Photo: Benoît Prieur · CC0Empty homes: 3.7%, a lower share than 90% of compared French towns
Households without a car: 6.5%, below 77% of compared French towns. Tarnos counted 12,957 residents and 5,970 households at the 2023 Census. 6.9% of homes are second homes. At 12%, the share of single-parent households is higher than in 81% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Landes 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.
A +4% change since 2012: slower than 52% 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
Over the same years the median compared French town changed +5%, the median Landes town +9%. From 2012 to 2017 the change was −1%; from 2017 to 2023, +6%.
Half of Tarnos is over 46, older than 63% 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
■ Tarnos 46. The median compared French town: 44.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 11%, near enough the figure in the typical compared French town. More residents aged 65 and over than in 53% of compared French towns: 23%.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Landes 51.9%, France 51.8%.
Below 56% of compared French towns: 24% of households are couples with children
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 Landes median and the France median
Living alone · share
Average household size: 2.1 people. Tarnos has more one-person households than 51% of compared French towns, at 35%. The share of couples with children in the typical compared French town is 25%.
Flats: 38%, a higher share than 61% 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
Households in social housing: 14%, above 59% of compared French towns. Long tenure is the mark of 20% of households (30 years or more), short tenure of 8.5% (under two years).
Median living standard: €26,640 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 €26,640 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 57% of compared French towns. The share living below the poverty line is 10.0%.
A smaller share of households headed by a manager or professional than 60% of compared French towns: 7.9%
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
For Tarnos, the census puts households headed by a retired person at 33%. Fewer households headed by a manual worker than in 54% of compared French towns: 13%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants make up 6.3% of Tarnos’ residents
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 Landes has 5.4%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 52% of compared French towns. Here, 4.8% of residents are foreign nationals.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Below 79% of compared French towns: 38% of residents 15 and over are married
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
Compared with 25% in the typical compared French town, 28% of residents 15 and over are single here. In the typical compared French town, married residents come to 43%.
In Tarnos, 15% of adults out of school have no qualification, fewer than in 73% 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
More graduates of higher education than in 52% of compared French towns: 31%. Against that, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
Ranked by age, 16th oldest of 41 French towns this size
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 32.3 in Val-de-Reuil to 61.8 in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez.
Tarnos is younger than 1 of its 6 nearest neighbors
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
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 Tarnos
What is the population of Tarnos?
12,957 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 4% more than in 2012 (12,423).
How old are Tarnos’ residents?
The median age is 46, older than 63% of compared French towns. 20% are under 18 and 23% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Tarnos?
460, with occasional dwellings: 6.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Tarnos?
INSEE counts 820 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 6.3% of residents, and 620 foreign nationals (4.8%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Tarnos?
€26,640 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 10.0% 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.