Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3,125 residents make their home in this town in Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
A tough set of grades. Schools are its weak spot: brevet results 7 points below the expected rate. It lags on cost of living as well: at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 8.7 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. The overall grade lands at D−, #65 of 73 in Var. Set against the rest, it does behind almost every compared French town.
Figures: brevet and bac results, Ministry of Education · prices, DVF · income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size), INSEE Filosofi.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The one thing Besse-sur-Issole does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Besse-sur-Issole 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.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
Besse-sur-Issole has 3 historic monuments on the Culture ministry’s list, none at the highest level (classé).
Victor Quintius Thouron, born in 1794, is the one person born in Besse-sur-Issole before 1900 that Wikidata records.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Besse-sur-Issole.
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
For the general bac, the closest lycée is 6.8 mi away. Ranked by results, schools here are #55 of 63 in Var.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Frédéric MontenardNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 192 | 80%−7 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
The sales split: 89% houses, the rest apartments. Besse-sur-Issole recorded 135 home sales from July 2023 to June 2026. Renting a house costs an estimated €11.95/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €3,247/m² | 120 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
The nearest emergency department to Besse-sur-Issole is Centre hospitalier de Brignoles Jean Marcel, 6.8 mi away. Ages and care homes taken into account, deaths in Besse-sur-Issole come to 97 per 100 predicted. 311 deaths here between 2016 and 2025, where France’s rates at each age predict 283: 10% above. Life expectancy in Var: 86 years for women and 80.3 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.
Over 2025, Besse-sur-Issole logged 88 recorded offenses. The yearly rates for 2023–2025: 12.5 violent offenses and 13 graded property crimes per 1,000 residents. In 2025, criminal damage led the graded crimes here.
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 · Small counts of armed robbery and theft from vehicles go unpublished (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the département’s average stands in, 6.2% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
For its 1,250 residents in work, Besse-sur-Issole has 550 jobs: 0.5 each. 6.2% of the town’s working residents had no journey to work at the census. Half of residents lived on more than €26,580 a year per consumption unit, near both Var’s towns (€26,770) and compared French towns (€25,970).
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
2 of the 3 are bridges and other works. 11% of its homes were built before 1919, above Var’s towns (8.7%) and compared French towns (7.4%) alike.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
People aged 15 to 24 make up 11% of the town, higher than Var’s towns (8.8%) and near compared French towns (11%). At 48.6, the median resident of Besse-sur-Issole sits in the middle of the age range. Nearly a quarter of residents are 65 or over.
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Var 51.4%, France 51.8%.
| Besse-sur-Issole | Var median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 8.8% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 28% | 26% |
| 65+ | 24% | 26% | 22% |
| No diploma | 15% | 16% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 27% | 25% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 22% | 20% | 18% |
| Higher education | 30% | 31% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Var median and France median: the median of compared communes
Besse-sur-Issole has 3 historic monuments on the Culture ministry’s list, none at the highest level (classé).
Fontaine publique: Photo: SombreSanglier · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Fontaine publique: Photo: SombreSanglier · CC BY-SA 3.0
One notable person was born in Besse-sur-Issole.
Victor Quintius Thouron: Bvanier, CC BY-SA 4.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besse-sur-Issole | 3,125 | — | D− | C− | C | C |
| Flassans-sur-Issole | 3,706 | 2.8 | D− | C− | C+ | C− |
| Carnoules | 4,388 | 3.3 | C− | D | B | C− |
| Pignans | 4,838 | 4.2 | C− | C− | B | C+ |
| Forcalqueiret | 3,389 | 4.6 | — | D | — | C+ |
| Puget-Ville | 4,610 | 4.6 | C− | D | B+ | C |
| Rocbaron | 5,660 | 5.5 | C+ | D | A− | C |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades C for safety, #43 of 73 in Var. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 9 burglaries and 27 acts of criminal damage.
They grade D, better than 6% of compared French towns and #55 of 63 in Var. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Estimated advertised apartment rents are €12.56/m² a month, charges included. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Besse-sur-Issole grades C− for cost of living.
Commune in Var, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Besse-sur-Issole is a commune of 3,125 people in the Communauté de communes Cœur du Var. 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.
