Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 3,322 people, this town lies in Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire.
Health is its weak spot: after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 10% above expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. At the median price of €2,308/m², a 70 m² home costs 6.3 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the Communauté d'agglomération de la Région Nazairienne et de l'Estuaire (CARENE). It also trails on walkability: 44% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 4% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. Only 13% of residents are 65 or over.
Figures: deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting, INSEE census 2023 · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi. Besné has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
Each subject compares Besné 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.
Besné has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The 2 things Besné does most differently from other towns.
The Culture ministry lists no building in Besné as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Menhir dit Le Fuseau de la Madeleine, in Pontchâteau, 4.4 mi away.
Explore the history →Nothing in Besné is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Besné.
Degrees are held by 26% of adults. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.6% of residents, lower than both Loire-Atlantique’s towns (11%) and compared French towns (11%). On top of that, people 65 and over make up 13% of the town.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Loire-Atlantique 51.0%, France 51.8%.
| Besné | Loire-Atlantique median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 24% | 19% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.6% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 24% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 13% | 19% | 22% |
| No diploma | 12% | 14% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 36% | 28% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 26% | 34% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Loire-Atlantique median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Life expectancy at birth in Loire-Atlantique is 86.2 years for women and 80.3 for men (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France. 156 deaths in Besné between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 142: 10% above. The nearest emergency department to Besné is Centre hospitalier de Saint Nazaire, 11.4 mi away. There is one general practitioner locally.
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 · The care-home step is TownRatings’ own calculation, not an official number.
Jobs located in Besné: 550, for 1,600 residents in work (0.3 each). Unemployment stood at 7.6%, between Loire-Atlantique’s towns (7.2%) and compared French towns (10.1%). Also worth knowing: at the census, 3.2% of working residents in Besné went to work by public transport.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
87 sales of houses and apartments in Besné, from July 2023 to June 2026, give the median of €2,308/m². House rents are put at about €10.39/m² a month. Among the homes sold, 98% were houses.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,308/m² | 85 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Besné’s tally for 2025: 18 recorded offenses. Each year (2023–2025 average), violence against people came to 5.4 per 1,000 residents and the graded property crimes to 8.3. The graded crime recorded most here 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 · When other physical violence, sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (43.1% of the index here). The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Besné as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
Commune in Loire-Atlantique, Pays de la Loire
Besné is a commune of 3,322 people in the Communauté d'agglomération de la Région Nazairienne et de l'Estuaire (CARENE). 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besné | 3,322 | — | — | C+ | — | D |
| Prinquiau | 3,591 | 3.3 | — | B | — | C |
| Donges | 8,219 | 3.4 | C+ | C+ | C | C− |
| Pontchâteau | 11,474 | 3.5 | B+ | C+ | B− | C+ |
| Crossac | 2,974 | 3.7 | — | B− | — | C+ |
| Saint-Malo-de-Guersac | 3,203 | 5 | — | C | — | D |
| La Chapelle-Launay | 3,270 | 5.2 | — | B | — | B− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Besné has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average.
Prices are close to the median of compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €2,308/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Besné grades C+ for cost of living.
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 November 8, 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.