Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,192 in Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté.
La Machine grades A− overall: better than 80% of compared French towns, and #3 of 12 in Nièvre. Its weakest subject is jobs & income (D−): 0.6 jobs per working resident; 15.9% unemployment. Its strongest is cost of living (A+): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 2.4 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 overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 3 things La Machine does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares La Machine 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 La Machine as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Couvent des Minimes (ancien), in Decize, 4.4 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 La Machine.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The estimated advertised rent is €8.36/m² a month, lower than both Nièvre’s towns (€9.08/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). Houses accounted for 99% of sales, apartments for the rest. From July 2023 to June 2026, 183 homes were sold in La Machine.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €825/m² | 181 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
For 2025, the figures show 36 offenses in La Machine. The town comes 2nd of the 12 compared towns in Nièvre on the Safety Grade. On average over 2023–2025, every 1,000 residents saw 5.1 violent offenses and 7.2 graded property crimes a year. Of the graded crimes here, criminal damage came up most often (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 · When sexual violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles number five or fewer in a recent year, the figure is withheld, and the index uses the département’s average instead (13.8% of the index here). With more than 10% of the index estimated that way, this Safety Grade is less sure than most. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
People 65 and over make up 35% of the town, above Nièvre’s towns (32%) and compared French towns (22%) alike. 7.4% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Residents of La Machine have a median age of 54.8.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Nièvre 53.7%, France 51.8%.
| La Machine | Nièvre median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.4% | 8.7% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 19% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 35% | 32% | 22% |
| No diploma | 32% | 28% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 32% | 31% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 17% | 17% | 18% |
| Higher education | 13% | 19% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Nièvre median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Adjusted mortality in La Machine: 100 deaths for every 100 expected. At birth, a girl in Nièvre can expect 84.1 years and a boy 76.9 (2025); across France, 85.9 and 80.3. Also worth knowing: this Nièvre town has 3 family doctors.
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 · Note: TownRatings models the care-home adjustment; it is not an official figure.
Half of residents lived on more than €22,200 a year per consumption unit, close to Nièvre’s towns (€23,120) and below compared French towns (€25,970). At the census, one in ten commuters got to work without a car.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Nothing in La Machine is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
2 notable people were born in La Machine.
Maurice Rousseau: Unknown (Keystone-France), Public domain
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Machine | 3,192 | — | A− | A+ | A | C− |
| Decize | 4,932 | 4.8 | B− | A | C+ | C+ |
| Imphy | 3,182 | 9.6 | C+ | A | B | D |
| Coulanges-lès-Nevers | 3,688 | 16 | A | A− | A+ | B |
| Nevers | 33,085 | 16 | C | A− | D | C+ |
| Varennes-Vauzelles | 9,146 | 17 | B+ | B+ | B− | A− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades A for safety, #2 of 12 in Nièvre.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so La Machine grades A+ for cost of living.
Commune in Nièvre, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté
La Machine is a commune of 3,192 people in the Communauté de communes Sud Nivernais. 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.