Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,983 in Vendée, Pays de la Loire.
Les Epesses has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here. At the median price of €1,894/m², a 70 m² home costs 5.1 times the median annual income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size) in the Communauté de communes du Pays des Herbiers. Its strongest is health (A+): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 42% 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 2 things Les Epesses does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Les Epesses 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.
Les Epesses has no overall grade because safety and schools aren’t graded here.
How TownRatings grades French towns →
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Les Epesses: 2 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 1 inscrit (the second level).
The oldest protected part dates from the 11th century; the first monument here was protected in 1965.
Other places to visit, family days out and heritage in and near Les Epesses. Best known first.
Theme parkPuy du Fouin townChâteauChâteauChâteau du Puy-du-Fouin townAttractionAttractionLa Cinéscéniein townZooZooFauconnerie du Puy du Fouin townAttractionAttractionCarrousel du Bourg Bérardin townAttractionAttractionL'Epée du Roi Arthurin townPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Les Epesses.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
For Les Epesses, that is below both Vendée’s towns (85) and compared French towns (88). From 2016 to 2025, 145 residents of Les Epesses died, against 220 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 34% fewer. 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
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Les Epesses sits below both Vendée’s towns (€11.32/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²) on this measure. The median price, €1,894/m², comes from 73 sales of houses and apartments in Les Epesses from July 2023 to June 2026.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €1,891/m² | 72 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
That puts Les Epesses above both Vendée’s towns (16%) and compared French towns (17%). Those aged 15 to 24 account for 12% of residents.
49% women, 51% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Vendée 50.9%, France 51.8%.
| Les Epesses | Vendée median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 16% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 9.9% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 21% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 18% | 23% | 22% |
| No diploma | 17% | 19% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 27% | 30% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 22% | 19% | 18% |
| Higher education | 29% | 26% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Vendée median and France median: the median of compared communes
France has no History Grade yet: this card describes, it doesn’t grade.
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Les Epesses: 2 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 1 inscrit (the second level).
Ministère de la Culture, Mérimée (Licence Ouverte 2.0) · INSEE, census 2023, homes by build period
On this, Les Epesses is below both Vendée’s towns (7.7%) and compared French towns (10.1%). Les Epesses has 1,800 jobs for 1,450 working residents, 1.2 per worker. At the census, 6.4% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Police and gendarmerie recorded 28 offenses in the graded categories in Les Epesses in 2025. For family violence, other physical violence, burglary, vehicle theft and theft from vehicles, 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, 36.4% of the index 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
The Culture ministry lists 3 historic monuments in Les Epesses: 2 classé (France’s highest heritage protection) and 1 inscrit (the second level).
Château du Puy-du-Fou: Photo: Raphaël Toussaint · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Chapelle de Saint-Jean-Baptiste: Photo: Whiteredge · CC BY-SA 4.0
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Les Epesses as the birthplace, so nobody is listed.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Les Epesses | 2,983 | — | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Sèvremont | 6,385 | 4 | A+ | B | A+ | A |
| Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre | 3,550 | 5.1 | — | B+ | — | B |
| Les Herbiers | 16,521 | 5.6 | A | C+ | B+ | B |
| Chanverrie | 5,653 | 6.4 | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Le Boupère | 3,151 | 6.5 | — | B+ | — | B+ |
| Mauléon Deux-Sèvres | 8,573 | 7.6 | A+ | A− | A | B |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Les Epesses has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. Recorded figures: an average of 4.5 recorded violent incidents and 7.7 recorded burglaries, vehicle thefts, thefts from vehicles and acts of criminal damage per 1,000 residents a year, 2023–2025.
Homes cost less than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €1,894/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are lower than in most compared French towns too, so Les Epesses grades B+ for cost of living.
Commune in Vendée, Pays de la Loire
Les Epesses is a commune of 2,983 people in the Communauté de communes du Pays des Herbiers. 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.
