Half of Roubaix is under 32, younger than 99% of compared French towns
The figure for households headed by a manual worker is 21% in Roubaix and 14% in the typical compared French town. There were 39,260 households locally at the 2023 Census, home to 98,286 residents. Households without a car: 38% of the total. At 17%, the share of single-parent households is higher than in 98% 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.
What stands out about the people of Roubaix
A young town
Half of Roubaix’s residents are under 32 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 24% are under 15 and 12% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Immigrants
INSEE counts 21,800 immigrants in Roubaix (people born abroad who weren’t French at birth, whatever their nationality now): 22% of residents, against 4.1% for the median compared commune in Nord. 20% are foreign nationals. Immigrants and foreign nationals ↓
Social housing
33% of households rent from a social landlord (HLM), 32% rent privately and 34% own their home. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
+4% since 2012, a pace below 53% 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
The median Nord town changed ±0% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought +3% and the next six +1%.
Roubaix sits below 97% of compared French towns for residents aged 65 and over (12%)
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Roubaix 32. The median compared French town: 44.
The share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 17%, against 11% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, 22% of residents are 65 or over.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Nord 51.9%, France 51.8%.
Roubaix sits above 74% of compared French towns for one-person households (41%)
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
The typical household size is 2.5 people. The wider picture: just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. In Roubaix, 26% of households are couples with children.
Households in social housing: 33%, a higher share than 94% 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
Where 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town, Roubaix has 9.4%. Locally, 0.7% of homes are second homes. 57% of homes are flats, a higher share than in 82% of compared French towns. By way of comparison, just over one in ten households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town.
Median living standard: €16,080 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.
The median standard of living in Roubaix is €16,080 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 99% of compared French towns. The poverty rate is 47.4%.
In Roubaix, 20% of households are headed by a retired person, fewer than in 95% 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
Compared with 9.4% in the typical compared French town, nearly one in ten households are headed by a manager or professional here. The benchmark for households headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town: 32%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants make up 22% in Roubaix, more than in 95% of compared French towns
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.
The share of foreign nationals is 20%, against 4.3% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 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.
42% of residents 15 and over are single, a share 98% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
The figure for married residents is 36% in Roubaix and 43% in the typical compared French town. As a yardstick, 25% of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
More adults with no qualification than 98% of compared French towns: 34%
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
24% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification; in the typical compared French town the figure is 30%. In the typical compared French town, 19% of adults out of school have no qualification.
41 French towns of 78,090 to 122,572 people: this is the 5th 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.
The youngest is Poitiers (30), the oldest Marseille 8e (46.3).
Roubaix is younger 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 Roubaix
What is the population of Roubaix?
98,286 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 4% more than in 2012 (94,536).
How old are Roubaix’s residents?
The median age is 32, younger than 99% of compared French towns. 29% are under 18 and 12% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Roubaix?
320, with occasional dwellings: 0.7% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Roubaix?
INSEE counts 21,810 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 22% of residents, and 19,250 foreign nationals (20%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Roubaix?
€16,080 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 47.4% 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 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.