Thiers ranks above 99% of compared French towns on empty homes: 21%
Where 25% of households are couples with children in the typical compared French town, Thiers has 18%. Here, 17% of households have no car. With a median age of 48.6, Thiers is older than 77% of compared French towns. The 2023 Census put the town’s population at 11,637, in 5,640 households.
Throughout this page, the Puy-de-Dôme 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 Thiers
Empty homes
The census found 1,560 homes empty (21%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Since 2012, Thiers has changed by +4%, slower than 54% 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
Here the change came as +6% to 2017, then −2% to 2023. Medians for comparison: +5% across compared French towns, +4% in Puy-de-Dôme.
27% of residents are 65 or over, a share 78% of compared French towns don’t reach
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Thiers 48.6. The median compared French town: 44.
The figure for residents aged 15 to 24 is 12% in Thiers and 11% in the typical compared French town. On average, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Puy-de-Dôme 52.2%, France 51.8%.
In Thiers, 43% of households are one person living alone, more than in 80% 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 Puy-de-Dôme median and the France median
Living alone · share
The typical household size is 2 people. Census figures put single-parent households at 9.6% in Thiers. To put it in context, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
In Thiers, 41% of homes are flats, more than in 64% of compared French towns
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
Against a figure of 2.1% in the typical compared French town, the share of second homes in Thiers comes in at 3.8%. 12% of households rent social housing (HLM), or about one in eight. By way of comparison, 30% of homes are flats in the typical compared French town.
The middle resident’s standard of living: €21,650 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.
Half of Thiers’ residents live in households with a standard of living below €21,650 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 90% of compared French towns. Living below the poverty line: 26.0% of residents.
More households headed by a manual worker than 80% of compared French towns: 19%
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
Here 36% of households are headed by a retired person, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 32%. On average, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town. Census figures put households headed by a manager or professional at 6.4% in Thiers.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
In Thiers, 11% of residents are immigrants, more than in 76% 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 make up 8.1%, against 4.3% in the typical compared French town. To put it in context, 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.
A larger share of single residents than 76% of compared French towns: 29%
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
Married residents account for 42%. Typically, a quarter of residents 15 and over are single in the typical compared French town.
26% of adults out of school have no qualification, a share 81% of compared French towns don’t reach
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
Here a quarter of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 30%. The usual figure: nearly a fifth of adults out of school have no qualification in the typical compared French town.
5th highest median age among 41 French towns of 11,392 to 11,766
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Dugny is the youngest (31.9); Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer the oldest (55.2).
Among its 6 nearest neighbors, 3 are older than Thiers
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 Thiers
What is the population of Thiers?
11,637 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 4% more than in 2012 (11,217).
How old are Thiers’ residents?
The median age is 48.6, older than 77% of compared French towns. 18% are under 18 and 27% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Thiers?
280, with occasional dwellings: 3.8% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Thiers?
INSEE counts 1,330 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 11% of residents, and 940 foreign nationals (8.1%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Thiers?
€21,650 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 26.0% 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 9, 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.