Photo: voyages provence · CC BY 2.0Only 2.6% of households rent social housing (HLM) in Lignan-sur-Orb
In Lignan-sur-Orb, 7.7% of residents are 15 to 24, beside 11% in the typical compared French town. Roughly three in ten: 29% of households are one person living alone. Flats are rarer here than in 89% of compared French towns. The 2023 Census put the town’s population at 3,227, in 1,480 households.
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 Lignan-sur-Orb
An older town
Half of Lignan-sur-Orb’s residents are under 50.8 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 30% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 7.6% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Faster growth than 70% of compared French towns: Lignan-sur-Orb changed by +10% since 2012
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 those years, the median Hérault town changed +13% and the median compared French town +5%. Between 2012 and 2017 the population moved +9%, then +1% to 2023.
Half of Lignan-sur-Orb is over 50.8, older than 85% 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
■ Lignan-sur-Orb 50.8. The median compared French town: 44.
With residents aged 65 and over at 30%, Lignan-sur-Orb is ahead of 85% of compared French towns on that count.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hérault 52.0%, France 51.8%.
9.5% of households are single parents, fewer than in 59% of compared French towns
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
Each household has 2.2 people on average. Typically, 10% of households are single parents in the typical compared French town. Couples with children are rarer here than in just over half of compared French towns.
Lignan-sur-Orb ranks below 74% of compared French towns on households without a car: 6.9%
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
Car-free households: one in 14, where the median compared French town has 11%. 4.8% of homes stand empty, or about one in 21. Lignan-sur-Orb has fewer second homes than 55% of compared French towns, at 1.8%.
Median standard of living: €25,510 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.
At €25,510 a year per consumption unit, the median standard of living here is lower than in 54% of compared French towns. As for poverty, 11.0% of residents are below the line.
In Lignan-sur-Orb, 38% of households are headed by a retired person, more than in 78% 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
In Lignan-sur-Orb, just over one in ten households are headed by a manual worker, beside 14% in the typical compared French town. Measured more widely, nearly a third of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town. 8.5% of households are headed by a manager or professional, or about one in 12.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
1.6% of residents are foreign nationals, below 84% of compared French towns
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.
Immigrants make up a share lower than in 65% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Hérault has 6.8%. The wider picture: 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town. The share of immigrants stands at 4.9%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Lignan-sur-Orb sits below 99% of compared French towns for single residents (17%)
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
Married residents make up 51%, against 43% in the typical compared French town. Single residents make up 25% in the typical compared French town.
A lower share of adults with no qualification than 62% of compared French towns, at 17%
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
The figure for graduates of higher education is 28% in Lignan-sur-Orb and 30% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification.
11th highest median age among 41 French towns of 3,204 to 3,249
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Ormoy (32.2), the youngest, and Jard-sur-Mer (68.1), the oldest.
Every neighbor is younger than Lignan-sur-Orb
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lignan-sur-Orb | 50.8 | 30% | 1.8% | 4.9% |
| Maraussan 4,789 · 1.3 mi | 44.4 | 23% | 2.8% | 5% |
| Thézan-lès-Béziers 3,124 · 2.4 mi | 46.9 | 25% | 13% | 6.5% |
| Cazouls-lès-Béziers 5,261 · 3.6 mi | 43.4 | 23% | 6% | 5% |
| Béziers 81,545 · 3.8 mi | 42.7 | 23% | 4.3% | 17% |
| Boujan-sur-Libron 3,619 · 3.9 mi | 49.6 | 31% | 3.5% | 3.7% |
| Montady 3,990 · 3.9 mi | 49.5 | 27% | 3.2% | 5.6% |
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 Lignan-sur-Orb
What is the population of Lignan-sur-Orb?
3,227 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 10% more than in 2012 (2,931).
How old are Lignan-sur-Orb’s residents?
The median age is 50.8, older than 85% of compared French towns. 19% are under 18 and 30% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Lignan-sur-Orb?
29, with occasional dwellings: 1.8% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Lignan-sur-Orb?
INSEE counts 160 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.9% of residents, and 53 foreign nationals (1.6%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Lignan-sur-Orb?
€25,510 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 11.0% 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.