Photo: Thesupermat · CC BY-SA 3.0Brest is younger than 96% of compared French towns: a median age of 35
With households headed by a retired person at 24%, Brest is behind 85% of compared French towns on that count. Few places have as many flats: 74% here, more than in 92% of compared French towns. In 2023, the Census found 142,346 residents in the town, living in 77,310 households. Households without a car account for 27%.
Throughout this page, the Finistère 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 Brest
A young town
Half of Brest’s residents are under 35 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 14% are under 15 and 18% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
56% of Brest’s households are one person: higher than in 99% of compared French towns; 47% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Brest has changed by +2%, slower than 62% 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
Against +5% for the median compared French town and +4% for the median Finistère town, the change came in two steps: ±0% from 2012 to 2017, then +2% to 2023.
Above 99% of compared French towns: 20% of residents are 15 to 24
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Brest 35. The median compared French town: 44.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 18%, against 22% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Finistère 51.7%, France 51.8%.
Brest sits above 99% of compared French towns for one-person households (56%)
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 Finistère median and the France median
Living alone · share
The average household has 1.8 people. Lower than in 93% of compared French towns: 14% of households are couples with children. To put it in context, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, the share of single-parent households is 10%; Brest has 8.4%.
A larger share of households in social housing than 73% of compared French towns: 18%
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 four has no car (median compared French town: 11%). In Brest, 4% of homes are second homes. Empty homes are rarer here than in 53% of compared French towns. Households in social housing: 12% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
Median living standard: €24,030 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 midpoint of living standards here is €24,030 a year per consumption unit, lower than in 71% of compared French towns. One measure of hardship: 20.3% of residents are below the poverty line.
Households headed by a manager or professional make up 14% in Brest, more than in 73% 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 manual worker: 12%, below 64% of compared French towns. Typically, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
In Brest, 7.4% of residents are foreign nationals, more than in 71% of compared French towns
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 Finistère has 2.4%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 63% of compared French towns. By way of comparison, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town. The census found that nearly one in ten residents are immigrants in Brest.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
A lower share of married residents than 99% of compared French towns, at 27%
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 share of single residents tops 98% of compared French towns: 41%. Married residents: 43% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
More graduates of higher education than 79% of compared French towns: 40%
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
14% of adults out of school have no qualification; in the typical compared French town the figure is 19%. In the typical compared French town, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification.
Ranked by age, 13th youngest 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.
The youngest is Nancy (31.2), the oldest Paris 16e (43.7).
No nearby town is as young as Brest
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 Brest
What is the population of Brest?
142,346 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% more than in 2012 (139,676).
How old are Brest’s residents?
The median age is 35, younger than 96% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 18% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Brest?
3,500, with occasional dwellings: 4% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Brest?
INSEE counts 12,170 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 8.6% of residents, and 10,500 foreign nationals (7.4%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Brest?
€24,030 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 20.3% 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 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.