Photo: Yzergues · CC BY-SA 4.0A median age of 55.1: La Châtaigneraie is older than 94% of compared French towns
Households headed by a manager or professional: 4.8% here and 9.4% in the typical compared French town. In La Châtaigneraie, 16% of households are couples with children. On flats, La Châtaigneraie sits lower than 73% of compared French towns: 17%. The town counted 2,600 residents and 1,210 households at the 2023 Census.
Throughout this page, the Vendée 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 La Châtaigneraie
An older town
Half of La Châtaigneraie’s residents are under 55.1 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 35% are 65 or older (France median 22%), 12% 80 or older. Ages ↓
Empty homes
The census found 170 homes empty (12%): for sale, to let, awaiting work or simply unused. Homes & cars ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
La Châtaigneraie changed by −2% from 2012 to 2023, slower than 79% 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
In two steps, −4% to 2017 and +2% after, the town’s change compares with +5% for the median compared French town and +9% in Vendée.
More residents aged 65 and over than 94% of compared French towns: 35%
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ La Châtaigneraie 55.1. The median compared French town: 44.
By its share of residents aged 15 to 24 (8.9%), La Châtaigneraie is below 82% of compared French towns. Measured more widely, 22% of residents are 65 or over in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 89 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.
A larger share of one-person households than 74% of compared French towns: 41%
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 Vendée median and the France median
Living alone · share
The share of single-parent households is 8.6%, against 10% in the typical compared French town. On average, 2 people share a household. As a yardstick, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
In La Châtaigneraie, 12% of homes stand empty, more than in 87% 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
Car-free households: one in nine, where the median compared French town has 11%. On second homes, La Châtaigneraie sits higher than 63% of compared French towns: 3.1%. In the typical compared French town, empty homes come to 6.7%.
€22,720 a year: the median standard of living
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.
Half of La Châtaigneraie’s residents live in households with a standard of living below €22,720 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 84% of compared French towns. The share living below the poverty line is 18.0%.
La Châtaigneraie sits above 94% of compared French towns for households headed by a manual worker (24%)
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
The figure for households headed by a retired person is 42% in La Châtaigneraie and 32% in the typical compared French town. In the typical compared French town, the share of households headed by a manual worker is 14%.
Each household is counted once, by the occupation of its reference person (usually the oldest working adult).
Only 4.5% of residents are immigrants in La Châtaigneraie
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.
Immigrants make up a share lower than in 69% of compared French towns; the median compared commune in Vendée has 2.1%. About one in 29: that is how common foreign nationals are in La Châtaigneraie (3.5%). The comparison figure for immigrants is 6.5% in the typical compared French town.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Single residents: 31%, a higher share than 81% of compared French towns
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
Where 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town, La Châtaigneraie has 39%. The comparison figure for single residents is 25% in the typical compared French town.
La Châtaigneraie ranks below 97% of compared French towns on graduates of higher education: 15%
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
Nearly a third of adults out of school have no qualification (typical compared French town: 19%). As a reference point, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
2nd highest median age among 41 French towns of 2,578 to 2,625
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
At the ends of the range sit Bourguébus (34.6), the youngest, and Bessèges (59.4), the oldest.
Every neighbor is younger than La Châtaigneraie
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Châtaigneraie | 55.1 | 35% | 3.1% | 4.5% |
| Moncoutant-sur-Sèvre 5,121 · 8.8 mi | 48.3 | 27% | 6% | 5.2% |
| Pouzauges 5,668 · 10.2 mi | 46.3 | 23% | 3.3% | 3.9% |
| Cerizay 4,793 · 12.5 mi | 46.8 | 26% | 1.4% | 15% |
| Fontenay-le-Comte 14,059 · 13 mi | 50.9 | 32% | 3.1% | 7.5% |
| Le Boupère 3,151 · 13.4 mi | 44 | 23% | 4.4% | 1.3% |
| Sèvremont 6,385 · 14 mi | 43.4 | 21% | 5% | 2.1% |
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 La Châtaigneraie
What is the population of La Châtaigneraie?
2,600 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 2% fewer than in 2012 (2,662).
How old are La Châtaigneraie’s residents?
The median age is 55.1, older than 94% of compared French towns. 16% are under 18 and 35% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in La Châtaigneraie?
45, with occasional dwellings: 3.1% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in La Châtaigneraie?
INSEE counts 120 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 4.5% of residents, and 90 foreign nationals (3.5%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in La Châtaigneraie?
€22,720 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 18.0% of residents live below the poverty line. 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 9, 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.