Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,606 in Gard, Occitanie.
Bessèges grades C+ overall: better than 41% of compared French towns, and #19 of 60 in Gard. Its weakest subject is jobs & income (D): 1.4 jobs per working resident; 27.3% unemployment. Its strongest is cost of living (A): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.7 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 3 things Bessèges does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Bessèges 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 Culture ministry lists no building in Bessèges as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Croix de cimetière, in Saint-André-de-Cruzières, 6 mi away.
36% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bessèges.
On this, Bessèges is above both Gard’s towns (24%) and compared French towns (22%). 12% of residents are children under 15.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Gard 51.9%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Bessèges | Gard median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 6.7% | 9.5% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 14% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 40% | 24% | 22% |
| No diploma | 31% | 20% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 15% | 27% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Gard median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
In the comparison, Bessèges comes above both Gard’s towns (90) and compared French towns (88). From 2016 to 2025, 863 residents of Bessèges died, against 588 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 47% more. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
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
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
For Bessèges, that is below both Gard’s towns (€12.19/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). The median price, €1,124/m², comes from 86 sales of houses and apartments in Bessèges from July 2023 to June 2026. Only one of the 68 towns in Gard costs less to buy into than Bessèges, whose median sale is €1,124/m².
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,584/m² | 44 |
| Apartments | €693/m² | 42 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Bessèges sits above both Gard’s towns (11.9%) and compared French towns (10.1%) on this measure. The median disposable income is €18,710 a year per consumption unit.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Police and gendarmerie recorded 71 offenses in the graded categories in Bessèges in 2025. For sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 13.0% of the index here. Because that share is over 10%, this Safety Grade is less sure than most. With 850 jobs for 600 working residents, Bessèges draws people from neighboring communes, and crimes are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its number of residents.
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
Nothing in Bessèges is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
3 notable people were born in Bessèges.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bessèges | 2,606 | — | C+ | A | C+ | D |
| Saint-Ambroix | 3,445 | 5.4 | D− | B | C− | D |
| La Grand-Combe | 4,783 | 6.4 | C | A | C− | C− |
| Rousson | 4,456 | 7.8 | D | C− | A+ | C+ |
| Les Vans Ardèche | 2,662 | 7.9 | C | C | C | B |
| Saint-Julien-les-Rosiers | 3,533 | 8 | — | C | — | C |
| Salindres | 3,648 | 8.9 | D− | C− | B | D |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C+ for safety, #42 of 60 in Gard.
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €1,124/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. By type: houses €1,584/m² (44 sales), apartments €693/m² (42 sales). Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Bessèges grades A for cost of living.
Commune in Gard, Occitanie
Bessèges is a commune of 2,606 people in the Communauté de communes de Cèze Cévennes. 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.