Photo: Floska33 · CC BY-SA 4.0Below 97% of compared French towns: 2.5% of homes stand empty
Compared with 11% in the typical compared French town, 4.6% of households have no car here. On the census count, 43% of households are headed by a retired person. Cestas has fewer flats than 86% of compared French towns, at 10%. At the 2023 Census, 16,666 people lived locally, in 7,380 households.
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 Cestas
An older town
Half of Cestas’ residents are under 51.4 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 30% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 7% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Cestas changed by +2% from 2012 to 2023, 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved +3%, and from 2017 to 2023 −2%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Gironde town +16%.
Cestas is older than 87% of compared French towns: a median age of 51.4
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Cestas 51.4. The median compared French town: 44.
30% of residents are 65 or over; in the typical compared French town the figure is 22%. The census found that nearly one in ten residents are 15 to 24 in Cestas.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Gironde 51.8%, France 51.8%.
A smaller share of one-person households than 80% of compared French towns: 29%
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
27% of households are couples with children, against 25% in the typical compared French town. The share of single-parent households stands at 7.8%. Typically, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
0.9% of homes are second homes, below 82% of compared French towns
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
Households that moved in under two years ago: 5.2%. Those in their home 30 years or more: 32%. Typically, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Higher than in 52% of compared French towns: 13% of households rent social housing (HLM).
Half above, half below €32,760 a year in standard of living
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 Cestas is €32,760 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 93% of compared French towns. The poverty rate is 5.0%.
A larger share of households headed by a manager or professional than 87% of compared French towns: 20%
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
The figure for households headed by a manual worker is 6.8% in Cestas and 14% in the typical compared French town. Set beside that, 9.4% of 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).
1.8% of residents are foreign nationals, fewer than in 82% 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.
3.8% of residents are immigrants; in the typical compared French town the figure is 6.5%. On average, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Gironde has 5.1%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 75% of compared French towns.
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 52% in Cestas, more than in 96% 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
A fifth of residents 15 and over are single, against 25% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, the share of married residents is 43%.
Above 85% of compared French towns: 43% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification
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
Compared with 19% in the typical compared French town, 13% of adults out of school have no qualification here. Measured more widely, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
2nd highest median age among 41 French towns of 16,065 to 17,274
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 Saint-Julien-en-Genevois (35.4), the youngest, and La Baule-Escoublac (60.4), the oldest.
Cestas is older than every town around it
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 Cestas
What is the population of Cestas?
16,666 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% more than in 2012 (16,379).
How old are Cestas’ residents?
The median age is 51.4, older than 87% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 30% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Cestas?
72, with occasional dwellings: 0.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Cestas?
INSEE counts 630 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.8% of residents, and 300 foreign nationals (1.8%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Cestas?
€32,760 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 5.0% 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.