Living in Orne: all you need to know about this department of northwest France

While Orne has plenty to keep the tourists entertained, what is it like to live there? From property prices to transport, we investigate... 

Security 

Orne is one of the safest departments in France. In 2023, police recorded 9,315 offences in a population of 276,973, and around a third related to drug possession and petty vandalism. Approximately a third related to theft and burglary, and a third were related to assault.

The main security preoccupations are drug offences and domestic assault. 

Poverty

In stark contrast to the wealthy second-homers, 15.6% of the population live in poverty, with the accompanying difficulties of loneliness and ill-health, according to Insee. (The national average is 14.9%.) The phenomenon is hidden in many cases. People outwardly seem to be managing but 49% of people over 60 say they feel abandoned, and 69% cannot afford to eat properly or heat their homes, reported Le Réveil Normand in January.

Healthcare

Orne does not have any large university teaching hospitals, but has 10 smaller clinics around the department with a total of around 900 beds. 

It has 130 GPs for every 100,000 people (compared to 234 per 100,000 in Paris) making it almost bottom of the table when it comes to density of doctors (the region of Centre-Val de Loire is bottom). 

The department has 99 dentists. 

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Transport

Part of Orne's sleepy rural charm is that transport is extremely under-developed. It has no international airports although it has several aerodromes used for general aviation. 

There is an airport at Caen (Calvados), which offers internal flights to the south of France plus summer flights to Kerry (Ireland). Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) has flights to the UK, Holland, Ireland and the south of France. 

The A28 motorway links Alençon, the capital of Orne, to Le Mans (Sarthe) and Rouen (Seine-Maritime). The A88 joins the A28 just north of Alençon and goes to Caen. It is an easy two-hour drive to the ferry port at Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), however.

There are trains from Alençon to Paris (Montparnasse) via Le Mans, which take just over two hours. Argentan is on the railway line from Paris to Granville. The Caen-Tours railway line goes via Alençon and Le Mans.

The bus routes are mainly designed to get children to school, although there are two urban bus lines in Argentan. 

Since there are no large cities in Orne, cycling is generally regarded as a sporting or leisure pursuit rather than transport.

It would be difficult to live in Orne without a car. 

Property prices

The median price of property per m2 is €1,318, although this varies across the region. Bagnoles de l'Orne is the most expensive town at €1,877/m2, while Alençon costs €1,426/m2.

Prices fluctuate, but older properties tend to be less expensive than newer builds. 

In the cheapest areas, 100-120m2 ruins with a garden start at around €35,000, wrecks at €50,000 and liveable houses at around €75,000. 

A cheap two-bed, 70m2 flat in Alençon starts at around €45,000.

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Rental prices

Rental prices for a two-three bed house (100-120m2) start at about €600 in Orne. 

A bedsit in Alençon starts at around €250 a month, while the cost of a two-bed flat would be from around €500 a month. 

Prices are cheaper outside Alençon. 

Second homes

Out of 129,658 homes in Orne, 17,550 are holiday homes (15.7%) and about 10.1% are uninhabited. 

Education

Orne has no private international schools, and no collèges or lycées with international sections. 

There is a Pôle Universitaire in Alençon. 

The Lycée Saint-François de Sales in Alençon has a European section, as do the Lycée Jeanne d'Arc in Argentan and the Lycée Saint-Thomas d'Aquin in Fleurs. 

There is a Montessori school (Graines d'Ormeaux) near Alençon. 

An agricultural lycée and training centre, Campus Terre & Avenir, offers courses in horse-related professions. 

Population

The population of Orne has steadily declined since its all-time recorded high of 443,688 in 1836. Today it stands at around 276,000. 

The largest town, Alençon, is home to around 26,000 people, followed by Flers with 15,000 and Argentan with 14,000. 

The ageing population of Orne tends to vote centre-right. 

More than 36% of the population are retired compared with a national average of 26.6%. People have lots of space in Orne; population density in 2021 was 45.2 inhabitants per km2 compared to an average of 107.1 across France. 

It is pertinent to note that the estimated equine population in Orne is 31,400; the second highest in France, after Manche with an estimated equine population of 35,000. According to Insee, 1,500 British people live in Orne. 

Twins 

Alençon is twinned with Basingstoke and Deane in the UK.

Argentan is twinned with Abingdon (UK).

Flers is twinned with Warminster (UK) and Charleston, South Carolina (US).

Main industries

Agriculture accounts for around 10% of jobs in Orne, mainly meat and dairy farming. Horse-related activities also account for a sizable number of jobs, while around 20% of employment is industrial, primarily in the areas of food processing, metallurgy, automotive, plastics and printing. 

Orne is France's leading producer of sewing needles.