Photo: Pierre-Félix Vautrin · CC0Montpellier is younger than 99% of compared French towns: a median age of 32.1
In Montpellier, 17% of households are headed by a manager or professional, beside 9.4% in the typical compared French town. Across Montpellier, 87% of homes are flats. 32% of households have no car, more than in 97% of compared French towns. There were 165,310 households here at the 2023 Census, home to 310,240 residents.
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 Montpellier
A young town
Half of Montpellier’s residents are under 32.1 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 15% are under 15 and 15% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
55% of Montpellier’s households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 42% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Immigrants
INSEE counts 57,900 immigrants in Montpellier (people born abroad who weren’t French at birth, whatever their nationality now): 19% of residents, against 6.8% for the median compared commune in Hérault. 15% are foreign nationals. Immigrants and foreign nationals ↓
Many graduates
49% of residents 15 and over who have left education hold a diploma above the bac, 23% a master’s or more (bac+5). Qualifications ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Growth of +16% since 2012 puts Montpellier ahead of 83% 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
The median Hérault town changed +13% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought +6% and the next six +9%.
More residents aged 15 to 24 than 99% of compared French towns: 22%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Montpellier 32.1. The median compared French town: 44.
In the typical compared French town, the share of residents aged 65 and over is 22%; Montpellier has 15%.
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Hérault 52.0%, France 51.8%.
Montpellier: 55% of households are one person living alone, above 98% 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
The average household has 1.8 people. To put it in context, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. 15% of households are couples with children, fewer than in 92% of compared French towns. Single-parent households make up 9.9%, close to the figure in the typical compared French town.
Second homes: 4.5%, a higher share than 74% 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
Car-free households: one in three, where the median compared French town has 11%. Higher than in 67% of compared French towns: 17% of households rent social housing (HLM). For comparison, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Long tenure is the mark of 7.9% of households (30 years or more), short tenure of 22% (under two years).
A typical living standard of €21,440 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 Montpellier’s residents live in households with a standard of living below €21,440 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 92% of compared French towns. As for poverty, 30.9% of residents are below the line.
In Montpellier, 19% of households are headed by a retired person, fewer than in 96% 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
Compared with 14% in the typical compared French town, 9% of households are headed by a manual worker here. Elsewhere, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A higher share of immigrants than 91% of compared French towns, at 19%
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 share of foreign nationals tops 92% of compared French towns: 15%. In the typical compared French town, the share of immigrants is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Montpellier: 45% of residents 15 and over are single, above 99% 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
Married residents make up 27%, against 43% in the typical compared French town. Measured more widely, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
49% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, a share 92% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
By its share of adults with no qualification (16%), Montpellier is below 67% of compared French towns. On average, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
41 French towns of 118,489 to 514,819 people: this is the 4th youngest
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 Lille (29.4), the youngest, and Paris 16e (43.7), the oldest.
Montpellier is younger than every town around it
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montpellier | 32.1 | 15% | 4.5% | 19% |
| Saint-Jean-de-Védas 13,328 · 2.9 mi | 41.2 | 21% | 3.6% | 7.5% |
| Juvignac 14,055 · 2.9 mi | 37.7 | 18% | 1.5% | 13% |
| Castelnau-le-Lez 26,058 · 3 mi | 37.7 | 19% | 2.9% | 11% |
| Lavérune 3,302 · 3.3 mi | 44.6 | 22% | 1.3% | 7.4% |
| Clapiers 6,006 · 3.3 mi | 44.6 | 22% | 1.9% | 7.2% |
| Lattes 17,351 · 3.4 mi | 47.7 | 27% | 3.2% | 6.9% |
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 Montpellier
What is the population of Montpellier?
310,240 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 16% more than in 2012 (268,456).
How old are Montpellier’s residents?
The median age is 32.1, younger than 99% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Montpellier?
8,420, with occasional dwellings: 4.5% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Montpellier?
INSEE counts 57,890 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 19% of residents, and 47,330 foreign nationals (15%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Montpellier?
€21,440 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 30.9% 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.