Photo: Le corrigateur · CC BY-SA 4.066% of homes are flats, more than in 88% of compared French towns
Where a quarter of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town, Gap has 18%. Compared with other places, residents aged 65 and over are common here: 26%, more than in 73% of compared French towns. This Hautes-Alpes town had 41,293 residents in 20,770 households at the 2023 census. 16% of households have no car.
Throughout this page, the Hautes-Alpes 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.
Gap’s population moved +1% on 2012, less than in 64% 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
Between 2012 and 2017 the population moved ±0%, then +1% to 2023. Over those years, the median Hautes-Alpes town changed +2% and the median compared French town +5%.
Half of Gap is over 46.8, older than 68% 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
■ Gap 46.8. The median compared French town: 44.
In Gap, just over one in ten residents are 15 to 24.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hautes-Alpes 52.7%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Gap sits above 85% of compared French towns for one-person households (46%)
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 Hautes-Alpes median and the France median
Living alone · share
Each household has 1.9 people on average. Against that, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Fewer single-parent households than in 62% of compared French towns: 9.3%.
Households in social housing make up 16% in Gap, more than in 65% 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
4% of homes are second homes; in the typical compared French town the figure is 2.1%. In Gap, 8.1% of homes stand empty. The comparison figure for households in social housing is 12% in the typical compared French town.
A typical living standard of €25,410 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.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €25,410 a year: lower than in 55% of compared French towns. The poverty rate is 14.8%.
In Gap, 37% of households are headed by a retired person, more than in 73% of compared French towns
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
With households headed by a manual worker at 11%, Gap is behind 68% of compared French towns on that count. Set beside that, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town. Households headed by a manager or professional make up about one in 12 here (8.3%).
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
9.1% of residents are immigrants, a share 66% of compared French towns don’t reach
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 median compared commune in Hautes-Alpes has 7.8%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in nearly two thirds of compared French towns. Foreign nationals: 6.6% of the total. As a reference point, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town.
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 39% in Gap, less than in 76% 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
27% of residents 15 and over are single, against 25% in the typical compared French town. Married residents: 43% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
Gap sits above 64% of compared French towns for graduates of higher education (34%)
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
Here 17% of adults out of school have no qualification, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 19%. In the typical compared French town, the share of graduates of higher education is 30%.
The 4th oldest of 41 French towns of 38,476 to 44,364 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 Stains (32.4), the oldest La Ciotat (49.9).
2 of 3 neighbors are older than Gap
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gap | 46.8 | 26% | 4% | 9.1% |
| La Bâtie-Neuve 2,628 · 6.5 mi | 43.7 | 19% | 7.6% | 3.8% |
| Chorges 3,146 · 10.2 mi | 48.4 | 25% | 26% | 4.7% |
| Veynes 3,214 · 12.4 mi | 53.3 | 34% | 12% | 8.2% |
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 Gap
What is the population of Gap?
41,293 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 1% more than in 2012 (40,761).
How old are Gap’s residents?
The median age is 46.8, older than 68% of compared French towns. 19% are under 18 and 26% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Gap?
940, with occasional dwellings: 4% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Gap?
INSEE counts 3,770 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 9.1% of residents, and 2,740 foreign nationals (6.6%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Gap?
€25,410 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 14.8% 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.