Villerest sits below 97% of compared French towns for one-person households (24%)
Households in social housing: 5.2% here and 12% in the typical compared French town. 3.9% of households have no car, a lower share than in 95% of compared French towns. Villerest’s 2,160 households held 5,172 residents at the 2023 Census. Flats make up about one in 13 here (7.5%).
Throughout this page, the Loire 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.
Villerest’s population changed by +10% since 2012, more than in 70% 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 whole period the median compared French town changed +5%, and the median Loire town +3%. The years 2012 to 2017 brought +4%; 2017 to 2023, +6%.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 8.1% in Villerest, less than in 92% 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
■ Villerest 48.5. The median compared French town: 44.
Where 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town, Villerest has 28%. Elsewhere, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town. With a median age of 48.5, Villerest is older than 77% of compared French towns.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Loire 52.0%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Single-parent households make up 7.4% in Villerest, less than in 86% 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 Loire median and the France median
Living alone · share
Households average 2.4 people. Few places have as many couples with children: 29% here, more than in 70% of compared French towns. The wider picture: one in ten households are single parents in the typical compared French town.
4.5% of homes stand empty, below 81% 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
28% of households have been in place 30 years or more; 6.3% moved in within the last two years. For comparison, 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town. Lower than in 53% of compared French towns: 1.9% of homes are second homes.
Per consumption unit, the median standard of living is €27,910 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.
Half of residents live in households above €27,910 a year per consumption unit and half below; the level is higher than in 70% of compared French towns. Living below the poverty line: 8.0% of residents.
Villerest sits above 83% of compared French towns for households headed by a retired person (40%)
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: 12% here and 14% in the typical compared French town. On households headed by a manager or professional, Villerest sits lower than just over half of compared French towns: 9.2%. As a yardstick, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Fewer foreign nationals than 66% of compared French towns: 3%
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 Villerest, 6.1% of residents are immigrants. That is lower than in 54% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Loire has 5.8%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
17% of residents 15 and over are single, below 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 tops 98% of compared French towns: 54%. As a reference point, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
Villerest: 33% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, above 61% 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 make up about one in six here (18%). In the typical compared French town, graduates of higher education come to 30%.
Among 41 French towns of 5,124 to 5,222 people, the 9th oldest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Brou-sur-Chantereine is the youngest (34.1); Cucq the oldest (56.1).
Of the 6 towns nearest Villerest, 5 are older
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 Villerest
What is the population of Villerest?
5,172 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 10% more than in 2012 (4,696).
How old are Villerest’s residents?
The median age is 48.5, older than 77% of compared French towns. 22% are under 18 and 28% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Villerest?
44, with occasional dwellings: 1.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Villerest?
INSEE counts 320 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 6.1% of residents, and 150 foreign nationals (3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Villerest?
€27,910 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 8.0% 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 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.