Below 86% of compared French towns: 4.9% of households are headed by a manager or professional
Where 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town, Bresles has 28%. The town had 4,029 residents in 1,770 households at the 2023 census. Here, nearly a quarter of homes are flats. Half of the town’s residents are under 42.8, younger than in three fifths of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Oise 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 Bresles
Fewer residents than in 2012
Bresles had 4,341 residents at the 2012 census and 4,029 in 2023, down 7%: slower growth than in 93% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Slower growth than 93% of compared French towns: Bresles changed by −7% since 2012
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 +2% for the median Oise town, the change came in two steps: −4% from 2012 to 2017, then −3% to 2023.
Below 61% of compared French towns: 21% of residents are 65 or over
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Bresles 42.8. The median compared French town: 44.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 11%, near enough the figure in the typical compared French town. Measured more widely, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Oise 51.7%, France 51.8%.
One-person households make up 33% in Bresles, less than in 61% 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 Oise median and the France median
Living alone · share
A household here holds 2.2 people on average. The usual figure: just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. 11% of households are single parents, a higher share than in 69% of compared French towns.
14% of households have no car, a share 67% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
The share of households in social housing tops 55% of compared French towns: 14%. On average, 11% of households have no car in the typical compared French town. 1.2% of homes are second homes. More empty homes than in 57% of compared French towns: 7.3%.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €25,000 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.
Per consumption unit, half of residents live on more than €25,000 a year: lower than in 60% of compared French towns. The poverty rate is 13.0%.
A higher share of households headed by a manual worker than 91% of compared French towns, at 22%
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
Here, 31% of households are headed by a retired person. Typically, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Immigrants make up 2.2% in Bresles, less than in 90% 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.
Set against 4.3% in the typical compared French town, 1.6% of residents are foreign nationals in Bresles. Elsewhere, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Oise has 7.4%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 90% of compared French towns.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Below 63% of compared French towns: 41% 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
Single residents: 24%, below 64% of compared French towns. To put it in context, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
More adults with no qualification than 92% of compared French towns: 31%
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
Here 20% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 30%. In the typical compared French town, the share of adults with no qualification is 19%.
The 14th youngest of 41 French towns of 4,006 to 4,056 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.
Ages run from 36.3 in Fay-de-Bretagne to 66.9 in Vaux-sur-Mer.
Bresles and its 6 nearest towns: 2 of them are older
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 Bresles
What is the population of Bresles?
4,029 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 7% fewer than in 2012 (4,341).
How old are Bresles’ residents?
The median age is 42.8, younger than 60% of compared French towns. 21% are under 18 and 21% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Bresles?
23, with occasional dwellings: 1.2% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Bresles?
INSEE counts 88 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 2.2% of residents, and 65 foreign nationals (1.6%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Bresles?
€25,000 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 13.0% 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 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.