Half of Avène is over 56.4, older than 95% of compared French towns
Here 3.4% of households rent social housing (HLM), where the figure in the typical compared French town is 12%. Avène counted 294 residents and 180 households at the 2023 Census. Single-parent households make up about one in 37 here (2.7%). Households headed by a manager or professional are rarer here than in 98% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Hérault 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 Avène
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 380 second homes and occasional dwellings in Avène, 63% of its 600 homes: higher than in 99% of compared French towns. 48% 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 Avène’s residents are under 56.4 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 35% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 6.5% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
55% of Avène’s households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 40% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Avène had 308 residents at the 2012 census and 294 in 2023, down 5%: slower growth than in 86% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Avène sits above 99% of compared French towns for second homes (63%)
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
20% of households have been in place 30 years or more; 12% moved in within the last two years. Avène has more flats than 61% of compared French towns, at 38%. The comparison figure for second homes is 2.1% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, just over one in ten households have no car; locally, 13%.
From 2012 to 2023, 86% of compared French towns grew faster than Avène: −5%
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 −7%, and from 2017 to 2023 +2%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Hérault town +13%.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 5.4% in Avène, less than in 99% 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
■ Avène 56.4. The median compared French town: 44.
Just over a third of residents are 65 or over; in the typical compared French town the figure is 22%. Set beside that, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
48% women, 52% men
About 107 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hérault 52.0%, France 51.8%.
Avène sits below 96% of compared French towns for couples with children (13%)
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 Hérault median and the France median
Living alone · share
There are 1.6 people in the average household. Across the comparison, 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town. One-person households are more common here than in 98% of compared French towns.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €22,330 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.
Half of residents live in households above €22,330 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is lower than in 87% of compared French towns.
A higher share of households headed by a retired person than 97% of compared French towns, at 49%
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
By its share of households headed by a manual worker (19%), Avène is above 79% of compared French towns. The benchmark for households headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town: 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Only 5.4% of residents are immigrants in Avène
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 Hérault has 6.8%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in nearly three fifths of compared French towns. The comparison figure for immigrants is 6.5% in the typical compared French town. 5.1% of residents are foreign nationals.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Avène sits below 88% of compared French towns for married residents (35%)
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 Avène, 28% of residents 15 and over are single, beside 25% in the typical compared French town. The share of married residents in the typical compared French town is 43%.
A smaller share of graduates of higher education than 70% of compared French towns: 25%
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
Adults with no qualification: 21% here and 19% in the typical compared French town. The usual figure: 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Of 41 French towns its size (294 to 2,582 people), the 5th 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.
Ages run from 37.2 in Villejust to 62.3 in Prayssac.
No nearby town is as old as Avène
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avène | 56.4 | 35% | 63% | 5.4% |
| Bédarieux 5,804 · 9.7 mi | 52.4 | 31% | 7.4% | 8.2% |
| Lodève 7,251 · 10.4 mi | 52.3 | 31% | 5.1% | 12% |
| Clermont-l'Hérault 9,461 · 18 mi | 44.3 | 24% | 3.9% | 8.3% |
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 Avène
What is the population of Avène?
294 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 5% fewer than in 2012 (308).
How old are Avène’s residents?
The median age is 56.4, older than 95% of compared French towns. 9.6% are under 18 and 35% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Avène?
380, with occasional dwellings: 63% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Avène?
INSEE counts 16 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 5.4% of residents, and 15 foreign nationals (5.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Avène?
€22,330 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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 October 30, 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.