Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 2,737 residents in Hérault, Occitanie.
With a C+ overall, Balaruc-le-Vieux is better than 38% of compared French towns and ranks #39 of 84 in Hérault. Its weakest is cost of living — at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 10.5 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Work and incomes are strong: 1.1 jobs per working resident; 10.2% unemployment. Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: 84% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 9% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety and B− for health.
Figures: employment and commuting, INSEE census 2023 · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior) · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025).
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 3 things Balaruc-le-Vieux does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Balaruc-le-Vieux with other French towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far its rank is from the middle. American and UK towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry’s list holds 1 historic monument in Balaruc-le-Vieux; none is classé, France’s top protection.
The oldest protected part dates from Antiquity; the first monument here was protected in 2008.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Balaruc-le-Vieux.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
A house rents for an estimated €14.04/m² a month. The sales split: 86% houses, the rest apartments. Advertised rents are estimated at €13.61/m² a month, near Hérault’s towns (€13.36/m²) and higher than compared French towns (€12.41/m²).
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €3,654/m² | 60 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
The census found nearly one in ten commuters going to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. A tenth of the labour force were unemployed, about level with compared French towns (10.1%) and below Hérault’s towns (11.8%).
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Collège pupils travel 2.1 mi to the nearest one. The town’s schools place #61 of 80 in Hérault on results.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Via DomitiaNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 178 | 92%+1 pt |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Those 65 and older account for 26% of residents. Ages in Balaruc-le-Vieux split evenly at 48.1: half are older, half younger. Degrees are held by nearly a third of adults, close to Hérault’s towns (31%) and above compared French towns (30%).
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hérault 52.0%, France 51.8%.
| Balaruc-le-Vieux | Hérault median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.4% | 9.7% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 22% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 26% | 24% | 22% |
| No diploma | 18% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 25% | 23% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 32% | 31% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Hérault median and France median: the median of compared communes
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
Its oldest listed monument dates from Antiquity. 5.9% of homes date from before 1919.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
The 2025 count: 50 offenses in Balaruc-le-Vieux. The yearly rates for 2023–2025: 6.6 violent offenses and 14.3 graded property crimes per 1,000 residents. The graded crime recorded most in the town was criminal damage (2025).
Not in the gradeTheft without violence, drug use and fraud are shown for information but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence plus burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and criminal damage per resident.
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · For family violence, armed robbery, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 16.9% of the index here. That estimated share passes 10%, so treat this Safety Grade with more caution than most. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Life expectancy in Hérault: 86.3 years for women and 80.6 for men (2025); France averages 85.9 and 80.3. Its care home for older people (75 places) counts its residents as Balaruc-le-Vieux’s; allowing for it, deaths were 13% below expected. From 2016 to 2025, 371 residents of Balaruc-le-Vieux died, against 334 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 11% more.
Source: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025; DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 · Licence Ouverte · Note: TownRatings models the care-home adjustment; it is not an official figure.
Other places to visit, heritage and gardens in and near Balaruc-le-Vieux. Best known first.
Balaruc-le-Vieux has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
Wikidata has nobody with a French article born in Balaruc-le-Vieux yet.
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more. The map uses IGN’s commune boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balaruc-le-Vieux | 2,737 | — | C+ | D | B− | B− |
| Balaruc-les-Bains | 7,139 | 1 | C | D | C | B+ |
| Poussan | 6,797 | 2 | C | D | C+ | B− |
| Gigean | 6,639 | 2.8 | C− | D | C | C |
| Frontignan | 24,136 | 3.2 | D− | D | C | B− |
| Montbazin | 2,877 | 3.8 | B− | C− | B | B |
| Sète | 45,337 | 3.8 | D | D | D | C+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades B− for safety, #37 of 84 in Hérault. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 9 burglaries and 29 acts of criminal damage.
They grade C+, better than 37% of compared French towns and #61 of 80 in Hérault. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Balaruc-le-Vieux grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Hérault, Occitanie
Balaruc-le-Vieux is a commune of 2,737 people in the Communauté d'agglomération Sète Agglopôle Méditerranée. TownRatings compares communes, France’s local unit: each has its own mayor and its own statistics. Its area takes in the town and the countryside around it.
Built from INSEE’s 2026 official geography (COG) and IGN Admin Express boundaries
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, employment, commuting) · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (income per consumption unit, poverty) · DGFiP, DVF property sales, July 2023 to June 2026 · Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025 · SSMSI, recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Ministry of Education (DEPP), brevet and bac results and value-added indicators, 2025 · INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses 2012–2023; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025 (care homes, emergency and maternity units, GPs, pharmacies); DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 (provisional) · INSEE, BPE 2025 and Filosofi 200 m grid (walking distances) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, 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.