Sète is older than 92% of compared French towns: a median age of 53.6
Where just over one in ten households have no car in the typical compared French town, Sète has 27%. This Hérault town had 45,337 residents in 24,710 households at the 2023 Census. Here, 14% of households are couples with children. At 45%, the share of households headed by a retired person is higher than in 93% 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 Sète
One home in five is a second home
The census counted 7,230 second homes and occasional dwellings in Sète, 21% of its 33,820 homes: higher than in 93% of compared French towns. 8.8% 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 Sète’s residents are under 53.6 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 34% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 10% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
51% of Sète’s households are one person: higher than in 94% of compared French towns; 43% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
A higher share of second homes than 93% of compared French towns, at 21%
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
5.5% of homes stand empty; in the typical compared French town the figure is 6.7%. On average, 2.1% of homes are second homes in the typical compared French town. Flats account for 82%. Higher than in 61% of compared French towns: 15% of households rent social housing (HLM).
Slower growth than 62% of compared French towns: Sète changed by +2% 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
In two steps, −3% to 2017 and +5% after, the town’s change compares with +5% for the median compared French town and +13% in Hérault.
Sète: 34% of residents are 65 or over, above 92% 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
■ Sète 53.6. The median compared French town: 44.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 9.7%, below 70% of compared French towns. Measured more widely, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 85 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.
Sète ranks above 94% of compared French towns on one-person households: 51%
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
Average household size: 1.8 people. The usual figure: just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Higher than in 61% of compared French towns: 11% of households are single parents.
The median resident lives on €22,740 a year per consumption unit
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.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €22,740 a year: lower than in 83% of compared French towns. Below the poverty threshold: 25.6% of the population.
Fewer households headed by a manual worker than 80% of compared French towns: 9.3%
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
Against a figure of 9.4% in the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a manager or professional in Sète comes in at 8.1%. As a reference point, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants: 10%, a higher share than 72% 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.
The median compared commune in Hérault has 6.8%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 72% of compared French towns. Against that, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town. The census found that 7.2% of residents are foreign nationals in Sète.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
In Sète, 37% of residents 15 and over are married, fewer than in 83% 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
With single residents at 29%, Sète is ahead of nearly three quarters of compared French towns on that count. As a reference point, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
Sète ranks above 59% of compared French towns on adults with no qualification: 21%
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
Graduates of higher education make up about one in three here (30%). The wider picture: 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
2nd highest median age among 41 French towns of 42,875 to 48,015
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Talence is the youngest (30.5); Saint-Malo the oldest (53.9).
Sète is older 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sète | 53.6 | 34% | 21% | 10% |
| Balaruc-les-Bains 7,139 · 2.8 mi | 52 | 32% | 54% | 4.4% |
| Balaruc-le-Vieux 2,737 · 3.8 mi | 48.1 | 26% | 11% | 4.5% |
| Frontignan 24,136 · 4.2 mi | 48.1 | 25% | 21% | 6.9% |
| Mèze 12,669 · 4.5 mi | 52.3 | 31% | 14% | 7.3% |
| Poussan 6,797 · 5.6 mi | 42.8 | 20% | 2.7% | 4% |
| Gigean 6,639 · 6.6 mi | 40.6 | 16% | 1.7% | 7.1% |
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 Sète
What is the population of Sète?
45,337 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% more than in 2012 (44,558).
How old are Sète’s residents?
The median age is 53.6, older than 92% of compared French towns. 16% are under 18 and 34% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Sète?
7,230, with occasional dwellings: 21% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Sète?
INSEE counts 4,660 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 10% of residents, and 3,260 foreign nationals (7.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Sète?
€22,740 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 25.6% 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 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.