for cost of living.
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 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.
