A median age of 52.5: Gujan-Mestras is older than 90% of compared French towns
42% of households are headed by a retired person (typical compared French town: 32%). At the 2023 Census Gujan-Mestras was home to 22,153 people in 11,180 households. Couples with children: 18% of the total. Households in social housing are rarer here than in 69% 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 Gujan-Mestras
One home in six is a second home
The census counted 2,210 second homes and occasional dwellings in Gujan-Mestras, 16% of its 14,130 homes: higher than in 91% of compared French towns. 58% 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 Gujan-Mestras’ residents are under 52.5 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 31% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 8.2% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
16% of homes in Gujan-Mestras are second homes
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
In Gujan-Mestras, 7% of households have no car, beside 11% in the typical compared French town. Few places have so few flats: 20% here, fewer than in two thirds of compared French towns. Second homes make up 2.1% in the typical compared French town. The census found that 5.2% of homes stand empty locally.
Gujan-Mestras’s population changed by +10% since 2012, more than in 70% 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 the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Gironde town +16%.
Gujan-Mestras ranks above 87% of compared French towns on residents aged 65 and over: 31%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Gujan-Mestras 52.5. The median compared French town: 44.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 8.7%, below 86% of compared French towns. Elsewhere, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Gironde 51.8%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
41% of households are one person living alone, more than in 72% 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
On average, 2 people share a household. The benchmark for one-person households in the typical compared French town: 35%. There is little gap on single-parent households: 9.5%, about the same as in the typical compared French town.
The median resident lives on €29,230 a year per consumption unit
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.
Half of Gujan-Mestras’ residents live in households with a standard of living below €29,230 a year per consumption unit, and half above: higher than in 80% of compared French towns. The share living below the poverty line is 9.6%.
Fewer households headed by a manual worker than 87% of compared French towns: 7.9%
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 share of households headed by a manager or professional is 11%, against 9.4% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Gujan-Mestras sits below 80% of compared French towns for immigrants (3.2%)
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 figure for foreign nationals is 2% in Gujan-Mestras and 4.3% in the typical compared French town. For immigrants, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
A lower share of single residents than 78% of compared French towns, at 22%
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 couples, 45% are married and 6.2% in a PACS (median compared French town: 43% and 6.1%); 7.9% are widowed. Single residents: 25% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
Adults with no qualification: 13%, a lower share than 82% 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
In the typical compared French town, the share of graduates of higher education is 30%; Gujan-Mestras has 35%. Adults with no qualification make up 19% in the typical compared French town.
The oldest of 41 French towns of 21,424 to 22,858 people
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Loos (33), the oldest Gujan-Mestras (52.5).
Gujan-Mestras sits below 2 of its 6 closest neighbors on median age
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 Gujan-Mestras
What is the population of Gujan-Mestras?
22,153 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 10% more than in 2012 (20,136).
How old are Gujan-Mestras’ residents?
The median age is 52.5, older than 90% of compared French towns. 16% are under 18 and 31% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Gujan-Mestras?
2,210, with occasional dwellings: 16% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Gujan-Mestras?
INSEE counts 710 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 3.2% of residents, and 440 foreign nationals (2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Gujan-Mestras?
€29,230 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 9.6% 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.