Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,243 in Orne, Normandy.
Chanu has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is jobs & income (C−): 0.5 jobs per working resident; 9.7% unemployment. Its strongest is cost of living (A+): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.4 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 2 things Chanu does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Chanu 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 Chanu as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église des Montiers, in Tinchebray-Bocage, 3.5 mi away.
31% 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 Chanu.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Half the homes sold went for more than €1,158/m², lower than both Orne’s towns (€1,331/m²) and compared French towns (€2,430/m²). 48 houses and apartments changed hands in Chanu from July 2023 to June 2026. House rents are put at about €6.32/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,158/m² | 48 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Children under 15 make up 17%, higher than Orne’s towns (14%) and near compared French towns (17%). People 65 and over make up 30% of the town. The median resident of Chanu is 50.1 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Orne 52.7%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Chanu | Orne median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 14% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 9.4% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 19% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 30% | 31% | 22% |
| No diploma | 32% | 30% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 30% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 16% | 15% | 18% |
| Higher education | 18% | 19% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Orne median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
From 2016 to 2025, 247 residents of Chanu died, against 215 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 15% more. The nearest emergency department to Chanu is Centre hospitalier Jacques Monod Flers, 6.3 mi away. The town has one family doctor. In Orne, women can expect to live 84.6 years and men 79.6 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France.
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 · The adjustment for care homes is TownRatings’ own modeling, not an official figure.
Households’ median disposable income: €23,840 a year per consumption unit. At the census, 5.5% of working residents in Chanu didn’t travel to work at all. Unemployment stood at 9.7%, lower than Orne’s towns (11.0%) and near compared French towns (10.1%).
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Museums and other places to visit in and near Chanu. Best known first.
Nothing in Chanu is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
One notable person was born in Chanu.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chanu | 1,243 | — | — | A+ | — | B+ |
| Tinchebray-Bocage | 4,813 | 2.8 | A+ | A+ | A+ | B |
| Flers | 14,432 | 5.1 | B− | A | C | C+ |
| Saint-Georges-des-Groseillers | 3,173 | 5.4 | A | A | A+ | B |
| Domfront en Poiraie | 4,113 | 9.6 | A+ | A | A− | B− |
| Valdallière Calvados | 5,696 | 9.8 | A− | A | A− | B+ |
| Athis-Val de Rouvre | 4,201 | 10 | A+ | A | A+ | B+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Chanu has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. Recorded figures: an average of 5.7 recorded violent incidents and 4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Chanu grades A+ for cost of living.
Commune in Orne, Normandy
Chanu is a commune of 1,243 people in the Communauté de communes Domfront Tinchebray Interco. 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.