Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 4,432 residents in Hérault, Occitanie.
A tough set of grades. Homes are dear: at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 12.3 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Where it does best is walkability: 83% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 17% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. Put together, the subjects come to a D− overall, ranking #80 of 84 in Hérault. It comes out behind almost every compared French town. Crime is the sore point (D−): an average of 14 recorded violent incidents and 29.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. Work and incomes lag: 0.9 jobs per working resident; 22.5% unemployment.
Figures: amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting and employment, INSEE census 2023 · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior).
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 Valras-Plage does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Valras-Plage 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 lists no building in Valras-Plage as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Notre-Dame de Grâce, in Sérignan, 2.4 mi away.
0.8% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Valras-Plage.
Among adults, 19% have a degree. 54% of residents are 65 or over, higher than both Hérault’s towns (24%) and compared French towns (22%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up 4.7% of residents.
55% women, 45% men
About 83 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.
| Valras-Plage | Hérault median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 6.6% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 4.7% | 9.7% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 11% | 22% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 54% | 24% | 22% |
| No diploma | 24% | 17% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 31% | 23% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 18% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 19% | 31% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Hérault median and France median: the median of compared communes
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Houses in Valras-Plage sell for €3,670/m² and apartments for €3,747/m². Advertised rents are estimated at €14.01/m² a month, close to Hérault’s towns (€13.36/m²) and above compared French towns (€12.41/m²). Between July 2023 and June 2026, buyers took 821 homes here.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €3,670/m² | 297 |
| Apartments | €3,747/m² | 524 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
The police record for Valras-Plage lists 213 offenses in 2025. Among the graded crimes here, 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 · For armed robbery, the count isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in a year of the last three), so the index uses the département’s average, 0.8% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Half of residents lived on more than €23,560 a year per consumption unit, lower than both Hérault’s towns (€25,355) and compared French towns (€25,970). On foot, by bike or by bus and train: that was how 17.3% of commuters travelled at the census. At the census, 4.5% of working residents in Valras-Plage didn’t travel to work at all.
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.
The closest collège is 2.2 mi off. On school results, the town ranks #60 of 80 in Hérault. Near Valras-Plage, 94.6% of lycée candidates passed the bac, close to Hérault’s towns (95.0%) and above compared French towns (92.9%).
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Marcel PagnolNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 217 | 76%−11 pts |
| Lycée polyvalent Marc BlochNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 370 | 96%+2 pts |
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.
The nearest emergency department to Valras-Plage is Centre hospitalier de Beziers, 6.7 mi away. 731 deaths here between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 798: 8% below. Adjusted mortality here: 92 deaths for every 100 expected. At birth, a girl in Hérault can expect 86.3 years and a boy 80.6 (2025); across France, 85.9 and 80.3.
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.
Family days out and museums in and near Valras-Plage. Best known first.
Art galleryMusée régional d'art contemporain Occitanie4 km north, in SérignanMuseumMuseumMusée d'Art Contemporain3.7 km north, in SérignanTheme parkTheme parkPangaea Terre d'aventures3.3 km southwest, in VendresTheme parkTheme parkDomaine La Yole3.2 km southwest, in VendresZooZooFerme La Yole2.7 km southwest, in VendresPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Nothing in Valras-Plage is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
Wikidata has nobody with a French article born in Valras-Plage 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valras-Plage | 4,432 | — | D− | D− | D− | C+ |
| Sérignan | 8,588 | 1.7 | D− | D | D | C+ |
| Vendres | 2,616 | 3 | D | C− | D | C− |
| Sauvian | 5,608 | 3.4 | C− | D | A− | C |
| Portiragnes | 3,530 | 4.6 | D | D | B− | C |
| Villeneuve-lès-Béziers | 4,500 | 5 | D | C− | C | C− |
| Cers | 2,503 | 5.3 | — | D | — | C+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades D− for safety, #79 of 84 in Hérault. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 43 burglaries and 77 acts of criminal damage.
They grade C+, better than 38% of compared French towns and #60 of 80 in Hérault. The lycée stands out: 96% of 370 candidates passed the bac at Lycée polyvalent Marc Bloch in 2025, 2 points above the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns, so Valras-Plage grades D− for cost of living.
Commune in Hérault, Occitanie
Valras-Plage is a commune of 4,432 people in the Communauté d'agglomération de Béziers-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.