Photo: JessydeVilly · CC BY-SA 4.0Half of Saint-Benoît is under 35.5, younger than 95% of compared French towns
Households headed by a manager or professional make up 4.1%, against 9.4% in the typical compared French town. In Saint-Benoît, 32% of households have no car. Single-parent households are more common here than in 99% of compared French towns. This Réunion town is home to 38,604 residents in 14,780 households, by the 2023 Census.
Throughout this page, the Réunion 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 Saint-Benoît
A young town
Half of Saint-Benoît’s residents are under 35.5 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 25% are under 15 and 13% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Saint-Benoît has grown +7%, faster than 60% 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
Against +5% for the median compared French town and +6% for the median Réunion town, the change came in two steps: +5% from 2012 to 2017, then +2% to 2023.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 13% in Saint-Benoît, less than in 96% 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
■ Saint-Benoît 35.5. The median compared French town: 44.
By its share of residents aged 15 to 24 (14%), Saint-Benoît is above 90% of compared French towns. Across the comparison, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Réunion 51.8%, France 51.8%.
One-person households: 29%, a lower share than 80% 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 Réunion median and the France median
Living alone · share
The typical household size is 2.6 people. Just over a quarter of households are couples with children, or about one in four. The wider picture: 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
Saint-Benoît ranks above 86% of compared French towns on households in social housing: 25%
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
Where 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town, Saint-Benoît has 9.7%. For comparison, just over one in ten households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Turnover: 9.8% of households moved in less than two years ago, and 20% have lived in their home 30 years or more. On second homes, Saint-Benoît sits lower than 63% of compared French towns: 1.5%.
Median standard of living: €16,460 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.
Living standards centre on €16,460 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 99% of compared French towns. One measure of hardship: 45.9% of residents are below the poverty line.
Below 92% of compared French towns: 22% of households are headed by a retired person
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
Households headed by a manual worker make up about one in seven here (15%). In the typical compared French town, households headed by a retired person come to 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Below 93% of compared French towns: 1.9% of residents are immigrants
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.
In Saint-Benoît, 1.3% of residents are foreign nationals, beside 4.3% in the typical compared French town. For immigrants, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.5%. The median compared commune in Réunion has 1.6%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 93% of compared French towns.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
45% of residents 15 and over are single, more than in 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
The share of married residents trails 95% of compared French towns: 33%. For comparison, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
15% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, below 97% of compared French towns
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
Adults with no qualification: 39%, above 99% of compared French towns. Set beside that, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Of 41 French towns its size (36,301 to 40,983 people), the 8th 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.
Ages run from 29.9 in Saint-Martin-d'Hères to 58.9 in Saint-Raphaël.
Saint-Benoît is younger than 5 of its 6 nearest neighbors
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint-Benoît | 35.5 | 13% | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| Bras-Panon 13,012 · 4.5 mi | 38.3 | 13% | 0.8% | 1.5% |
| Saint-André 58,885 · 7.5 mi | 34.1 | 11% | 1% | 2.7% |
| La Plaine-des-Palmistes 6,936 · 8.2 mi | 37.4 | 14% | 20% | 0.8% |
| Sainte-Rose 6,557 · 8.5 mi | 40.2 | 15% | 2.6% | 0.8% |
| Sainte-Suzanne 25,551 · 10.9 mi | 36.1 | 11% | 0.8% | 1.6% |
| Salazie 7,268 · 12.8 mi | 39.4 | 15% | 7.3% | 0.7% |
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 Saint-Benoît
What is the population of Saint-Benoît?
38,604 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 7% more than in 2012 (36,025).
How old are Saint-Benoît’s residents?
The median age is 35.5, younger than 95% of compared French towns. 30% are under 18 and 13% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Saint-Benoît?
250, with occasional dwellings: 1.5% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Saint-Benoît?
INSEE counts 720 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.9% of residents, and 520 foreign nationals (1.3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Saint-Benoît?
€16,460 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 45.9% 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.