1.1% of homes are flats, below 99% of compared French towns
0.9% of households rent social housing (HLM); in the typical compared French town the figure is 12%. Second homes are more common here than in 71% of compared French towns. Contest had 834 residents in 340 households at the 2023 census. Here, 20% of households are one person living alone.
Throughout this page, the Mayenne 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.
What stands out about the people of Contest
Fewer residents than in 2012
Contest had 924 residents at the 2012 census and 834 in 2023, down 10%: slower growth than in 97% of compared French towns. Population ↓
A town of families
36% of households are couples with children and 9.1% single parents with children; 19% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Contest has changed by −10%, slower than 97% 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
In two steps, −9% to 2017 and −1% after, the town’s change compares with +5% for the median compared French town and ±0% in Mayenne.
A smaller share of residents aged 65 and over than 71% of compared French towns: 19%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Contest 43.3. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Contest’s residents are under 43.3, younger than in 56% of compared French towns. For Contest, the census puts residents aged 15 to 24 at 11%. The wider picture: 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Mayenne 52.1%, France 51.8%.
Couples with children make up 36% in Contest, more than in 94% 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 Mayenne median and the France median
Living alone · share
Contest sits close to the norm on single-parent households: 9.1%, about the same as in the typical compared French town. The share of couples with children in the typical compared French town is 25%. Each household has 2.5 people on average.
A lower share of households without a car than 99% of compared French towns, at 2.8%
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
In the last two years, nearly one in ten households moved in; at the other end, 22% have stayed 30 years or more. Households without a car: 11% in the typical compared French town, for comparison. 6.2% of homes stand empty, fewer than in 58% of compared French towns.
Per consumption unit, the median standard of living is €26,970 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 €26,970 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 61% of compared French towns.
25% of households are headed by a manual worker, a share 96% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
In the typical compared French town, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional; in Contest, 7.3%. Elsewhere, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town. Households headed by a retired person are rarer here than in 85% of compared French towns.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Contest ranks below 94% of compared French towns on immigrants: 1.8%
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.
Foreign nationals make up 1.1%, against 4.3% in the typical compared French town. Against that, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
More married residents than 98% of compared French towns: 54%
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
Where 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town, Contest has 21%. The comparison figure for married residents is 43% in the typical compared French town.
Below 66% of compared French towns: 16% of adults out of school have no qualification
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
Across Contest, 29% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification. Against that, nearly a fifth of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
41 French towns of 834 to 2,582 people: this is the 12th youngest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Villejust is the youngest (37.2); Prayssac the oldest (62.3).
Nearby, 5 of 6 towns have older populations than Contest
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 Contest
What is the population of Contest?
834 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 10% fewer than in 2012 (924).
How old are Contest’s residents?
The median age is 43.3, younger than 56% of compared French towns. 25% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Contest?
15, with occasional dwellings: 4% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Contest?
INSEE counts 15 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.8% of residents, and 9 foreign nationals (1.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Contest?
€26,970 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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.