Bessé-sur-Braye’s strongest subject is cost of living — at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 3.1 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Jobs and pay trail most towns: 1 job per working resident; 19.8% unemployment. The rest of its grades are middling: B− for health and B for walkability. Crime runs high: an average of 3.7 recorded violent incidents and 20.4 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Figures: prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi · employment and commuting, INSEE census 2023 · deaths, INSEE (by commune of residence, 2016–2025) · amenities, INSEE BPE 2025 · recorded crime, SSMSI (Ministry of the Interior). Bessé-sur-Braye 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.
Each subject compares Bessé-sur-Braye 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.
Château de Courtanvaux: Photo: David Merrett from Daventry, England · CC BY 2.0
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Bessé-sur-Braye.
HousingCost of living A
Estimated advertised rents run lower in Bessé-sur-Braye than in Sarthe’s towns or across compared French towns: €8.69/m² a month
€1,092/m²median sale price
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Homes sold for a median €1,092/m², below Sarthe’s towns (€1,638/m²) and compared French towns (€2,430/m²) alike. Between July 2023 and June 2026, buyers took 102 homes in Bessé-sur-Braye. The sales split: 96% houses, the rest apartments.
Median sale price per m² · Jul 2023 to Jun 2026
Bessé-sur-Braye€1,092/m²
Median of towns€2,430/m²
Sarthe median€1,638/m²
By type
Median per m²
Sales
Houses
€1,127/m²
98
€8.69/m²
estimated advertised apartment rent a month, charges included (€6.53 to €11.58/m² a month)
3.1
times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality, for 70 m² at the median price
€6.71/m²
estimated advertised house rent a month, charges included
€24,520
median annual income per consumption unit, Communauté de communes des Vallées de la Braye et de l'Anille
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Who lives here
Children make up only 12% of Bessé-sur-Braye, fewer than in Sarthe’s towns and across compared French towns
57.1median age
Those 65 and older account for 36% of residents. The 15-to-24 age group: 7.8%, lower than both Sarthe’s towns (9.9%) and compared French towns (11%). Residents of Bessé-sur-Braye have a median age of 57.1.
Bessé-sur-BrayeSarthe medianFrance median
Ages · share of residents
36%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Highest diploma · residents 15 and older who have left education
No diploma37%
CAP or BEP34%
Baccalauréat12%
Higher education10%
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
WomenFrance medianMen
About 88 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Sarthe 51.6%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
INSEE, census 2023 · Sarthe median and France median: the median of compared communes
Safety
Per resident, Bessé-sur-Braye sees more crime than 62% of compared French towns
3.7recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a yearC+Safety Grade
Police and gendarmerie recorded 56 offenses in Bessé-sur-Braye in 2025. The graded crime recorded most in the town was criminal damage (2025).
Recorded by type · 2025
Criminal damage32
Burglary12
Theft from vehicles12
Armed robbery0
Fraud18
Theft without violence10
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.
3.7
recorded violent incidents per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average
20.4
recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025 average
56
offenses recorded in the graded categories in 2025
20.5%
of the index rests on the département’s average, used where small counts aren’t published
Source: SSMSI (Interior Ministry), recorded crime by commune, 2023–2025 · Licence Ouverte · Small counts of family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence and vehicle theft go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 20.5% of the index here. That estimated share passes 10%, so treat this Safety Grade with more caution than most. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
History
Old homes shape Bessé-sur-Braye: 18% were built before 1919, more than in Sarthe’s towns and across compared French towns
1historic monument
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The earliest of these monuments dates from the 14th century. Among the classé monuments in Bessé-sur-Braye is Château de Courtanvaux.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
Work & commuteJobs & income C−
Bessé-sur-Braye has higher unemployment than Sarthe’s towns or compared French towns: 19.8%
8%walk, cycle or take transit
After tax and benefits, the median income is €24,030 a year per consumption unit. Bessé-sur-Braye holds 600 jobs; 600 of its residents are in work, so 1 jobs each. At the census, 8.4% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
How working residents got to work · census 2023
Driving84%
On foot6%
Motorbike or scooter2%
Bicycle1%
Public transport1%
600
jobs based in Bessé-sur-Braye, 1 per working resident
19.8%
unemployment rate, ages 15 to 64 in the labor force · median of compared French towns 10.1%
€24,030
median annual income per consumption unit, 2023 · median of compared French towns €25,970
5%
worked without traveling (at or from home)
B
Walkability: better than 60% of compared French towns
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
HealthHealth B−
Adjusted for age and care homes, Bessé-sur-Braye sees more deaths than 50% of compared French towns
−12%deaths against expected, after care homesB−Health Grade
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
There are 5 general practitioners in Bessé-sur-Braye. After the care-home adjustment, the town’s deaths ran at 88 per 100 expected, about level with compared French towns (88) and above Sarthe’s towns (82). France’s death rates at each age would predict 362 deaths in the town from 2016 to 2025; there were 379, 5% more. In Sarthe, life expectancy at birth reaches 85.9 years for women and 79.9 for men (2025), next to 85.9 and 80.3 for France.
Deaths per 100 expected · 2016–2025
Raw105
Adjusted88
Median town88
Expected100
5
GPs in Bessé-sur-Braye · 2.2 GP consultations a year per resident within reach (APL)
6.1 mi
to the nearest emergency department, Centre hospitalier St Calais
15.1 mi
to the nearest maternity unit, Maternite centre hospitalier Vendome Montoire
85.9 · 79.9
years of life expectancy at birth, women · men, Sarthe, 2025 (provisional) · France 85.9 · 80.3
Bessé-sur-Braye is a commune of 1,972 people in the Communauté de communes des Vallées de la Braye et de l'Anille. 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
Population
1,972 (INSEE, census 2023)
Intercommunality
Communauté de communes des Vallées de la Braye et de l'Anille
Département
Sarthe (72)
Région
Pays de la Loire
Area
7.9 sq mi (20.5 km²)
INSEE code
72035
Bessé-sur-Braye’s neighbors
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more. The map uses IGN’s commune boundaries. See them on the map →
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.
