Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 33,983 in Yvelines, Île-de-France.
Houilles grades C+ overall: better than 43% of compared French towns, and #57 of 91 in Yvelines. Its weakest subject is cost of living (D): at the median price, a 70 m² home costs 9.9 times the median annual income per consumption unit in the intercommunality. Its strongest is walkability (A+): 100% of residents live within 800 m of a bakery, and 65% of working residents walk, cycle or take public transport to work.
Hazard risk isn’t graded in France yet: national flood maps cover only some areas. The overall grade uses the other six subjects.
The 2 things Houilles does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Houilles 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 Houilles as a monument historique. That’s true of 25% of compared French towns too.
The nearest classé monument is Machine des eaux (ancienne) et aqueduc, in Maisons-Laffitte, 1.9 mi away.
4.4% of its homes were built before 1919, against 7.4% in the median compared French town.
Explore the history →Museums, heritage and gardens in and near Houilles. Best known first.
ChâteauChâteau de Maisons3.3 km northwest, in Maisons-Laffitte
CathedralCathédrale Sainte-Geneviève-et-Saint-Maurice de Nanterre4 km south, in Nanterre
MuseumMaison Fournaise4.4 km southwest, in Chatou
MuseumMusée municipal d'Art et d'Histoire de Colombes4.8 km east, in Colombes
MuseumCneai =4.4 km southwest, in ChatouPhotos from Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Houilles.
In the comparison, Houilles comes above both Yvelines’ towns (€32,600) and compared French towns (€25,970). Houilles has 5,400 jobs for 16,950 working residents, 0.3 per worker. Unemployment stands at 8.1%.
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.
For Houilles, that is above both Yvelines’ towns (€18.40/m²) and compared French towns (€12.41/m²). The median price, €4,930/m², comes from 1,168 sales of houses and apartments in Houilles from July 2023 to June 2026. Houses in Houilles sell for €5,336/m² and apartments for €4,439/m².
| By type | Median per m² | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | €5,336/m² | 499 |
| Apartments | €4,439/m² | 669 |
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.
At the lycées within 5 km of Houilles, 88.4% passed the bac, below both Yvelines’ towns (93.9%) and compared French towns (92.9%).
| School | Level | Candidates | Passed, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Collège Guy de MaupassantNearest collègeCollège | Collège | 194 | 84%−7 pts |
| Lycée Évariste GaloisNearest lycéeGeneral lycée | General lycée | 559 | 95%−1 pt |
| Collège Claude MonetBest against expectations: 16 points above the expected rateCollège | Collège | 115 | 74%+16 pts |
Ministry of Education (DEPP) · brevet and bac 2025, value added (IVAC, IVAL) · Licence Ouverte
Houilles sits above both Yvelines’ towns (49%) and compared French towns (30%) on this measure. Over-65s are 15% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Yvelines 51.6%, France 51.8%.
| Houilles | Yvelines median | France median | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 20% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 12% | 11% |
| 25–44 | 29% | 25% | 23% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 15% | 17% | 22% |
| No diploma | 13% | 13% | 19% |
| CAP or BEP | 14% | 16% | 26% |
| Baccalauréat | 14% | 16% | 18% |
| Higher education | 56% | 49% | 30% |
INSEE, census 2023 · Yvelines median and France median: the median of compared communes
Care access and life expectancy are shown for context, not graded.
From 2016 to 2025, 1,818 residents of Houilles died, against 2,191 expected from France’s death rates at each age: 17% fewer. Its two care homes for older people (157 places) count their residents as Houilles’; allowing for them, deaths were 23% below expected. 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
Police and gendarmerie recorded 613 offenses in the graded categories in Houilles in 2025. For armed robbery, 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, 0.2% 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
Nothing in Houilles is on the monuments historiques list. These are the nearest classé monuments, within 15.5 mi.
10 notable people were born in Houilles.
Pascal Barré: Panini, Public domain · Claude Bonin-Pissarro: Sylvie Bonin-Pissarro, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Jeanne Manet: TV episode screenshot (ABC), Public domain · Bernard Faure: Michaël Bemelmans, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jean Randier: BizonRavi, CC BY-SA 4.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Houilles | 33,983 | — | C+ | D | B− | A− |
| Sartrouville | 52,763 | 1.1 | C | D | B− | B+ |
| Carrières-sur-Seine | 14,791 | 1.1 | B+ | D | B+ | A+ |
| Bezons Val-d'Oise | 36,434 | 1.2 | D | D | C− | B+ |
| Montesson | 14,549 | 2.2 | A− | D | B | A |
| Maisons-Laffitte | 23,093 | 2.4 | B+ | D− | B | A− |
| Chatou | 30,598 | 2.5 | A− | D− | B+ | A |
People: INSEE, census 2023. Miles: center to center.
It grades B− for safety, #53 of 91 in Yvelines. In 2025 police and gendarmerie recorded 93 burglaries and 206 acts of criminal damage.
They grade D, better than 14% of compared French towns and #66 of 94 in Yvelines. 95% of 559 candidates passed the bac at Lycée Évariste Galois in 2025, a point below the expected rate given its pupils’ backgrounds. Primary schools aren’t graded: France doesn’t publish their results by school.
Homes cost more than in most compared French towns: the median sale price from July 2023 to June 2026 was €4,930/m², against €2,430/m² for the median of compared French towns. Incomes are higher than in most compared French towns, so Houilles grades D for cost of living.
Commune in Yvelines, Île-de-France
Houilles is a commune of 33,983 people in the Communauté d'agglomération Saint Germain Boucles de Seine. 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.