A median age of 53: Barleux is older than 91% of compared French towns
By its share of flats (12%), Barleux is below just over four fifths of compared French towns. About one in 24: that is how common households headed by a manager or professional are in Barleux (4.2%). Single-parent households are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. There were 120 households here at the 2023 Census, home to 233 residents.
Throughout this page, the Somme 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 Barleux
An older town
Half of Barleux’s residents are under 53 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 31% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 5.9% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Fewer residents than in 2012
Barleux had 249 residents at the 2012 census and 233 in 2023, down 6%: slower growth than in 92% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Empty homes
The census found 20 homes empty (14%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Barleux changed by −6% from 2012 to 2023, behind 92% 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 change was −8% from 2012 to 2017 and +1% from 2017 to 2023. The median compared French town changed +5% over the same years, the median Somme town −3%.
A smaller share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 99% of compared French towns: 5%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Barleux 53. The median compared French town: 44.
Here 31% of residents are 65 or over, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 22%. As a reference point, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
49% women, 51% men
About 104 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Somme 52.5%, France 51.8%.
Couples with children make up 21% in Barleux, less than in 72% 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 Somme median and the France median
Living alone · share
A household here holds 2 people on average. For couples with children, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 25%. 38% of households are one person living alone, a higher share than in 61% of compared French towns.
In Barleux, 0.8% of households rent social housing (HLM), fewer than in 99% 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
In the last two years, just over one in ten households moved in; at the other end, 31% have stayed 30 years or more. The usual figure: just over one in ten households rent social housing (HLM) in the typical compared French town. Higher than in 94% of compared French towns: 14% of homes stand empty. Against a figure of 2.1% in the typical compared French town, the share of second homes in Barleux comes in at 0.8%.
A median of €23,550 a year per consumption unit
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.
The median standard of living in Barleux is €23,550 a year per consumption unit: lower than in 77% of compared French towns.
Households headed by a manual worker make up 21% in Barleux, more than in 86% of compared French towns
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
4.2% of Barleux’s households are headed by a manager or professional, against 9.4% in the median compared French town; 38% by a retired person (32%). As a yardstick, 14% of households are headed by a manual worker in the typical compared French town.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Barleux ranks below 99% of compared French towns on immigrants: 0.8%
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.
Compared with 4.3% in the typical compared French town, 0.8% of residents are foreign nationals here. The median compared commune in Somme has 2.5%; immigrants here make up a share lower than in 99% of compared French towns. For immigrants, the comparison in the typical compared French town is 6.5%.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Barleux sits above 65% of compared French towns for single residents (27%)
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
Locally, 42% of residents 15 and over are married. Single residents: 25% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
A larger share of adults with no qualification than 98% of compared French towns: 36%
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
Where 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town, Barleux has 19%.
41 French towns of 233 to 2,582 people: this is the 7th oldest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Villejust is the youngest (37.2); Prayssac the oldest (62.3).
Every neighbor is younger than Barleux
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 Barleux
What is the population of Barleux?
233 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 6% fewer than in 2012 (249).
How old are Barleux’s residents?
The median age is 53, older than 91% of compared French towns. 14% are under 18 and 31% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Barleux?
1, with occasional dwellings: 0.8% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Barleux?
INSEE counts 2 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 0.8% of residents, and 2 foreign nationals (0.8%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Barleux?
€23,550 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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 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.