Photo: James Cridland from UK · CC BY 2.0Couples with children make up 34% in Guînes, more than in 89% of compared French towns
3.9% of households are headed by a manager or professional (typical compared French town: 9.4%). In Guînes, 9.9% of homes are flats. At 17%, the share of households without a car is higher than in nearly three quarters of compared French towns. This Pas-de-Calais town counted 5,479 residents and 2,170 households at the 2023 Census.
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 Guînes
A town of families
34% of households are couples with children and 11% single parents with children; 19% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Guînes had 5,754 residents at the 2012 census and 5,479 in 2023, down 5%: slower growth than in 87% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Guînes has changed by −5%, slower than 87% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved −2%, and from 2017 to 2023 −3%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Pas-de-Calais town −1%.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 14%, a higher share than 90% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Guînes 40.4. The median compared French town: 44.
Half of Guînes’s residents are under 40.4, younger than in 77% of compared French towns. As a reference point, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town. Residents aged 65 and over come to 18% in the town, about two in ten.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Pas-de-Calais 52.0%, France 51.8%.
28% of households are one person living alone, below 84% 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
By its share of single-parent households (11%), Guînes is above 63% of compared French towns. For one-person households, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 35%. The average household has 2.5 people.
A lower share of second homes than 84% of compared French towns, at 0.9%
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
One household in six has no car, against 11% in the median compared French town. Households in social housing make up about one in six here (16%). Higher than in 54% of compared French towns: 7.1% of homes stand empty. In the typical compared French town, second homes come to 2.1%.
A typical living standard of €21,570 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 €21,570 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 91% of compared French towns. As for poverty, 21.0% of residents are below the line.
Guînes: 23% of households are headed by a manual worker, above 93% of compared French towns
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
35% of households are headed by a retired person, against 32% in the typical compared French town. 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).
Only 0.7% of residents are immigrants in Guînes
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 share of foreign nationals is 0.3%, against 4.3% in the typical compared French town. On average, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town. That is lower than in 99% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Pas-de-Calais has 1.7%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Guînes ranks above 69% of compared French towns on single residents: 28%
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
Against a figure of 43% in the typical compared French town, the share of married residents in Guînes comes in at 41%. Measured more widely, a quarter of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
A lower share of graduates of higher education than 97% of compared French towns, at 15%
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
Against a figure of 19% in the typical compared French town, the share of adults with no qualification in Guînes comes in at 28%. In the typical compared French town, graduates of higher education come to 30%.
Ranked by age, 8th youngest of 41 French towns this size
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
The youngest is Crégy-lès-Meaux (35.3), the oldest Penmarch (60.8).
Guînes is younger than 5 of its 6 nearest neighbors
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 Guînes
What is the population of Guînes?
5,479 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 5% fewer than in 2012 (5,754).
How old are Guînes’ residents?
The median age is 40.4, younger than 77% of compared French towns. 24% are under 18 and 18% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Guînes?
21, with occasional dwellings: 0.9% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Guînes?
INSEE counts 38 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 0.7% of residents, and 19 foreign nationals (0.3%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Guînes?
€21,570 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 21.0% 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.