A higher share of empty homes than 98% of compared French towns, at 18%
The share of couples with children trails 93% of compared French towns: 14%. More flats than in 89% of compared French towns: 70%. At the 2023 Census Gray was home to 5,365 people in 2,550 households. For Gray, the census puts households without a car at 27%.
Throughout this page, the Haute-Saône 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 Gray
Many people living alone
51% of Gray’s households are one person: higher than in 95% of compared French towns; 37% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Empty homes
The census found 580 homes empty (18%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Gray had 5,716 residents at the 2012 census and 5,365 in 2023, down 6%: slower growth than in 91% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Gray changed by −6% from 2012 to 2023, behind 91% 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 Haute-Saône town −5%. From 2012 to 2017 the change was −4%; from 2017 to 2023, −3%.
Gray sits above 93% of compared French towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (14%)
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Gray 47.5. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Gray’s residents are over 47.5, older than in 72% of compared French towns. As a reference point, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town. For Gray, the census puts residents aged 65 and over at 28%.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 87 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Haute-Saône 51.4%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Gray sits above 95% of compared French towns for one-person households (51%)
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 Haute-Saône median and the France median
Living alone · share
With single-parent households at 13%, Gray is ahead of 85% of compared French towns on that count. Against that, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. A household here holds 1.9 people on average.
Households in social housing make up 26% in Gray, more than in 87% 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
Without a car: one household in four, against 11% in the median compared French town. By way of comparison, 12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Put another way, about one in 42: 2.4% of homes are second homes.
Standard of living at the median: €19,830 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 Gray is €19,830 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 97% of compared French towns. One measure of hardship: 30.0% of residents are below the poverty line.
Gray ranks below 77% of compared French towns on households headed by a manager or professional: 5.9%
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
18% of households are headed by a manual worker, against 14% in the typical compared French town. What’s more, at 33%, the share of households headed by a retired person is higher than in 53% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Gray sits above 81% of compared French towns for foreign nationals (9.7%)
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.
Just over one in ten residents are immigrants (typical compared French town: 6.5%). By way of comparison, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Haute-Saône has 8.7%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 76% 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: 31%, a lower share than 97% 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 quarter of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town, against 34% in Gray. Married residents make up 43% in the typical compared French town.
Below 91% of compared French towns: 18% 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
In the typical compared French town, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification; in Gray, 30%.
Of 41 French towns its size (5,308 to 5,419 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.
The youngest is Cruseilles (36.3), the oldest Bretignolles-sur-Mer (62.9).
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 Gray
What is the population of Gray?
5,365 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 6% fewer than in 2012 (5,716).
How old are Gray’s residents?
The median age is 47.5, older than 72% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 28% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Gray?
78, with occasional dwellings: 2.4% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Gray?
INSEE counts 600 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 11% of residents, and 520 foreign nationals (9.7%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Gray?
€19,830 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 30.0% 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.