Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,053 in Mayenne, Pays de la Loire.
Méral has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is walkability (C): 1% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 6% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. Its strongest is cost of living (A+): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.1 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 one thing Méral does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Méral 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 Méral as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Logis de L'Epinay, in Cossé-le-Vivien, 2 mi away.
18% 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 Méral.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Advertised rents are estimated at €8.66/m² a month, lower than both Mayenne’s towns (€9.49/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). House rents are put at about €6.54/m² a month. 37 houses and apartments changed hands in Méral from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,080/m² | 37 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
At the census, 6.3% of commuters got to work without a car. Jobs located in Méral: 250, for 500 residents in work (0.5 each). Half of residents lived on more than €24,570 a year per consumption unit, about level with Mayenne’s towns (€24,995) and below compared French towns (€25,970).
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Degrees are held by nearly a quarter of adults. The age that splits Méral in two is 42.5. 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Mayenne 52.1%, France 51.8%.
| Méral | Mayenne median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 10% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 20% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 27% | 22% |
| No diploma | 23% | 24% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 32% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| Higher education | 23% | 25% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Mayenne median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Women in Mayenne live to 86.5 on average and men to 80.6 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France. 245 deaths in Méral between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 185: 32% above. The nearest emergency department to Méral is Centre hospitalier de Laval, 12.1 mi away.
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 · Allowing for care homes is a TownRatings estimate, not a published statistic. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from C− to B+.
Of the graded crimes in Méral, other physical violence came up most often (2025). The yearly rates for 2023–2025: 4.3 violent offenses and 4.9 graded property crimes per 1,000 residents.
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 family violence, sexual violence, vehicle theft, theft from vehicles and criminal damage, the count isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in a year of the last three), so the index uses the département’s average, 100.0% of the index here.
Nothing in Méral is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
One notable person was born in Méral.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Méral | 1,053 | — | — | A+ | — | C+ |
| Cossé-le-Vivien | 3,174 | 3.5 | A− | A | A+ | C− |
| Loiron-Ruillé | 2,758 | 7.6 | — | A− | — | A |
| Craon | 4,431 | 7.7 | A+ | A− | B | B |
| Argentré-du-Plessis Ille-et-Vilaine | 4,633 | 9.9 | — | B | — | A+ |
| Saint-Berthevin | 7,479 | 11 | A+ | B− | B− | A |
| L'Huisserie | 4,672 | 11 | A+ | B+ | A+ | B− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Méral has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Méral grades A+ for cost of living.
Commune in Mayenne, Pays de la Loire
Méral is a commune of 1,053 people in the Communauté de communes du Pays de Craon. 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.