Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 1,776 in Vosges, Grand Est.
Les Forges has subject grades but no overall grade: French towns get one from 2,500 residents. Its weakest subject is walkability (C+): 84% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 6% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work. At the median price of €2,027/m², a 70 m² home costs 5.8 times the median annual income per consumption unit (an income adjusted for household size) in the Communauté d'agglomération d'Épinal. Its strongest is health (A): after allowing for care homes, deaths from 2016 to 2025 were 31% 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 Forges does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Les Forges 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 no building in Les Forges as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Église Notre-Dame au Cierge, in Épinal, 2.4 mi away.
Explore the history →Other places to visit, museums and heritage in and near Les Forges. Best known first.
MuseumMusée de l'Image4.1 km east, in Épinal
AttractionMaison romaine d'Épinal4 km east, in ÉpinalAttractionAttractionFort de Bois l'Abbé3.4 km north, in UxegneyMuseumMuseumMusée départemental d'Art ancien et contemporain4 km east, in ÉpinalChâteauChâteauChâteau d'Épinal4.7 km east, in ÉpinalPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Les Forges.
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
Women in Vosges live to 84.2 on average and men to 78.6 (2025), against 85.9 and 80.3 across France. From 2016 to 2025, 138 residents of Les Forges died, against 200 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 31% fewer. Also worth knowing: there are 3 general practitioners here.
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 · Care-home places are adjusted for by TownRatings, using a model rather than an official statistic.
Degrees are held by 36% of adults, higher than both Vosges’ towns (22%) and compared French towns (30%). The share of residents under 15 is 12%. People aged 15 to 24 are 7.5% of the population.
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Vosges 52.1%, France 51.8%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Les Forges | Vosges median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 12% | 14% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 7.5% | 10% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 16% | 20% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 33% | 27% | 22% |
| No diploma | 13% | 26% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 25% | 29% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 18% | 17% | 18% |
| Higher education | 36% | 22% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Vosges median and France median: the median of compared communes
5.7% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, lower than both Vosges’ towns (12.1%) and compared French towns (13.4%). Unemployment runs at 8.9%. For its 700 residents in work, Les Forges has 300 jobs: 0.4 each.
Source: INSEE, census 2023 (commuting, employment, jobs at place of work); INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Rents are the ministry’s estimates of advertised rents, not rents actually paid.
Advertised rents are estimated at €9.80/m² a month, about level with Vosges’ towns (€9.54/m²) and below compared French towns (€12.41/m²). Sales in Les Forges from July 2023 to June 2026: 51 houses and apartments. A house rents for an estimated €7.82/m² a month.
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €2,055/m² | 46 |
Source: DGFiP, DVF property sales (Etalab geolocated); Housing Ministry, Carte des loyers 2025; INSEE, Filosofi 2023 · Licence Ouverte
Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
The town’s pupils have a collège 1.5 mi away. The bac pass rate near Les Forges is 92.7%, about level with both Vosges’ towns (93.6%) and compared French towns (92.9%). At the four general lycées, 96% of 877 candidates passed the bac, at the expected rate.
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Louis ArmandNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 139 | 87%−1 pt |
| Lycée Louis LapicqueNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 382 | 94%−2 pts |
| Collège Antoine de Saint-ExupéryBest against expectations: 7 points above the expected rateCollège | Collège | 81 | 72%+7 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Of the graded crimes in Les Forges, criminal damage came up most often (2025). Its tally for 2025: 11 recorded offenses. Violence against people averaged 2.5 per 1,000 residents a year over 2023–2025; graded property crimes averaged 8.7.
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 · For family violence, other physical violence, sexual violence, 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, 36.1% of the index here. The count covers the offense categories the Safety Grade uses.
Nothing in Les Forges is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
Wikidata places 1 person here, but the articles don’t both confirm Les Forges 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 Forges | 1,776 | — | — | B | — | A |
| Chantraine | 3,198 | 1.8 | — | B | — | B+ |
| Golbey | 8,832 | 2.2 | C | B | B− | D− |
| Épinal | 32,251 | 2.9 | C+ | B+ | D | C+ |
| Thaon-les-Vosges | 8,547 | 5.4 | B | A− | C | C |
| Xertigny | 2,589 | 8.7 | C+ | A+ | B+ | D |
| Éloyes | 3,138 | 11 | B+ | A− | A− | C+ |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
Les Forges has no Safety Grade: over a quarter of its index would rest on the département’s average. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 5 burglaries and 6 acts of criminal damage.
They grade B−, better than 47% of compared French towns. 94% of 382 candidates passed the bac at Lycée Louis Lapicque in 2025, 2 points below the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Les Forges grades B for cost of living.
Commune in Vosges, Grand Est
Les Forges is a commune of 1,776 people in the Communauté d'agglomération d'Épinal. 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.