Photo: Bubudu57 · CC BY-SA 3.0Thionville: 75% of homes are flats, above 92% of compared French towns
16% of households are headed by a manager or professional (typical compared French town: 9.4%). The 2023 Census put Thionville’s population at 42,658, in 21,490 households. For Thionville, the census puts households without a car at 18%. Compared with other places, couples with children are scarce here: 19%, fewer than in nearly four fifths of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Moselle 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 Thionville
Many people living alone
48% of Thionville’s households are one person: higher than in 90% of compared French towns; 38% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Slower than most: +3% since 2012, behind 57% 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
Medians for comparison: +5% across compared French towns, −1% in Moselle.
Thionville is younger than 70% of compared French towns: a median age of 41.4
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Thionville 41.4. The median compared French town: 44.
Set against 22% in the typical compared French town, 20% of residents are 65 or over in Thionville. Put another way, about one in ten: 10% of residents are 15 to 24.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Moselle 51.8%, France 51.8%.
Thionville ranks above 90% of compared French towns on one-person households: 48%
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 Moselle median and the France median
Living alone · share
The average household has 1.9 people. By way of comparison, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Lower than in three fifths of compared French towns: 9.4% of households are single parents.
A larger share of households in social housing than 74% of compared French towns: 19%
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
Of all households, 13% moved in during the last two years and 14% have stayed three decades or more. Set beside that, just over one in ten households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Compared with other places, empty homes are common here: 8.9%, more than in 72% of compared French towns. Second homes make up 2.1%, close to the figure in the typical compared French town.
A median of €28,160 a year per consumption unit
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 €28,160 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 72% of compared French towns. Residents below the poverty line make up 19.2%.
27% of households are headed by a retired person, fewer than in 78% of compared French towns
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, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker; in Thionville, 12%. For households headed by a retired person, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
14% of residents are immigrants, a share 83% of compared French towns don’t reach
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 Thionville, 10% of residents are foreign nationals, beside 4.3% in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Moselle has 12%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 83% of compared French towns. 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.
Single residents: 31%, a higher share than 81% 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
In Thionville, 38% of residents 15 and over are married, beside 43% in the typical compared French town. For single residents, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 25%.
More graduates of higher education than 80% of compared French towns: 40%
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
Compared with 19% in the typical compared French town, 17% of adults out of school have no qualification here. As a yardstick, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 40,184 to 45,531 people, the 16th 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.
Stains is the youngest (32.4); Sète the oldest (53.6).
Among its 6 nearest neighbors, 3 are older than Thionville
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 Thionville
What is the population of Thionville?
42,658 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 3% more than in 2012 (41,325).
How old are Thionville’s residents?
The median age is 41.4, younger than 70% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 20% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Thionville?
520, with occasional dwellings: 2.1% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Thionville?
INSEE counts 5,960 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 14% of residents, and 4,270 foreign nationals (10%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Thionville?
€28,160 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 19.2% 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 9, 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.