Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Some 4,029 people live in this town, in Finistère, Brittany.
Plouarzel’s strongest subject is jobs & income — 0.5 jobs per working resident; 8.1% unemployment. Buying 70 m² at the median €2,544/m² takes 6.2 years of the median income per consumption unit in the Communauté de communes du Pays d'Iroise. Residents’ health trails most towns (C−): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 1% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. It lags on walkability as well (C−) — 33% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 6% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work.
Figures: employment and commuting, INSEE census 2023 · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025. Plouarzel has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The 2 things Plouarzel does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Plouarzel 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.
Plouarzel has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
On the Culture ministry’s list, Plouarzel counts 3 historic monuments: 1 classé at the top level of protection and 2 inscrit at the second.
The oldest protected part dates from prehistory; the first monument here was protected in 1883.
Other places to visit, heritage and museums in and near Plouarzel. Best known first.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Plouarzel.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
For a family doctor, residents of Plouarzel can choose among 4 GPs. Adjusted mortality in the town: 99 deaths for every 100 expected. France’s death rates at each age would predict 292 deaths in the town from 2016 to 2025; there were 313, 7% more. The nearest emergency department to Plouarzel is Chru Brest site Hopital la Cavale Blanche, 10 mi away.
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 · Allowing for care homes is a TownRatings estimate, not a published statistic.
5.9% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, lower than both Finistère’s towns (8.4%) and compared French towns (13.4%). Unemployment runs at 8.1%. At the census, 4.4% of working residents in Plouarzel didn’t travel to work at all.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
On the Culture ministry’s list, Plouarzel counts 3 historic monuments: 1 classé at the top level of protection and 2 inscrit at the second. Among the classé monuments in the town is Menhir de Kerveatoux, ou de Kerloas. The protected list starts in prehistory. Homes from before 1919 make up 11% of the total, above both Finistère’s towns (5.6%) and compared French towns (7.4%).
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
From July 2023 to June 2026, 118 homes were sold in Plouarzel. Renting a house costs an estimated €10.23/m² a month. Houses accounted for 96% of sales, apartments for the rest.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,529/m² | 113 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Just over a fifth of residents have reached 65. The age that splits Plouarzel in two is 45.8. Those aged 15 to 24 account for 9.9% of residents.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Finistère 51.7%, France 51.8%.
| Plouarzel | Finistère median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 9.3% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 20% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 28% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 26% | 22% |
| No diploma | 12% | 14% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 23% | 20% | 18% |
| Higher education | 32% | 34% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Finistère median and France median: the median of compared communes
Police and gendarmerie figures for Plouarzel show 23 offenses in 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, there were 2.5 cases of violence against people and 6.2 graded property crimes (2023–2025 average). Also worth knowing: the graded crime recorded most in the town 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 other physical violence, sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (40.0% of the index here). The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
On the Culture ministry’s list, Plouarzel counts 3 historic monuments: 1 classé at the top level of protection and 2 inscrit at the second.
Menhir de Kerveatoux, ou de Kerloas: Photo: User:China_Crisis · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Chapelle-ossuaire située près de l'église, ou chapelle Saint-Yves: Photo: Louis-Julien de la Bouëre · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wikidata places 2 people here, but for none of them do the articles confirm Plouarzel as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plouarzel | 4,029 | — | — | B− | — | C− |
| Saint-Renan | 8,577 | 5.4 | A | B− | A− | B− |
| Le Conquet | 2,835 | 5.7 | — | C+ | — | C |
| Locmaria-Plouzané | 5,130 | 6.2 | — | C+ | — | B |
| Plougonvelin | 4,521 | 6.4 | A− | C+ | A+ | B− |
| Plouzané | 13,567 | 7.9 | A | C | A | B− |
| Milizac-Guipronvel | 4,816 | 8.2 | A+ | B | A+ | A− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Plouarzel has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average.
Estimated advertised apartment rents are €11.55/m² a month, charges included. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Plouarzel grades B− for cost of living.
Commune in Finistère, Brittany
Plouarzel is a commune of 4,029 people in the Communauté de communes du Pays d'Iroise. 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
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 October 30, 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.