A median age of 33.9: Bordeaux is younger than 98% of compared French towns
Households headed by a manager or professional make up 24%, against 9.4% in the typical compared French town. Bordeaux had 267,991 residents in 148,380 households at the 2023 Census. On the census count, 38% of households have no car. 79% of homes are flats, more than in 94% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Gironde 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 Bordeaux
A young town
Half of Bordeaux’s residents are under 33.9 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 13% are under 15 and 15% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
55% of Bordeaux’s households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 44% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Many graduates
58% of residents 15 and over who have left education hold a diploma above the bac, 31% a master’s or more (bac+5). Qualifications ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Faster growth than 73% of compared French towns: Bordeaux changed by +11% since 2012
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
The change was +5% from 2012 to 2017 and +5% from 2017 to 2023.
Bordeaux: 20% of residents are 15 to 24, above 99% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Bordeaux 33.9. The median compared French town: 44.
Compared with 22% in the typical compared French town, 15% of residents are 65 or over here.
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Gironde 51.8%, France 51.8%.
One-person households make up 55% in Bordeaux, more than in 98% 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 Gironde median and the France median
Living alone · share
In the typical compared French town, 10% of households are single parents; in Bordeaux, 7.5%. For one-person households, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 35%. About one in seven: that is how common couples with children are in Bordeaux (15%).
Bordeaux sits above 83% of compared French towns for second homes (6.9%)
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
12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town, against 14% in Bordeaux. Set beside that, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Turnover: just over a fifth of households moved in less than two years ago, and 7.7% have lived in their home 30 years or more.
Per consumption unit, the median standard of living is €27,590 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 Bordeaux is €27,590 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 67% of compared French towns. Some 18.9% of residents fall below the poverty line.
Bordeaux ranks below 97% of compared French towns on households headed by a retired person: 18%
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 make up 6.7%, against 14% in the typical compared French town. Against that, nearly a third of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
More immigrants than 78% of compared French towns: 12%
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.
With foreign nationals at 10%, Bordeaux is ahead of 82% of compared French towns on that count. The benchmark for immigrants in the typical compared French town: 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Married residents make up 27% in Bordeaux, less than in 99% of compared French towns
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
Here 42% of residents 15 and over are single, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 25%. Married residents make up 43% in the typical compared French town.
58% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, more than in 97% 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
The share of adults with no qualification trails 92% of compared French towns: 11%. Set beside that, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 118,489 to 514,819 people, the 13th youngest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Ages run from 29.4 in Lille to 43.7 in Paris 16e.
Of the 6 towns nearest Bordeaux, 5 are older
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 Bordeaux
What is the population of Bordeaux?
267,991 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 11% more than in 2012 (241,287).
How old are Bordeaux’s residents?
The median age is 33.9, younger than 98% of compared French towns. 16% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Bordeaux?
11,810, with occasional dwellings: 6.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Bordeaux?
INSEE counts 32,300 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 12% of residents, and 26,930 foreign nationals (10%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Bordeaux?
€27,590 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 18.9% 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.