Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 12,669 in Hérault, Occitanie.
Mèze grades C− overall: better than 19% of compared French towns, and #60 of 84 in Hérault. Its weakest subject is cost of living (D): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 10.1 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Its strongest is walkability (A−): 75% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 13% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work.
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 Mèze does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Mèze 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 2 historic monuments in Mèze; none is classé, France’s top protection.
The oldest protected part dates from the 10th century; the first monument here was protected in 1995.
Wikidata records 5 people born in Mèze before 1900, the earliest Hippolyte Charamaule, in 1794.
Other places to visit, heritage and museums in and near Mèze. Best known first.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Mèze.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Of the homes sold, 61% were houses. Renting a house costs an estimated €12.20/m² a month. 571 houses and apartments changed hands in Mèze from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €3,580/m² | 348 |
| Apartments | €3,528/m² | 223 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
After tax and benefits, the median income is €24,180 a year per consumption unit. Mèze holds 3,200 jobs; 4,400 of its residents are in work, so 0.7 jobs each. Public transport took 2.9% of the town’s working residents to work at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Those 65 and older account for 31% of residents. Degrees are held by a quarter of adults, lower than both Hérault’s towns (31%) and compared French towns (30%). Half the people of Mèze are older than 52.3.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hérault 52.0%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Mèze | Hérault median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 9.7% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 17% | 22% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 31% | 24% | 22% |
| No diploma | 22% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 27% | 23% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 17% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 25% | 31% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Hérault median and France median: the median of compared communes
Violence against people ran at 9.2 per 1,000 residents a year and the graded property crimes at 15.7 (2023–2025 average). 304 offenses were reported in Mèze during 2025. Among the graded crimes in the town, the most frequent 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 · Small counts of armed robbery go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 0.3% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
Its heritage reaches back to the 10th century. Before 1919: that is when 9.4% of homes were built.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Its collèges and lycées rank #48 of 80 in Hérault on results.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Jean JaurèsNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 104 | 88%−1 pt |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
1,478 deaths in Mèze between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 1,532: 4% below. Its two care homes for older people (138 places) count their residents as Mèze’s; allowing for them, deaths were 11% below expected. For a family doctor, residents of Mèze can choose among 10 GPs. In Hérault, life expectancy at birth reaches 86.3 years for women and 80.6 for men (2025), next to 85.9 and 80.3 for France.
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 · The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
The Culture ministry’s list holds 2 historic monuments in Mèze; none is classé, France’s top protection.
Via Domitia: Photo: Benoît Strepenne · CC BY 2.5 · Vestiges archéologiques du Pallas: Photo: Fagairolles 34 · CC BY-SA 4.0
9 notable people were born in Mèze.
André Miquel: Rani777, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ange-Marie Hiral: Agence de presse Meurisse. Agence photographique (commanditaire), Public domain · James-Edward Ruffier: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain · Jean Milhau: Mathieu milhau, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Archimbaud: Perceval Archimbaud, CC BY-SA 4.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mèze | 12,669 | — | C− | D | C+ | B− |
| Sète | 45,337 | 4.5 | D | D | D | C+ |
| Balaruc-les-Bains | 7,139 | 4.8 | C | D | C | B+ |
| Villeveyrac | 3,972 | 4.9 | C− | C− | B | C |
| Balaruc-le-Vieux | 2,737 | 5.1 | C+ | D | B− | B− |
| Poussan | 6,797 | 5.5 | C | D | C+ | B− |
| Marseillan | 8,414 | 6.7 | D− | D | D | C |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C+ for safety, #49 of 84 in Hérault. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 31 burglaries and 118 acts of criminal damage.
They grade B−, better than 54% of compared French towns and #48 of 80 in Hérault. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
By type: houses €3,580/m² (348 sales), apartments €3,528/m² (223 sales). Estimated advertised apartment rents are €12.76/m² a month, charges included. Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns, so Mèze grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Hérault, Occitanie
Mèze is a commune of 12,669 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 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.
