Épaux-Bézu

Aisne · CA de la Région de Château-Thierry · INSEE 02279

A school and somewhere to eat or drink, but no food shop.

Few services 28.6/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 52 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Épaux-Bézu (INSEE 02279) is in Aisne (02), part of CA de la Région de Château-Thierry. Population 534 (2023). ^[1]

INSEE density class: Rural à habitat dispersé (level 6). ^[2]

Data vintages: INSEE BPE 2025 · INSEE SIRENE 2026-09 · INSEE census (RP) 2023 · INSEE COG 2026 · INSEE density grid 2026.

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/02279-epaux-bezu

Vitality score

Vitality score 28.6/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 52 % of the 17,599 communes of a similar size.

Compare this with communes of a similar size. The score measures how well a place is served relative to its own size band, and larger communes score higher as a rule — so it reads meaningfully against another village, and misleadingly against a town.

Measured but not scored in this model: Market. See the methodology for why.

Component	Value (0–1)	Weight	Contribution
Daily food	0	25	0
Social	0.32	20	6.32
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0	5	0
Population trend	0.73	10	7.33
Housing mix	0.86	5	4.32

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 0 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 1 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 0 of 4

Public services 0 of 1

Culture 0 of 2

Sport 0 of 2

Everyday services 1 of 3

Lodging 0 of 2

One square per service type, shaded by how many: none, one, a few, five or more. A blank square means none was counted — the sources do not distinguish “none here” from “not counted”.

A school and somewhere to eat or drink, but no food shop. ^[3,4]

1 × Café / bar (AUBERGE DU PONT). ^[4]

1 × Primary school (élémentaire) (ECOLE PRIMAIRE CHARLES BOURGEOIS). ^[3]

1 × Hairdresser (LYDI'COIFF). ^[3,4]

Not counted, because the business register records them as closed: 1 × Bakery (boulangerie).

Not found in the commune: Bakery (boulangerie), Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Restaurant, Nursery school (maternelle), GP (médecin généraliste), Pharmacy, Post office / agence postale, Library. ^[3,4]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3]
Butcher (boucherie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Grocery (épicerie / supérette)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Supermarket	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Cheese shop (fromagerie)	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Fishmonger	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Restaurant	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Café / bar	1	AUBERGE DU PONT	INSEE SIRENE 1 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE PRIMAIRE CHARLES BOURGEOIS	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Pharmacy	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Nurse	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Dentist	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Post office / agence postale	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Library	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Cinema	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Gym / sports hall	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Swimming pool	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Bank	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Hairdresser	1	LYDI'COIFF	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
Fuel station	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Hotel	0		INSEE SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Campsite	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]

Market and village life

Market day: unknown — nothing found in the datasets or on the commune website.

Trajectory

1968: 316 peak 2012: 583 2023: 534 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 583 (2012) → 534 (2023): -8.4 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 433 (1990) → 534 (2023): 23.3 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 280, of which 6.8 % second homes and 9.3 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Primary school Bakery — 5.8 km SEGP — 6.2 km SEPharmacy — 6.2 km SEFood shop — 6.9 km SE Straight-line, from the mairie, in the direction given. Services in the same town share a spoke. Distance is not travel time: a pass or an estuary can double it.

Bakery (Château-Thierry): 5.8 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Château-Thierry): 6.9 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

GP (Château-Thierry): 6.2 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Pharmacy (Château-Thierry): 6.2 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Épaux-Bézu): 0.1 km to the west (straight line). ^[9]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 12.5

Days at or below 0 °C 52.1

Muggy days a summer 1.4

Each track runs from the 5th to the 95th percentile of the 34,141 communes with that measurement; the tick is the median. A value beyond either end sits at the end and is marked ▸.

An average of 13 days a year at or above 30 °C and 52 days at or below 0 °C, over 17 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[10]

Measured at the OULCHY-LE-CHATE weather station, 12.2 km away at 122 m; the village itself is at 122 m. ^[10]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 1 day a summer. ^[10]

Humidity measured at PASSY EN VALOIS, 12.4 km away at 141 m, over 20 summers. ^[10]

An average of 761 mm of rain a year, spread over 124 days — about 6.1 mm on a day it rains. ^[10]

Rainfall measured at DAMMARD, 11.7 km away at 146 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[10]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 02279/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 02279/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 02279/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 02279/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 02168
INSEE BPE 2025 — 02279
Météo-France daily climatology 1995-2024

Villages like this one

Matched on size, density, second homes and which everyday shops and services are present — not on the score, so a village of the same kind that is doing better or worse shows up rather than being hidden.

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Avy	17	491 km SW	510	27.2	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 79 % · winter 96 % · humidity 43 %
Engenville	45	126 km SW	527	30.4	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.summer 82 % · winter 92 %
Auteuil	60	95 km W	554	31.3	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 93 % · humidity 93 %
Le Nizan	33	584 km SW	506	31.7	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 41 % · winter 88 % · humidity 64 %
Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier	38	458 km S	535	31.4	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 86 %
Saint-Rieul	22	429 km W	551	34.6	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 100 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Auteuil	60	95 km W	554	31.3	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 93 % · humidity 93 %
Engenville	45	126 km SW	527	30.4	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.summer 82 % · winter 92 %
Saint-Rieul	22	429 km W	551	34.6	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 100 %
Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier	38	458 km S	535	31.4	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 86 %
Avy	17	491 km SW	510	27.2	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 79 % · winter 96 % · humidity 43 %
Le Nizan	33	584 km SW	506	31.7	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 41 % · winter 88 % · humidity 64 %

Sort and compare these on the full list →

…and in much the same climate

The same match on size and services, narrowed to communes whose summers, winters and summer humidity are all close to Épaux-Bézu's. All three are required, so this section is absent for the 11.8 % of communes with no humidity station near enough to measure: two temperature axes alone cannot tell a muggy coast from a dry one.

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Auteuil	60	95 km W	554	31.3	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 93 % · humidity 93 %
Notre-Dame-de-l'Osier	38	458 km S	535	31.4	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 86 %
Ruillé-Froid-Fonds	53	323 km SW	583	31.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 89 % · humidity 100 %
Yolet	15	469 km S	596	29.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 89 % · humidity 93 %
Oroër	60	95 km NW	537	27.6	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 99 % · humidity 100 %
Auchy-la-Montagne	60	103 km NW	562	31.8	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 91 % · humidity 93 %

Elsewhere

Commune website · Wikipedia (en) ·Wikipedia (fr) · INSEE dossier complet · OpenStreetMap · Web search · Map

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/02279-epaux-bezu