Val-au-Perche’s strongest is cost of living: at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.9 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. At A overall, Val-au-Perche ranks #6 of 19 in Orne. It comes out better than 94% of compared French towns. Residents are healthier than most (A−): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 26% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B for safety, C+ for jobs & income and B− for walkability.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
Each subject compares Val-au-Perche 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.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Val-au-Perche.
History
Val-au-Perche is rich in protected monuments: 24 per 10,000 residents, more than in Orne’s towns and across compared French towns
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 8 historic monuments in Val-au-Perche, none of them classé, France’s highest protection. The earliest of these monuments dates from the 12th century. 18% of its homes were built before 1919, lower than Orne’s towns (21%) yet higher than compared French towns (7.4%).
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
HealthHealth A−
Val-au-Perche loses fewer people than its age profile suggests, 74 per 100 expected, below Orne’s towns and compared French towns
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
In Orne, life expectancy at birth reaches 84.6 years for women and 79.6 for men (2025), next to 85.9 and 80.3 for France. France’s death rates at each age would predict 337 deaths in Val-au-Perche from 2016 to 2025; there were 295, 13% fewer. 2 GPs practise in the town.
−26%deaths against expected, after care homesA−Health Grade
Deaths per 100 expected · 2016–2025
Raw87
Adjusted74
Median town88
Expected100
2
GPs in Val-au-Perche · 2.7 GP consultations a year per resident within reach (APL)
6 mi
to the nearest emergency department, Ch Paul Chapron
29.9 mi
to the nearest maternity unit, Centre hospitalier du Mans
84.6 · 79.6
years of life expectancy at birth, women · men, Orne, 2025 (provisional) · France 85.9 · 80.3
Degrees are less common in Val-au-Perche than in Orne’s towns or across compared French towns: 16% of adults
26% of residents are 65 or over, between Orne’s towns (31%) and compared French towns (22%). Ages in Val-au-Perche split evenly at 47.6: half are older, half younger.
47.6median age
Val-au-PercheOrne medianFrance median
Ages · share of residents
26%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Highest diploma · residents 15 and older who have left education
No diploma30%
CAP or BEP31%
Baccalauréat16%
Higher education16%
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
WomenFrance medianMen
About an even split. Median share of women: Orne 52.7%, France 51.8%.
INSEE, census 2023 · Orne median and France median: the median of compared communes
Safety
Less crime per resident in Val-au-Perche than in 57% of compared French towns
Police and gendarmerie recorded 59 offenses in Val-au-Perche in 2025. Graded property crimes ran at 10 per 1,000 residents a year, and violence against people at 9.9 (2023–2025 average). With 2,300 jobs for 1,400 working residents, Val-au-Perche draws people in from neighbouring communes. In 2025, criminal damage led the graded crimes in the town.
9.9recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a yearBSafety Grade
Recorded by type · 2025
Criminal damage23
Family violence16
Burglary9
Sexual violence6
Other physical violence5
Armed robbery0
Fraud13
Theft without violence5
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.
9.9
recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average
10
recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average
59
offenses recorded in the graded categories in 2025
3.7%
of the index rests on the département’s average, used where small counts aren’t published
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · Small counts of vehicle theft and theft from vehicles go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 3.7% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses. Crimes are counted in the commune where they happen, then divided by its residents, so a town that draws people in from around can look higher.
Work & commuteJobs & income C+
Val-au-Perche has 1.7 jobs for every resident in work
Half of residents lived on more than €24,220 a year per consumption unit, close to Orne’s towns (€23,600) and below compared French towns (€25,970). Public transport took 2.9% of Val-au-Perche’s working residents to work at the census. At the census, 3.5% of working residents in Val-au-Perche didn’t travel to work at all.
11%walk, cycle or take transit
How working residents got to work · census 2023
Driving83%
On foot7%
Public transport3%
Bicycle2%
Motorbike or scooter2%
2,300
jobs based in Val-au-Perche, 1.7 per working resident
11.2%
unemployment rate, ages 15 to 64 in the labor force · median of compared French towns 10.1%
€24,220
median annual income per consumption unit, 2023 · median of compared French towns €25,970
3%
worked without traveling (at or from home)
B−
Walkability: better than 52% of compared French towns
Église Saint-Martin: Photo: Thomas de Castilla · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Église Saint-Martin: Photo: Pucesurvitaminee · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Manoir de la Gauberdière: Photo: Début XXe siècle · Public domain
Famous people from Val-au-Perche
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Val-au-Perche as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Questions about Val-au-Perche
Is Val-au-Perche safe?
It grades B for safety, #10 of 19 in Orne. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 9 burglaries and 23 acts of criminal damage.
Is Val-au-Perche expensive to live in?
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €1,347/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Val-au-Perche grades A for cost of living.
About Val-au-Perche
Commune in Orne, Normandy
Val-au-Perche is a commune of 3,336 people in the Communauté de communes des Collines du Perche Normand. 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
Population
3,336 (INSEE, census 2023)
Intercommunality
Communauté de communes des Collines du Perche Normand
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.
