Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 8,116: a town in Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.
Much to like here, and you pay for it. Its best grade is for health (A−): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 23% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. It is strong on jobs & income as well (A−): 0.6 jobs per working resident; 7.7% unemployment. Housing is expensive (C−): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 7.9 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Schools are weaker too: brevet results 3 points below the expected rate. The overall grade comes out at B+, better than 68% of compared French towns. In the ranking it comes #32 of 48 in Loire.
Figures: deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · employment, INSEE census 2023 · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · 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 one thing Sorbiers does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Sorbiers 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 Sorbiers as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is maison des Chanoines, in Saint-Chamond, 3.3 mi away.
4.7% 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 Sorbiers.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The split in Sorbiers: €2,783/m² for houses, €2,311/m² for apartments. Advertised rents are estimated at €11.77/m² a month, higher than Loire’s towns (€10.17/m²) yet lower than compared French towns (€12.41/m²). Of the homes sold, 69% were houses.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,783/m² | 148 |
| Apartments | €2,311/m² | 65 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Life expectancy at birth in Loire is 85.6 years for women and 80.8 for men (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France. From 2016 to 2025, 542 residents of Sorbiers died, against 700 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 23% fewer. There are 5 general practitioners in the town.
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 adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
Unemployment stood at 7.7%, below both Loire’s towns (8.6%) and compared French towns (10.1%). At the census, 2.7% of working residents in Sorbiers didn’t travel to work at all. Public transport took 5.7% of Sorbiers’ working residents to work at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Recorded offenses in Sorbiers came to 158 in 2025. Per 1,000 residents a year, there were 3.4 cases of violence against people and 15.2 graded property crimes (2023–2025 average). The commonest graded crime in the town 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 · For sexual violence and armed robbery, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 1.7% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
For collège, the closest is 0.8 mi away. Schools rank #42 of 50 in Loire.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Pierre et Marie CurieNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 179 | 88%−6 pts |
| Collège Marc SeguinBest against expectations: 8 points above the expected rateCollège | Collège | 48 | 92%+8 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Under-15s account for 18% of the population. Half of Sorbiers is older than 44.8, half younger. Nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over, below Loire’s towns (25%) and close to compared French towns (22%).
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Loire 52.0%, France 51.8%.
| Sorbiers | Loire median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 22% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 23% | 25% | 22% |
| No diploma | 12% | 20% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 28% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 18% | 18% | 18% |
| Higher education | 38% | 28% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Loire median and France median: the median of compared communes
Heritage and museums in and near Sorbiers. Best known first.
Nothing in Sorbiers is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
2 notable people were born in Sorbiers.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sorbiers | 8,116 | — | B+ | C− | B | A− |
| La Talaudière | 7,133 | 1.1 | B | C− | C | B+ |
| Saint-Jean-Bonnefonds | 6,563 | 2.7 | A− | C | B+ | A− |
| L'Étrat | 2,879 | 3.3 | A− | C− | B | A− |
| Saint-Priest-en-Jarez | 6,471 | 3.5 | B+ | C | C− | A |
| Saint-Chamond | 35,646 | 3.7 | C | B− | C | C+ |
| Saint-Héand | 3,665 | 4.2 | — | C+ | — | B− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades B for safety, #21 of 48 in Loire. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 48 burglaries and 53 acts of criminal damage.
They grade C+, better than 40% of compared French towns and #42 of 50 in Loire. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Sorbiers grades C− for cost of living.
Commune in Loire, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Sorbiers is a commune of 8,116 people in the Saint-Etienne Métropole. 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 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.