In Essars, 3.7% of homes are flats, fewer than in 97% of compared French towns
In the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a retired person is 32%; Essars has 43%. Locally, 28% of households are one person living alone. 0.3% of homes are second homes, fewer than in 99% of compared French towns. Census day 2023: 1,753 residents and 750 households in the town.
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.
Faster growth than 65% of compared French towns: Essars changed by +9% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved +7%, and from 2017 to 2023 +2%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Pas-de-Calais town −1%.
Essars is older than 60% of compared French towns: a median age of 45.5
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Essars 45.5. The median compared French town: 44.
Set against 22% in the typical compared French town, nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over in Essars. Put another way, about one in ten: one in ten residents are 15 to 24.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Pas-de-Calais 52.0%, France 51.8%.
Essars: 30% of households are couples with children, above 74% 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
Single-parent households: 8.7%, below 71% of compared French towns. The wider picture: 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town.
Below 85% of compared French towns: 5.4% of households rent social housing (HLM)
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
6.1% of households moved in less than two years ago; 30% have been in their home 30 years or more. The usual figure: 12% of households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Few places have so few households without a car: 6.7% here, fewer than in three quarters of compared French towns. Car-free households: one in 15, where the median compared French town has 11%.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €25,860 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 €25,860 a year: lower than in 51% of compared French towns.
Essars ranks below 77% of compared French towns on households headed by a manual worker: 10%
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
Where 9.4% of households are headed by a manager or professional in the typical compared French town, Essars has 11%. The usual figure: 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).
1.6% of residents are immigrants, fewer than in 96% 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.
Foreign nationals: 0.8%, below 97% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of immigrants is 6.5%. The median compared commune in Pas-de-Calais has 1.7%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 96% 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.
A smaller share of single residents than 81% of compared French towns: 22%
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
47% of residents 15 and over are married, against 43% in the typical compared French town. Single residents make up 25% in the typical compared French town.
A smaller share of adults with no qualification than 63% of compared French towns: 17%
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
Census figures put graduates of higher education at 31% in Essars. Adults with no qualification: 19% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
The 21st oldest of 41 French towns of 1,753 to 2,582 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 37.2 in Villejust to 62.3 in Prayssac.
No nearby town is as old as Essars
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 Essars
What is the population of Essars?
1,753 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 9% more than in 2012 (1,615).
How old are Essars’ residents?
The median age is 45.5, older than 60% of compared French towns. 21% are under 18 and 23% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Essars?
2, with occasional dwellings: 0.3% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Essars?
INSEE counts 27 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 1.6% of residents, and 14 foreign nationals (0.8%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Essars?
€25,860 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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.