Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1,209 people call this town in Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie home.
Where it does best is walkability (A). The weak point is safety: an average of 5.4 recorded violent incidents and 45.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025. It also trails on cost of living: at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 8.2 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality.
Figures: amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting and employment, INSEE census 2023 · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior) · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi. Cerbère has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The 2 things Cerbère does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Cerbère 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.
Cerbère has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Cerbère: 1 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 2 inscrit (the second level).
The oldest protected part dates from prehistory; the first monument here was protected in 1889.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Cerbère.
The 2025 count: 51 offenses in Cerbère. The town has 400 jobs for 350 working residents, so people come in from nearby communes to work. Of the graded crimes locally, theft from vehicles came up most often (2025).
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.
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · For family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence and vehicle theft, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 14.3% of the index here. Because that share is over 10%, this Safety Grade is less sure than most. 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.
Half of residents lived on more than €22,690 a year per consumption unit, below both Pyrénées-Orientales’ towns (€24,140) and compared French towns (€25,970). 25.7% of commuters went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport at the census.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The estimated advertised rent is €12.98/m² a month, higher than Pyrénées-Orientales’ towns (€11.84/m²) and near compared French towns (€12.41/m²). The sales split: 25% houses, the rest apartments. Renting a house costs an estimated €11.29/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Apartments | €2,778/m² | 59 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Nearly a quarter of adults hold a degree, lower than both Pyrénées-Orientales’ towns (27%) and compared French towns (30%). Retirement age and beyond: just over a third of residents are 65 or older. People aged 15 to 24 are 6.7% of the population.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Pyrénées-Orientales 52.6%, France 51.8%.
| Cerbère | Pyrénées-Orientales median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 9.1% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 6.7% | 9.4% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 16% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 35% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 34% | 28% | 22% |
| No diploma | 15% | 19% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 20% | 20% | 18% |
| Higher education | 24% | 27% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Pyrénées-Orientales median and France median: the median of compared communes
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
Homes built before 1919 account for nearly a tenth of the housing. The oldest protected building goes back to prehistory. The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Cerbère: 1 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 2 inscrit (the second level).
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
2 GPs practise in Cerbère. Its care home for older people (30 places) counts its residents as Cerbère’s; allowing for it, deaths were 14% below expected. France’s death rates at each age would predict 176 deaths locally from 2016 to 2025; there were 182, 4% more. Life expectancy in Pyrénées-Orientales: 85.5 years for women and 78.9 for men (2025); France averages 85.9 and 80.3.
Source: INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025; DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 · Licence Ouverte · That adjustment for care homes is a model of TownRatings’ own, not official data. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from C to A−.
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Cerbère: 1 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 2 inscrit (the second level).
Château de Querroig: Photo: Arnaugir · CC BY-SA 3.0 · ancien hôtel Belvédère du Rayon vert: Photo: Bloovee sur Wikipédia anglais · CC BY-SA 3.0
One notable person was born in Cerbère.
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more. The map uses IGN’s commune boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cerbère | 1,209 | — | — | D | D− | B− |
| Banyuls-sur-Mer | 4,496 | 3.1 | C− | D | C− | C− |
| Port-Vendres | 4,018 | 5.9 | C− | D | C− | C |
| Collioure | 2,756 | 7 | B− | D− | B− | B− |
| Argelès-sur-Mer | 10,616 | 10 | D− | D | D− | D |
| Sorède | 3,512 | 12 | B− | C− | A | B− |
| Saint-André | 3,388 | 12 | D | C | C+ | C+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades D− for safety. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 16 burglaries and 14 acts of criminal damage.
Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns, so Cerbère grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Pyrénées-Orientales, Occitanie
Cerbère is a commune of 1,209 people in the Communauté de communes des Albères, de la Côte Vermeille et de l'Illibéris. 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
Sources: INSEE, census 2023 (population, employment, commuting) · INSEE, Filosofi 2023 (income per consumption unit, poverty) · DGFiP, DVF property sales, July 2023 to June 2026 · Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025 · SSMSI, recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Ministry of Education (DEPP), brevet and bac results and value-added indicators, 2025 · INSEE, deaths by commune of residence 2016–2025 and censuses 2012–2023; Eurostat, death rates by age (© European Union); INSEE, BPE 2025 (care homes, emergency and maternity units, GPs, pharmacies); DREES, APL 2024; INSEE, life expectancy by département 2025 (provisional) · INSEE, BPE 2025 and Filosofi 200 m grid (walking distances) · IGN Admin Express (boundaries) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking French towns against each other only, 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.
