Photo: Titre: Généalogie des comtes de Dreux et de Braine, réalisé après 1539. Représentation d'Antoine de Roye et Catherine de Sarrebruck. · CC BY-SA 4.0Half of Dreux is under 37.2, younger than 91% of compared French towns
Single-parent households: 13%, above 87% of compared French towns. The 2023 Census put Dreux’s population at 31,543, in 12,810 households. About one in five: that is how common households without a car are in Dreux (20%). The town has more flats than 82% of compared French towns, at 58%.
Throughout this page, the Eure-et-Loir 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 Dreux
Immigrants
INSEE counts 7,100 immigrants in Dreux (people born abroad who weren’t French at birth, whatever their nationality now): 22% of residents, against 7.5% for the median compared commune in Eure-et-Loir. 18% are foreign nationals. Immigrants and foreign nationals ↓
A young town
Half of Dreux’s residents are under 37.2 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 23% are under 15 and 17% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Social housing
33% of households rent from a social landlord (HLM), 24% rent privately and 42% own their home. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Dreux has changed by +1%, slower than 65% 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
Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Eure-et-Loir town −1%. From 2012 to 2017 the change was ±0%; from 2017 to 2023, +2%.
Below 81% of compared French towns: 17% of residents are 65 or over
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Dreux 37.2. The median compared French town: 44.
In the typical compared French town, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 11%; Dreux has 13%. Measured more widely, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Eure-et-Loir 52.3%, France 51.8%.
Dreux: 41% of households are one person living alone, above 72% 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 Eure-et-Loir median and the France median
Living alone · share
Set against 25% in the typical compared French town, 28% of households are couples with children in Dreux. For comparison, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
More households in social housing than 94% of compared French towns: 33%
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
14% of households have been in place 30 years or more; 12% moved in within the last two years. At 9.1%, the share of empty homes is higher than in 73% of compared French towns. Second homes are about as common here as in the typical compared French town: 1.5%.
Half above, half below €19,770 a year in standard of living
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.
Half of residents live in households above €19,770 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is lower than in 97% of compared French towns. Below the poverty line: 31.1% of residents.
Dreux: 20% of households are headed by a manual worker, above 83% 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
Here 7.5% of households are headed by a manager or professional, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 9.4%. The share of households headed by a retired person stands at 30%. Across the comparison, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Dreux sits above 95% of compared French towns for immigrants (22%)
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 Eure-et-Loir has 7.5%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 95% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of immigrants is 6.5%. Foreign nationals come to 18% in Dreux, about two in ten.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
More single residents than 88% of compared French towns: 33%
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
On the census count, just over two in five residents 15 and over are married. For single residents, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 25%.
Adults with no qualification make up 32% in Dreux, more than in 95% 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: 22% here and 30% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, the share of adults with no qualification is 19%.
The 10th youngest of 41 French towns of 30,053 to 33,162 people
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 Villiers-le-Bel (32.3), the youngest, and Aix-les-Bains (48.5), the oldest.
Dreux is younger than every town around it
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dreux | 37.2 | 17% | 1.5% | 22% |
| Vernouillet 12,310 · 1.3 mi | 40.7 | 21% | 1.4% | 19% |
| Saint-Rémy-sur-Avre 4,058 · 6.1 mi | 40.6 | 18% | 2.2% | 5.9% |
| Saint-Lubin-des-Joncherets 4,116 · 8.2 mi | 44.6 | 24% | 2.8% | 5% |
| Anet 2,721 · 8.8 mi | 49.2 | 30% | 4% | 6.5% |
| Ézy-sur-Eure 3,644 · 9.2 mi | 43.2 | 23% | 2.3% | 4.2% |
| Nogent-le-Roi 4,021 · 9.5 mi | 44.8 | 23% | 3.1% | 8.8% |
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 Dreux
What is the population of Dreux?
31,543 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 1% more than in 2012 (31,195).
How old are Dreux’s residents?
The median age is 37.2, younger than 91% of compared French towns. 28% are under 18 and 17% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Dreux?
210, with occasional dwellings: 1.5% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Dreux?
INSEE counts 7,080 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 22% of residents, and 5,600 foreign nationals (18%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Dreux?
€19,770 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 31.1% of residents live below the poverty line. 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.