Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,312 in Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Marlhes has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its strongest is cost of living (A+): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.8 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The 2 things Marlhes does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Marlhes 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 Marlhes as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Saint-Martin, in Dunières, 5.7 mi away.
26% 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 Marlhes.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
At the median, a home went for €1,469/m², below Loire’s towns (€2,075/m²) and compared French towns (€2,430/m²) alike. Houses made up 62% of the homes sold; apartments the rest. From July 2023 to June 2026, 52 homes were sold in Marlhes.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,906/m² | 32 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Graduates make up 32% of adults. People 65 and over make up 27% of the town, above both Loire’s towns (25%) and compared French towns (22%). Young adults of 15 to 24 account for just over a tenth of the town.
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Loire 52.0%, France 51.8%.
| Marlhes | Loire median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 22% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 27% | 25% | 22% |
| No diploma | 17% | 20% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 24% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 22% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 32% | 28% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Loire median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Its care home for older people (81 places) counts its residents as Marlhes’; allowing for it, deaths were 15% below expected. From 2016 to 2025, 251 residents of Marlhes died, against 192 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 31% more. The nearest emergency department to Marlhes is Centre hospitalier de Firminy, 8.6 mi away. In Loire, women can expect to live 85.6 years and men 80.8 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France.
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 · This figure includes a care-home adjustment that TownRatings models; no official statistic exists. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from C to A−.
The typical income here, after tax and benefits, is €27,130 a year per consumption unit. Jobs based in Marlhes number 400, against 550 residents in work (0.7 per worker). No commute at all: 4.8% of working residents locally at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Burglary topped the graded crimes in Marlhes (2025). Police and gendarmerie recorded 5 offenses here in 2025. Violence against people ran at 4.4 per 1,000 residents a year and the graded property crimes at 6.5 (2023–2025 average).
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 family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence, vehicle theft and criminal damage number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (88.4% of the index here). The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Other places to visit, museums and heritage in and near Marlhes. Best known first.
Nothing in Marlhes is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
2 notable people were born in Marlhes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marlhes | 1,312 | — | — | A+ | — | B |
| Saint-Genest-Malifaux | 2,921 | 3.9 | — | B+ | — | C+ |
| Saint-Just-Malmont Haute-Loire | 4,239 | 5.6 | B+ | A− | A+ | C+ |
| Dunières Haute-Loire | 2,670 | 5.9 | — | A | — | C+ |
| Saint-Didier-en-Velay Haute-Loire | 3,523 | 6.1 | A+ | A | A+ | B |
| Le Chambon-Feugerolles | 12,314 | 8 | C+ | A− | C− | C |
| La Ricamarie | 8,039 | 8 | B+ | A | D | A− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Marlhes has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Marlhes grades A+ for cost of living.
Commune in Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Marlhes is a commune of 1,312 people in the Communauté de communes des Monts du Pilat. 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.