Vals-près-le-Puy · ALlouette70 · CC BY-SA 4.0How Haute-Loire stacks up
Haute-Loire is one of France’s strongest départements: 7th of 97 overall, best on schools and weakest on getting about.
Each subject puts an official figure for the whole département beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
5th of 100A+96/100 Among France’s best départements for safety. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
All eight crimes the town grades count (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, damage): 16.0 per 1,000 a year (France 25.2), 4th of 100.
Source: SSMSI, crime recorded by police and gendarmerie by commune, 2023 to 2025; where a commune’s count is hidden (five or fewer cases), SSMSI’s average for the département’s hidden communes, which adds up to the département’s own total; INSEE populations.
Measure: our Safety grade: recorded crime against residents (violence, burglary, vehicle crime, damage) per resident. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 3,862 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 15 towns in Haute-Loire. Covers 77% of the residents of its graded towns.
Schools
4th of 100A+97/100 Among France’s best départements for schools. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Value added at the brevet (results against what the pupils’ backgrounds predict): +2.3 points (France −1.0), 9th of 100.
Source: DEPP, 2025 brevet results and value added (IVAC) for every collège in the département with published results, weighted by candidates.
Measure: our Schools grade: brevet and bac results and value added of the collèges and lycées within 5 km. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 3,926 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 19 towns in Haute-Loire. Covers 84% of the residents of its graded towns.
Cost of living
9th of 97A92/100 Among France’s best départements for cost of living. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
A year’s rent for a 70 m² flat: 29% of median income (France 45%), 2nd of 97.
Typical price: €1,550 per m², the median of its communes’ sale prices (France €2,740), 22nd of 97.
Typical advertised rent for a flat: €8.6 per m² a month (France €14.1).
Source: DVF sales July 2023 to June 2026, houses and flats; ANIL/DHUP rent map 2025 (predicted advertised rents, charges included); INSEE Filosofi 2023 incomes. The département’s price is the median of its communes’ median prices, weighted by sales, and its income the average of its communes’ medians, weighted by residents: INSEE’s and DVF’s own département figures aren’t loaded yet.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against the area’s income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,406 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 24 towns in Haute-Loire.
Health
60th of 100C+40/100 Near the middle for health. The département’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Deaths 2016–2025 against those France’s rates for each age give: 1.04 (France 1.00), 67th of 100.
Source: INSEE life expectancy by département, 2025; INSEE deaths by commune of residence 2016 to 2025, against France’s rates by age and sex.
Measure: our Health grade: the 10-year death ratio, adjusted for care-home places. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 24 towns in Haute-Loire.
Jobs & income
17th of 100A−84/100 Better than most départements for jobs and income. The département’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Unemployment (census, ages 15–64): 8.2% (France 11.4%), 6th of 100.
Source: INSEE Filosofi 2023 (median disposable income per consumption unit; the département’s figure is the average of its communes’ medians, weighted by residents); INSEE census 2023 (unemployment, ages 15 to 64).
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: income, unemployment and jobs per working resident. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 24 towns in Haute-Loire.
Getting about
85th of 100C−15/100 Behind most départements for getting about. The département’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Drive to work: 88% (France 72%).
Source: INSEE census 2023, main way of getting to work; people who don’t travel to work left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: everyday places within 800 m of residents, and walking, cycling and public transport to work. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,433 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 24 towns in Haute-Loire.
Flood risk
Not gradedShown, not graded. France has no national map of flood zones yet (flood maps cover designated areas only), so flood risk isn’t graded for towns or départements. These figures show the record instead.
Communes with a flood or coastal-flood risk plan in force: 25% (France as a whole 34%).
Source: Géorisques: CatNat natural-disaster declarations (GASPAR) and natural-risk prevention plans (PPRN), every commune.
Towns aren’t graded on flood risk either. Each town’s Flood & hazards page lists its disaster declarations, risk plans, clay, seismic zone and radon.
Growth
76th of 100C−24/100 Behind most départements for growth. The département’s own figure and its towns both sit on the weaker side.
Since 2017: +0.6% (France +2.4%), 59th of 100.
Source: INSEE census populations, 2012, 2017 and 2023.
Measure: population change from 2012 to 2023 (INSEE census). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in France’s 4,476 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 24 towns in Haute-Loire.
How Haute-Loire compares with its neighbours
| Haute-Loire | Ardèche | Cantal | Loire | Lozère | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A 947th of 97 | B+ 6931st of 97 | A+ 965th of 97 | A− 8218th of 97 | A 8813th of 97 |
| Safety | A+ 968th official · 71% in top towns | B+ 6724th official · 28% in top towns | A+ 974th official | B 6236th official · 29% in top towns | A 8619th official |
| Schools | A+ 973rd official · 84% in top towns | B 6145th official · 45% in top towns | A+ 1001st official | A− 7525th official · 31% in top towns | A 877th official |
| Cost of living | A 9219th official · 100% in top towns | B+ 6548th official · 90% in top towns | A 9414th official · 100% in top towns | B+ 7116th official · 84% in top towns | A− 8022nd official |
| Health | C+ 4041st official · 8% in top towns | B 6445th official · 23% in top towns | C+ 4461st official · 14% in top towns | B+ 7430th official · 21% in top towns | C+ 3749th official |
| Jobs & income | A− 8448th official · 31% in top towns | B 5562nd official · 22% in top towns | B+ 7457th official · 23% in top towns | C+ 4067th official · 16% in top towns | B 6373rd official |
| Getting about | C− 1585th official · 0% in top towns | D 1289th official · 0% in top towns | B− 5250th official · 0% in top towns | B 6433rd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 6648th official |
| Flood risk | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Growth | C− 2458th official · 0% in top towns | B− 5433rd official · 7% in top towns | D 1483rd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3949th official · 2% in top towns | C− 2375th official |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the département’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for France. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole département, its towns, villages and countryside together, added up from every one of its communes and ranked against France’s other départements. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the département’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for France. Quarters are of people, not towns, so a département of big cities isn’t marked down just for being urban. A département can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the département’s standing among France’s 100 départements, overseas included: the two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best département, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs and income 12, getting about 8, growth 8 (out of 100), over the subjects a département has, and needs a Safety grade. Départements with fewer than 5 graded towns are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A département figure averages everyone, so it can’t show whether a département is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Flood risk isn’t graded: France has no national flood map yet. Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana have no income figures, so no Cost grade and no overall grade. Alsace and Moselle publish no sale prices, so their cost uses rents. Where a commune’s crime count is hidden, the département’s average for its hidden communes stands in: added up, these give the département’s own total. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, run #47 of October 30, 2026 · Département figures: every commune added up from SSMSI, INSEE, DEPP, DVF, ANIL and Géorisques data. 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.