Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town has 1,522 residents and lies in Sarthe, Pays de la Loire.
Cost of living is its strong suit — at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 4.6 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Add health to its strengths: after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 19% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns. Few people walk, cycle or take the bus to work: 54% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 4% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. The median home sells for €1,563/m².
Figures: prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · commuting, INSEE census 2023. Beaufay 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 Beaufay does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Beaufay 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.
Beaufay has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry lists no building in Beaufay as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Notre-Dame, in Torcé-en-Vallée, 1.9 mi away.
22% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Beaufay.
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
From July 2023 to June 2026, 51 homes were sold in Beaufay. That is the middle of 51 sales of houses and apartments here from July 2023 to June 2026, against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns and €1,638/m² for the median of compared towns in Sarthe.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,563/m² | 51 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
150 jobs are based in Beaufay, for 700 working residents (0.2 per worker). The median disposable income was €26,320 a year per consumption unit, above Sarthe’s towns (€24,770) and close to compared French towns (€25,970). At the census, 2.0% of working residents in Beaufay went to work by public transport.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Adjusted for age and care homes, Beaufay records 81 deaths per 100 expected, near Sarthe’s towns (82) and lower than compared French towns (88). France’s death rates at each age would predict 148 deaths here from 2016 to 2025; there were 120, 19% fewer. The nearest emergency department to Beaufay is Centre hospitalier du Mans, 12.4 mi away. Average lifespans in Sarthe: 85.9 years for women, 79.9 for men (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 nationally.
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 · The adjustment for care homes is TownRatings’ own modeling, not an official figure. A less sure grade: it could be anywhere from C to A.
The share aged 15 to 24 is 9.3%. People 65 and over make up just over a fifth of the town, below Sarthe’s towns (26%) and close to compared French towns (22%). Degrees are held by 23% of adults.
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Sarthe 51.6%, France 51.8%.
| Beaufay | Sarthe median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 9.9% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 23% | 20% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 22% | 26% | 22% |
| No diploma | 19% | 24% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 30% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 21% | 16% | 18% |
| Higher education | 23% | 22% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Sarthe median and France median: the median of compared communes
On average over 2023–2025, every 1,000 residents saw 4 violent offenses and 5.8 graded property crimes a year. For 2025, the figures show 7 offenses in Beaufay. Also worth knowing: in 2025, burglary led the graded crimes locally.
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, theft from vehicles and criminal damage, the count isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in a year of the last three), so the index uses the département’s average, 84.3% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Heritage in and near Beaufay. Best known first.
Nothing in Beaufay is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
One notable person was born in Beaufay.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaufay | 1,522 | — | — | A | — | B+ |
| Bonnétable | 3,703 | 4.1 | A | A | B | A− |
| Savigné-l'Évêque | 4,031 | 5.6 | A+ | A− | A | B− |
| Montfort-le-Gesnois | 2,939 | 7 | — | B+ | — | C+ |
| Saint-Mars-la-Brière | 2,681 | 8.2 | — | A− | — | B+ |
| Connerré | 2,780 | 8.6 | B+ | A− | C | B− |
| Champagné | 3,666 | 8.7 | A | A− | B+ | B− |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Beaufay has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Beaufay grades A for cost of living.
Commune in Sarthe, Pays de la Loire
Beaufay is a commune of 1,522 people in the Communauté de communes Maine Saosnois. 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 October 30, 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.