Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,824 in Vendée, Pays de la Loire.
Barbâtre has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is cost of living (D): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 9.5 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Its strongest is health (B+): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 18% below expected, against 12% below for the median of compared French towns.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas.
The 3 things Barbâtre does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Barbâtre 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 →
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Barbâtre, none of them classé, France’s highest protection.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Barbâtre.
For Barbâtre, that is above both Vendée’s towns (23%) and compared French towns (22%). Under-15s account for 8.3% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Vendée 50.9%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Barbâtre | Vendée median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 8.3% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 6.5% | 9.9% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 12% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 44% | 23% | 22% |
| No diploma | 19% | 19% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 30% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 19% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 24% | 26% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Vendée median and France median: the median of compared communes
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Barbâtre sits above both Vendée’s towns (€2,339/m²) and compared French towns (€2,430/m²) on this measure.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €3,589/m² | 142 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Police and gendarmerie recorded 27 offenses in the graded categories in Barbâtre in 2025. Violence against people ran at 4.1 per 1,000 residents a year and the graded property crimes at 27.8 (2023–2025 average). For family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence, burglary and vehicle theft, this figure isn’t published when it’s small (five or fewer in at least one of the last three years); the index uses the département’s average instead, 21.5% of the index here. Because that share is over 10%, this Safety Grade is less sure than most.
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
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
From 2016 to 2025, 289 residents of Barbâtre died, against 312 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 7% fewer. Its care home for older people (45 places) counts its residents as Barbâtre’s; allowing for it, deaths were 18% below expected. The adjustment lowers most towns’ figures, so the comparison is what counts: the median of compared French towns is 12% below expected. The care-home adjustment is a TownRatings modeling step, not an official statistic.
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
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Barbâtre, none of them classé, France’s highest protection.
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
9.6% of Barbâtre’s working residents walked, cycled or took public transport to work in the 2023 census, against 13% for the median of compared French towns; 83% drove.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Barbâtre, none of them classé, France’s highest protection.
Moulin à vent de la Fosse: Photo: Pierre Gouard · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Moulin à vent dit Moulin de la Plaine: Photo: Pierre Gouard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wikidata has nobody with a French article born in Barbâtre yet.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barbâtre | 1,824 | — | — | D | C− | B+ |
| Beauvoir-sur-Mer | 4,035 | 6.2 | C+ | C− | A | C |
| Noirmoutier-en-l'Île | 4,505 | 6.6 | D− | D− | C | D |
| Saint-Gervais | 2,781 | 8.7 | — | C+ | — | A |
| Saint-Jean-de-Monts | 8,868 | 12 | D | D | D | C− |
| Sallertaine | 3,518 | 12 | A− | C | A | A |
| La Bernerie-en-Retz Loire-Atlantique | 3,536 | 12 | C | C− | B− | C+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Estimated advertised apartment rents are €14.12/m² a month, charges included. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Barbâtre grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Vendée, Pays de la Loire
Barbâtre is a commune of 1,824 people in the Communauté de communes de l'Île de Noirmoutier. 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.
