Half of Poitiers is under 30, younger than 99% of compared French towns
With households headed by a retired person at 20%, Poitiers is behind 95% of compared French towns on that count. The census found that 12% of households are couples with children locally. Households without a car are more common here than in 96% of compared French towns. There were 49,640 households here at the 2023 Census, home to 89,916 residents.
Throughout this page, the Vienne 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 Poitiers
A young town
Half of Poitiers’ residents are under 30 and half over; the median of compared French towns is 44. 14% are under 15 and 16% are 65 or older. Ages ↓
Many people living alone
60% of Poitiers’ households are one person: higher than in 99% of compared French towns; 44% of residents 65 and over live alone. Households ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
+3% since 2012: slower than 59% 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
From 2012 to 2017 the population moved +1%, and from 2017 to 2023 +2%; the median compared French town changed +5% and the median Vienne town +4%.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 27%, a higher share than 99% of compared French towns
Shares of residents by age at the 2023 census.
Age groups · share of residents
Median age of the 3,798 compared French towns
■ Poitiers 30. The median compared French town: 44.
16% of residents are 65 or over (typical compared French town: 22%). Typically, 11% of residents are 15 to 24 in the typical compared French town.
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 87 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Vienne 52.1%, France 51.8%.
More one-person households than 99% of compared French towns: 60%
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 Vienne median and the France median
Living alone · share
Single-parent households are about as common here as in the typical compared French town: 9.1%. A household here holds 1.7 people on average. To put it in context, just over a third of households are one person living alone in the typical compared French town.
Poitiers ranks above 90% of compared French towns on flats: 71%
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
Turnover: nearly a quarter of households moved in less than two years ago, and 9.7% have lived in their home 30 years or more. Few places have as many households in social housing: 22% here, more than in four fifths of compared French towns. 9.2% of homes stand empty; in the typical compared French town the figure is 6.7%.
A typical living standard of €22,350 a year
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 Poitiers’ residents live in households with a standard of living below €22,350 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 87% of compared French towns. As for poverty, 27.4% of residents are below the line.
In Poitiers, 9.2% of households are headed by a manual worker, fewer than in 81% 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
With households headed by a manager or professional at 13%, Poitiers is ahead of 69% of compared French towns on that count. To put it in context, 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).
13% of residents are immigrants, a share 82% of compared French towns don’t reach
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.
In Poitiers, just over one in ten residents are foreign nationals, beside 4.3% in the typical compared French town. Against that, 6.5% of residents are immigrants in the typical compared French town. The median compared commune in Vienne has 3.9%; immigrants here make up a share higher than in 82% of compared French towns.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
Fewer married residents than 99% of compared French towns: 23%
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
Single residents: 48% here and 25% in the typical compared French town. By way of comparison, 43% of residents 15 and over are married in the typical compared French town.
A larger share of graduates of higher education than 83% of compared French towns: 42%
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
By its share of adults with no qualification (17%), Poitiers is below 64% of compared French towns. Against that, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
The youngest of 41 French towns of 74,350 to 109,400 people
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Poitiers is the youngest (30); Cannes the oldest (50.3).
No nearby town is as young as Poitiers
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Poitiers | 30 | 16% | 3.6% | 13% |
| Buxerolles 10,289 · 1.5 mi | 43.5 | 25% | 1.8% | 8.1% |
| Saint-Benoît 7,375 · 1.8 mi | 47.4 | 27% | 1.7% | 5.3% |
| Mignaloux-Beauvoir 5,229 · 3.4 mi | 41.4 | 22% | 1.7% | 6% |
| Vouneuil-sous-Biard 6,290 · 3.5 mi | 43.9 | 23% | 0.6% | 4.2% |
| Migné-Auxances 6,285 · 3.7 mi | 43.1 | 22% | 1.6% | 6% |
| Ligugé 3,444 · 4.3 mi | 46.6 | 25% | 2.3% | 4.4% |
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 Poitiers
What is the population of Poitiers?
89,916 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 3% more than in 2012 (87,646).
How old are Poitiers’ residents?
The median age is 30, younger than 99% of compared French towns. 17% are under 18 and 16% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Poitiers?
2,050, with occasional dwellings: 3.6% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Poitiers?
INSEE counts 11,970 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 13% of residents, and 10,950 foreign nationals (12%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Poitiers?
€22,350 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970); 27.4% 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.