Photo: Remi Mathis · CC BY-SA 4.0Fewer empty homes than 88% of compared French towns: 4%
In Leers, 14% of homes are flats, beside 30% in the typical compared French town. There were 4,030 households here at the 2023 Census, home to 9,521 residents. The share of couples with children stands at 31%. 0.5% of homes are second homes, fewer than in 96% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Nord 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.
+1% since 2012: slower than 64% 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
Against +5% for the median compared French town and ±0% for the median Nord town, the change came in two steps: +1% from 2012 to 2017, then +1% to 2023.
In Leers, 25% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 65% 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
■ Leers 45.6. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Leers’s residents are over 45.6, older than in 60% of compared French towns. Elsewhere, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town. Census figures put residents aged 15 to 24 at 11% in the town.
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Nord 51.9%, France 51.8%.
29% of households are one person living alone, below 83% 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 Nord median and the France median
Living alone · share
With single-parent households at 8.9%, Leers is behind 68% of compared French towns on that count. In the typical compared French town, 35% of households are one person living alone. The average household has 2.4 people.
Households in social housing: 17%, a higher share than 67% 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
Households that moved in under two years ago: 6.2%. Those in their home 30 years or more: 23%. For comparison, 12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Nearly one in ten households have no car, against 11% in the typical compared French town.
A median of €27,220 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.
The median standard of living in Leers is €27,220 a year per consumption unit: higher than in 63% of compared French towns. Some 9.0% of residents fall below the poverty line.
More households headed by a retired person than 76% of compared French towns: 37%
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 make up 12%, against 14% in the typical compared French town. As a yardstick, nearly a third 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).
Leers sits below 64% of compared French towns for foreign nationals (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.
Immigrants make up a share lower than in 60% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Nord has 4.1%. Elsewhere, 4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town. On the census count, 5.3% of residents are immigrants.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Above 88% of compared French towns: 49% of residents 15 and over are married
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
By its share of single residents (22%), Leers is below 76% of compared French towns. On average, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
Graduates of higher education: 33%, a higher share than 60% 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
About one in six: that is how common adults with no qualification are in Leers (18%). Elsewhere, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The 13th oldest of 41 French towns of 9,361 to 9,679 people
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Aucamville (36.9), the oldest Carqueiranne (57.9).
Leers is older than every town around it
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 Leers
What is the population of Leers?
9,521 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 1% more than in 2012 (9,400).
How old are Leers’ residents?
The median age is 45.6, older than 60% of compared French towns. 21% are under 18 and 25% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Leers?
20, with occasional dwellings: 0.5% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Leers?
INSEE counts 500 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 5.3% of residents, and 290 foreign nationals (3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Leers?
€27,220 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 9.0% 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 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.