Photo: JackyM59 · CC BY-SA 4.0Above 97% of compared French towns: 16% of residents are 15 to 24
Households in social housing are more common here than in 85% of compared French towns. Béthune counted 25,224 residents and 12,580 households at the 2023 Census. About one in six: that is how common couples with children are in Béthune (17%). Against a figure of 11% in the typical compared French town, the share of households without a car in Béthune comes in at 26%.
Throughout this page, the Pas-de-Calais 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 Béthune
Many people living alone
50% of Béthune’s households are one person: higher than in 93% of compared French towns; 44% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Empty homes
The census found 1,650 homes empty (11%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Béthune changed by −2% from 2012 to 2023, behind 77% 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 years 2012 to 2017 brought −3%; 2017 to 2023, +1%.
Younger than 81% of compared French towns: half of Béthune is under 39.6
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Béthune 39.6. The median compared French town: 44.
Nearly a fifth of residents are 65 or over, against 22% in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Pas-de-Calais 52.0%, France 51.8%.
Béthune: 50% of households are one person living alone, above 93% 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 Pas-de-Calais median and the France median
Living alone · share
The typical household size is 1.9 people. One-person households: 35% in the typical compared French town, for comparison. Census figures put single-parent households at 12% in Béthune.
Béthune ranks above 86% of compared French towns on empty homes: 11%
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
Second homes are about as common here as in the typical compared French town: 1.2%. Few places have as many flats: 49% here, more than in 73% of compared French towns. To put it in context, 6.7% of homes stand empty in the typical compared French town. In the last two years, 17% of households moved in; at the other end, 13% have stayed 30 years or more.
Standard of living at the median: €21,370 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.
Living standards centre on €21,370 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 92% of compared French towns. Below the poverty line: 28.0% of residents.
Béthune ranks below 70% of compared French towns on households headed by a retired person: 29%
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
9.4% of households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town, against 11% in Béthune. As a yardstick, 32% of households are headed by a retired person in the typical compared French town. Here, 15% of households are headed by a manual worker.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A smaller share of immigrants than 62% of compared French towns: 5.1%
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 census found that 4.2% of residents are foreign nationals in Béthune. Typically, 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.
Married residents: 30%, a lower share than 98% of compared French towns
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 share of single residents tops 93% of compared French towns: 36%. In the typical compared French town, the share of married residents is 43%.
Adults with no qualification make up 23% in Béthune, more than in 68% 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
On graduates of higher education, Béthune sits lower than half of compared French towns: 30%. The wider picture: nearly a fifth of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
41 French towns of 23,981 to 26,476 people: this is the 16th 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.
At the ends of the range sit Les Pavillons-sous-Bois (35), the youngest, and Biarritz (55.2), the oldest.
Béthune 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 Béthune
What is the population of Béthune?
25,224 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% fewer than in 2012 (25,694).
How old are Béthune’s residents?
The median age is 39.6, younger than 81% of compared French towns. 20% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Béthune?
170, with occasional dwellings: 1.2% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Béthune?
INSEE counts 1,290 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 5.1% of residents, and 1,060 foreign nationals (4.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Béthune?
€21,370 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 28.0% 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 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.