Ars

Charente · CA du Grand Cognac · INSEE 16018

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

Few services 37.6/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 70 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Ars (INSEE 16018) is in Charente (16), part of CA du Grand Cognac. Population 686 (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/16018-ars

Vitality score

Vitality score 37.6/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 70 % of the 16,452 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	0.75	10	7.48
Public & culture	0.63	5	3.16
Population trend	0.41	10	4.15
Housing mix	0.9	5	4.51

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 2 of 4

Public services 1 of 1

Culture 1 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 (LA BELLE HISTOIRE). ^[4]

1 × Primary school (élémentaire) (ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE D'ARS). ^[3]

2 × GP (médecin généraliste) (FRANCIS DELFARGUIEL, MÉDECIN · ARNAUD LHOSTE, MÉDECIN). ^[3]

1 × Pharmacy (PHARMACIE D'ARS). ^[3,4]

1 × Post office / agence postale (ARS AP). ^[3]

1 × Library (POINT LECTURE). ^[3]

1 × Hairdresser (ELEGANCE COIFFURE). ^[3,4]

Not found in the commune: Bakery (boulangerie), Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Restaurant, Nursery school (maternelle). ^[3,4]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Butcher (boucherie)	0		INSEE SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [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 SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Café / bar	1	LA BELLE HISTOIRE	INSEE SIRENE 1 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE D'ARS	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	2	FRANCIS DELFARGUIEL, MÉDECIN · ARNAUD LHOSTE, MÉDECIN	INSEE BPE 2 [3]
Pharmacy	1	PHARMACIE D'ARS	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 2 [3,4]
Nurse	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Dentist	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Post office / agence postale	1	ARS AP	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Library	1	POINT LECTURE	INSEE BPE 1 [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	ELEGANCE COIFFURE	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
Fuel station	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Hotel	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
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: 417 peak 1990: 750 2023: 686 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 727 (2012) → 686 (2023): -5.6 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 750 (1990) → 686 (2023): -8.5 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 349, of which 4.9 % second homes and 5.4 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Primary school, GP, Pharmacy Food shop — 1.1 km EBakery — 4.1 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 (Salles-d'Angles): 4.1 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Gimeux): 1.1 km to the east (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Ars): 0.1 km to the west (straight line). ^[10]

Pharmacy (Ars): 0.2 km to the west (straight line). ^[10]

Primary school (Ars): 0.2 km to the west (straight line). ^[10]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 30.2

Days at or below 0 °C 39.5

Muggy days a summer 7.1

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 30 days a year at or above 30 °C and 40 days at or below 0 °C, over 11 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[11]

Measured at the GIMEUX weather station, 3.1 km away at 22 m; the village itself is at 11 m. ^[11]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 7 days a summer. ^[11]

Humidity measured at GIMEUX, 3.1 km away at 22 m, over 11 summers. ^[11]

An average of 716 mm of rain a year, spread over 114 days — about 6.3 mm on a day it rains. ^[11]

Rainfall measured at GIMEUX, 3.1 km away at 22 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[11]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 16018/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 16018/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 16018/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 16018/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 16359
INSEE BPE 2025 — 16152
INSEE BPE 2025 — 16018
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
Rachecourt-sur-Marne	52	524 km NE	739	36.3	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 70 % · humidity 71 %
Bénaménil	54	625 km NE	592	31.2	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 64 % · humidity 57 %
Soleymieux	42	345 km E	716	42.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 46 % · winter 50 % · humidity 71 %
Neuilly-l'Évêque	52	510 km NE	601	45.1	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 50 % · humidity 57 %
La Chapelle-Vendômoise	41	257 km NE	795	49.2	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 95 % · humidity 57 %
Spincourt	55	612 km NE	823	51.7	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 73 % · humidity 57 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
La Chapelle-Vendômoise	41	257 km NE	795	49.2	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 95 % · humidity 57 %
Soleymieux	42	345 km E	716	42.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 46 % · winter 50 % · humidity 71 %
Neuilly-l'Évêque	52	510 km NE	601	45.1	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 50 % · humidity 57 %
Rachecourt-sur-Marne	52	524 km NE	739	36.3	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 70 % · humidity 71 %
Spincourt	55	612 km NE	823	51.7	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 73 % · humidity 57 %
Bénaménil	54	625 km NE	592	31.2	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 64 % · humidity 57 %

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 Ars'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
Montestruc-sur-Gers	32	221 km S	695	38.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 95 % · humidity 100 %
Naujan-et-Postiac	33	96 km S	599	31.6	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 91 % · humidity 100 %
Birac-sur-Trec	47	138 km S	812	33.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %
Arengosse	40	185 km S	711	50	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 100 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Sever-de-Saintonge	17	12 km NW	647	27.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 99 % · humidity 100 %
Néré	17	39 km N	669	41.3	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 96 % · humidity 86 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/16018-ars