Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 7,165 people, this town lies in Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Plenty to like here, at a price. The local economy does well: 0.6 jobs per working resident; 5.7% unemployment. What holds it back is cost of living: at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 9.9 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Put together, the subjects come to an A− overall, ranking #19 of 96 in Isère. Set against the rest, it does better than four fifths of compared French towns. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for safety and B for schools.
Figures: 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) · brevet and bac results, Ministry of Education.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 2 things Saint-Ismier does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Saint-Ismier 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 →
Saint-Ismier has 1 historic monument on the Culture ministry’s list: 1 classé, the highest protection, and 0 inscrit, the second level.
The oldest protected part dates from the 12th century; the first monument here was protected in 1908.
Pétrus Gourin, born in 1870, is the one person born in Saint-Ismier before 1900 that Wikidata records.
Explore the history →Heritage, other places to visit and museums in and near Saint-Ismier. Best known first.
MuseumMaison Bergès4.5 km east, in Villard-BonnotAttractionAttractionMaison forte "La Bâtie de Champrond"in townAttractionAttractionPierre Grossein townAbbeyAbbeyAbbaye des Ayes4.7 km northeast, in CrollesChâteauChâteauChâteau de Serviantin2.4 km southwest, in BiviersPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Saint-Ismier.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Average lifespans in Isère: 86.8 years for women, 81.6 for men (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 nationally. From 2016 to 2025, 602 residents of Saint-Ismier died, against 814 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 26% fewer. The town has 11 family doctors.
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 · Allowing for care homes is a TownRatings estimate, not a published statistic.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The estimated advertised rent is €15.64/m² a month, above Isère’s towns (€13.13/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²) alike. Houses in Saint-Ismier sell for €4,500/m² and apartments for €4,355/m². The town is the second most expensive of the 110 towns in Isère, at €4,452/m².
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €4,500/m² | 123 |
| Apartments | €4,355/m² | 76 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Unemployment stood at 5.7%, below Isère’s towns (8.1%) and compared French towns (10.1%) alike. At the census, 6.6% of working residents in Saint-Ismier went to work by public transport.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
People 65 and over make up 27% of the town. The 15-to-24 age group: 8.8%, below Isère’s towns (11%) and compared French towns (11%) alike. In addition, the share of residents under 15 is 16%.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Isère 51.3%, France 51.8%.
| Saint-Ismier | Isère median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 18% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.8% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 23% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 27% | 21% | 22% |
| No diploma | 6.9% | 19% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 13% | 24% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 13% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 65% | 33% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Isère median and France median: the median of compared communes
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
At the lycées within 5 km of Saint-Ismier, 97.0% passed the bac, higher than both Isère’s towns (93.7%) and compared French towns (92.9%). For exam results, it comes #37 of 102 in Isère. The nearest collège is 0.7 mi away.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège du GrésivaudanNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 202 | 97%±0 pts |
| École des Pupilles de l'air et de l'espaceNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 105 | 97%−2 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The protected list starts in the 12th century. 7.1% of its homes were built before 1919, below Isère’s towns (8.7%) and close to compared French towns (7.4%).
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
For 2025, the figures show 120 offenses in Saint-Ismier. Violence against people averaged 4.6 per 1,000 residents a year over 2023–2025; graded property crimes averaged 17.3. The commonest graded crime in the town was burglary (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 · When sexual violence and armed robbery number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (0.8% of the index here). The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Saint-Ismier has one historic monument; beside it, the nearest classé monuments in other towns, within 15.5 mi.
One notable person was born in Saint-Ismier.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Ismier | 7,165 | — | A− | D | B− | A |
| Saint-Nazaire-les-Eymes | 3,016 | 0.9 | A | C− | A− | A |
| Montbonnot-Saint-Martin | 5,698 | 1.8 | B+ | D | C+ | A |
| Bernin | 3,334 | 2.1 | A | C− | B | A |
| Le Versoud | 4,900 | 2.6 | A+ | C | A | A |
| Villard-Bonnot | 7,509 | 3 | A− | B− | B− | C+ |
| Domène | 6,835 | 3.1 | B | C− | C | A− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades B− for safety, #38 of 96 in Isère. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 32 burglaries and 31 acts of criminal damage.
They grade B, better than 61% of compared French towns and #37 of 102 in Isère. 97% of 105 candidates passed the bac at École des Pupilles de l'air et de l'espace in 2025, 2 points below the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Saint-Ismier grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Isère, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Saint-Ismier is a commune of 7,165 people in the Communauté de communes Le Grésivaudan. 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.