71% of homes are second homes, a share 99% of compared French towns don’t reach
In Porta, 11% of households are couples with children, beside 25% in the typical compared French town. Put another way, about one in 17: 6% of residents are 15 to 24. At 6.1%, the share of households without a car is lower than in nearly four fifths of compared French towns. There were 55 households locally at the 2023 Census, home to 94 residents.
Throughout this page, the Pyrénées-Orientales 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 Porta
One home in two is a second home
The census counted 160 second homes and occasional dwellings in Porta, 71% of its 220 homes: higher than in 99% of compared French towns. 82% of them are houses. Their owners live elsewhere, so they aren’t in the population figures on this page. Homes & cars ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Porta had 132 residents at the 2012 census and 94 in 2023, down 29%: slower growth than in 99% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Many people living alone
56% of Porta’s households are one person: higher than in 98% of compared French towns; 40% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
An older town
Half of Porta’s residents are under 55 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 30% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 7.1% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
More households in social housing than 83% of compared French towns: 22%
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 16 has no car (median compared French town: 11%). Households in social housing: 12% in the typical compared French town, for comparison. Put another way, about one in five: 19% of homes are flats. Fewer empty homes than in 81% of compared French towns: 4.5%.
Porta’s population moved −29% on 2012, less than in 99% 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 −12%; 2017 to 2023, −19%. Over the whole period the median compared French town changed +5%, and the median Pyrénées-Orientales town +10%.
A median age of 55: Porta is older than 94% 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
■ Porta 55. The median compared French town: 44.
By its share of residents aged 65 and over (30%), Porta is above 85% of compared French towns.
Women and men · all residents
40% women, 60% men
About 68 women for every 100 men. Median share of women: Pyrénées-Orientales 52.6%, France 51.8%.
A larger share of one-person households than 98% of compared French towns: 56%
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 Pyrénées-Orientales median and the France median
Living alone · share
Each household has 1.7 people on average. Typically, 35% of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town. Few places have as many single-parent households: 11% here, more than in nearly two thirds of compared French towns.
Only 11% of households are headed by a manual worker in Porta
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
Households headed by a manager or professional are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. In the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a manual worker is 14%. Here, a third of households are headed by a retired person.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
A higher share of immigrants than 84% of compared French towns, at 14%
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.
4.3% of residents are foreign nationals in the typical compared French town, against 11% in Porta. As a yardstick, 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.
Porta ranks above 88% of compared French towns on single residents: 33%
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
Nearly two in five residents 15 and over are married; in the typical compared French town the figure is 43%. Single residents make up 25% in the typical compared French town.
A smaller share of adults with no qualification than 92% of compared French towns: 11%
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
25% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification; in the typical compared French town the figure is 30%. The share of adults with no qualification in the typical compared French town is 19%.
6th highest median age among 41 French towns of 94 to 2,582
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 Villejust (37.2), the youngest, and Prayssac (62.3), the oldest.
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 Porta
What is the population of Porta?
94 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 29% fewer than in 2012 (132).
How old are Porta’s residents?
The median age is 55, older than 94% of compared French towns. 13% are under 18 and 30% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Porta?
160, with occasional dwellings: 71% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Porta?
INSEE counts 13 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 14% of residents, and 10 foreign nationals (11%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
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.