Sainte-Hélène ranks below 99% of compared French towns on households headed by a manager or professional: 2.5%
Flats make up 7.1%, against 30% in the typical compared French town. The 2023 Census counted 447 residents in 200 households. About one in 20: that is how common second homes are in Sainte-Hélène (5.1%). At 4%, the share of households without a car is lower than in 94% of compared French towns.
Throughout this page, the Vosges 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 Sainte-Hélène
Fewer residents than in 2012
Sainte-Hélène had 479 residents at the 2012 census and 447 in 2023, down 7%: slower growth than in 92% of compared French towns. Population ↓
Written from INSEE’s census 2023 on this page, against compared French towns.
Slower than most: −7% since 2012, behind 92% 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
The median Vosges town changed −6% and the median compared French town +5%; here the first five years brought −3% and the next six −4%.
Half of Sainte-Hélène is under 42.9, younger than 59% 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
■ Sainte-Hélène 42.9. The median compared French town: 44.
Here just over one in ten residents are 15 to 24, where the figure in the typical compared French town is 11%. Fewer residents aged 65 and over than in just over half of compared French towns: 22%.
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Vosges 52.1%, France 51.8%.
One-person households make up 30% in Sainte-Hélène, less than in 76% of compared French towns
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 Vosges median and the France median
Living alone · share
The average household has 2.3 people. Sainte-Hélène has more couples with children than just over three fifths of compared French towns, at 27%. The share of one-person households in the typical compared French town is 35%. Nothing unusual on single-parent households: 10%, close to the figure in the typical compared French town.
93% of homes are houses
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
Households in social housing are rarer here than in 99% of compared French towns. On the census count, 7.4% of homes stand empty.
Half of residents have a standard of living above €23,810 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 Sainte-Hélène’s residents live in households with a standard of living below €23,810 a year per consumption unit, and half above: lower than in 74% of compared French towns.
Sainte-Hélène ranks above 99% of compared French towns on households headed by a manual worker: 32%
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 share of households headed by a retired person tops 76% of compared French towns: 38%. 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).
A smaller share of immigrants than 99% of compared French towns: 0.7%
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.
Against a figure of 4.3% in the typical compared French town, the share of foreign nationals in Sainte-Hélène comes in at 0.2%. Immigrants: 6.5% in the typical compared French town, for comparison.
INSEE publishes no country of birth or ethnicity by commune in these tables, and the census doesn’t ask about religion.
A higher share of single residents than 66% of compared French towns, at 28%
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
On the census count, just over two in five residents 15 and over are married. The benchmark for single residents in the typical compared French town: 25%.
Fewer graduates of higher education than 94% of compared French towns: 17%
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
Set against 19% in the typical compared French town, nearly a quarter of adults out of school have no qualification in Sainte-Hélène. Measured more widely, 30% of adults out of school hold a higher-education qualification in the typical compared French town.
Among 41 French towns of 447 to 2,582 people, the 10th youngest
The 40 compared French towns nearest in population, by median age. Hover for each one’s second homes and immigrants; click for its page.
Ages run from 37.2 in Villejust to 62.3 in Prayssac.
No nearby town is as young as Sainte-Hélène
The nearest towns of 2,500 or more, colored by median age. Source: INSEE, census 2023.
| Town | Median age | 65+ | Second homes | Immigrants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sainte-Hélène | 42.9 | 22% | 5.1% | 0.7% |
| Rambervillers 5,018 · 3.9 mi | 47 | 26% | 1.4% | 7.3% |
| Bruyères 2,923 · 6.2 mi | 51.4 | 32% | 4.3% | 5% |
| Granges-Aumontzey 2,529 · 11.4 mi | 53 | 31% | 14% | 5.6% |
| Thaon-les-Vosges 8,547 · 11.5 mi | 46.7 | 24% | 1.7% | 4.7% |
| Raon-l'Étape 5,886 · 11.6 mi | 47.4 | 25% | 2.8% | 4.4% |
| Baccarat 4,089 · 11.7 mi | 49.7 | 30% | 3.8% | 4.1% |
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 Sainte-Hélène
What is the population of Sainte-Hélène?
447 at INSEE’s 2023 census, 7% fewer than in 2012 (479).
How old are Sainte-Hélène’s residents?
The median age is 42.9, younger than 59% of compared French towns. 23% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many second homes are there in Sainte-Hélène?
12, with occasional dwellings: 5.1% of all homes, against 2.1% for the median compared French town.
How many immigrants live in Sainte-Hélène?
INSEE counts 3 immigrants (born abroad, not French at birth), 0.7% of residents, and 1 foreign nationals (0.2%). The medians of compared French towns are 6.5% and 4.3%.
What is the median income in Sainte-Hélène?
€23,810 a year per consumption unit in 2023 (median of compared French towns €25,970). 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 4, 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.