18% of homes are second homes, a share 92% of compared French towns don’t reach
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 7.5%, against 11% in the typical compared French town. Sauve had 1,988 residents in 980 households at the 2023 Census. In Sauve, nearly a fifth of households are couples with children. Compared with other places, households headed by a retired person are common here: 37%, more than in three quarters of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Gard 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 Sauve
One home in six is a second home
The census counted 240 second homes and occasional dwellings in Sauve, 18% of its 1,320 homes: higher than in 92% of compared French towns. 46% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
An older town
Half of Sauve’s residents are under 51.3 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 29% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 6.6% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Below 80% of compared French towns: 6.4% of households rent social housing (HLM)
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
7.7% of homes stand empty; in the typical compared French town the figure is 6.7%. As a yardstick, 12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Here, just over a third of homes are flats. Households without a car are more common here than in 58% of compared French towns.
Slower than most: +1% since 2012, behind 66% 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 those years, the median Gard town changed +7% and the median compared French town +5%. Between 2012 and 2017 the population moved −2%, then +3% to 2023.
Sauve is older than 87% of compared French towns: a median age of 51.3
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Sauve 51.3. The median compared French town: 44.
In the typical compared French town, the share of residents aged 65 and over is 22%; Sauve has 29%.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Gard 51.9%, France 51.8%.
Sauve: 42% of households are one person living alone, above 76% 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 Gard median and the France median
Living alone · share
The average household has 2 people. On single-parent households, Sauve sits higher than 61% of compared French towns: 11%. The benchmark for one-person households in the typical compared French town: 35%.
Median standard of living: €22,940 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 median standard of living in Sauve is €22,940 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 82% of compared French towns.
A smaller share of households headed by a manager or professional than 85% of compared French towns: 5.1%
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
Compared with 14% in the typical compared French town, one in ten households are headed by a manual worker here. Elsewhere, 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).
Immigrants: 13%, a higher share than 81% 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 Gard has 6.6%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 81% of compared French towns. The share of foreign nationals stands at 8.1%. Immigrants: 6.5% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
29% of residents 15 and over are single, a share 73% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
In the typical compared French town, 43% of residents 15 and over are married; in Sauve, 41%. The share of single residents in the typical compared French town is 25%.
34% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, more than in 62% 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
21% of adults out of school have no qualification; in the typical compared French town the figure is 19%. The wider picture: 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 1,988 to 2,582 people, the 11th oldest
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 Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Prayssac (62.3), the oldest.
Sauve sits below 3 of its 6 closest neighbors on median age
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sauve | 51.3 | 29% | 18% | 13% |
| Quissac 3,528 · 3.2 mi | 48.6 | 26% | 5.6% | 7.6% |
| Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort 3,737 · 4.9 mi | 51.1 | 29% | 6.8% | 8.8% |
| Anduze 3,391 · 7.7 mi | 56.8 | 37% | 15% | 8.1% |
| Boisset-et-Gaujac 2,707 · 8.2 mi | 48.5 | 28% | 5.7% | 5% |
| Bagard 2,605 · 10 mi | 51.5 | 30% | 3.6% | 5% |
| Saint-Christol-lez-Alès 7,310 · 11.3 mi | 52.2 | 31% | 2.2% | 6.2% |
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 Sauve
What is the population of Sauve?
1,988 at INSEE’s 2023 census, about the same as in 2012 (1,969).
How old are Sauve’s residents?
The median age is 51.3, older than 87% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 29% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Sauve?
240, with occasional dwellings: 18% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Sauve?
INSEE counts 260 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 13% of residents, and 160 foreign nationals (8.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Sauve?
€22,940 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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.