Varaize

Charente-Maritime · CC Vals de Saintonge Communauté · INSEE 17459

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

Few services 20.8/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 27 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Varaize (INSEE 17459) is in Charente-Maritime (17), part of CC Vals de Saintonge Communauté. Population 533 (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/17459-varaize

Vitality score

Vitality score 20.8/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 27 % of the 17,580 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	0.21	25	5.27
Social	0	20	0
Education	0	10	0
Health	0.32	10	3.16
Public & culture	0.32	5	1.58
Population trend	0.4	10	3.97
Housing mix	0.73	5	3.67

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 1 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 0 of 3

Health 1 of 4

Public services 1 of 1

Culture 0 of 2

Sport 0 of 2

Everyday services 0 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 food shop, but no school and nowhere to eat or drink. ^[3,4]

1 × Bakery (boulangerie) (LA VARAIZIENNE). ^[3,4]

1 × GP (médecin généraliste) (ALAIN PICARD, MÉDECIN). ^[3]

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

Not counted, because the business register records them as closed: 1 × Primary school (élémentaire).

Not found in the commune: Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Restaurant, Café / bar, Nursery school (maternelle), Primary school (élémentaire), Pharmacy, Library. ^[3,4]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	1	LA VARAIZIENNE	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
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	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	1	ALAIN PICARD, MÉDECIN	INSEE BPE 1 [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	1	VARAIZE AP	INSEE BPE 1 [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	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [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: 770 2023: 533 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 560 (2012) → 533 (2023): -4.8 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 594 (1990) → 533 (2023): -10.3 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 339, of which 13.3 % second homes and 9.7 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Bakery, GP Primary school — 3.6 km NEFood shop — 4.9 km NWPharmacy — 5.2 km NW 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 (Varaize): 0.4 km to the north-east (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Poursay-Garnaud): 4.9 km to the north-west (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Varaize): 0.3 km to the north (straight line). ^[8]

Pharmacy (Saint-Julien-de-l'Escap): 5.2 km to the north-west (straight line). ^[10]

Primary school (Saint-Pierre-de-Juillers): 3.6 km to the north-east (straight line). ^[11]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 27.3

Days at or below 0 °C 39.7

Muggy days a summer 3.2

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 27 days a year at or above 30 °C and 40 days at or below 0 °C, over 29 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[12]

Measured at the MATHA weather station, 10.3 km away at 38 m; the village itself is at 38 m. ^[12]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 3 days a summer. ^[12]

Humidity measured at NUAILLE SUR BOUTONNE, 11.2 km away at 36 m, over 29 summers. ^[12]

An average of 848 mm of rain a year, spread over 120 days — about 7.1 mm on a day it rains. ^[12]

Rainfall measured at ST-JEAN-D Y., 8 km away at 32 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[12]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17459/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17459/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17459/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 17459/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17459
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17288
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17350
INSEE BPE 2025 — 17383
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
Annebault	14	372 km N	521	37.8	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 38 % · winter 92 % · humidity 100 %
Ryes	14	378 km N	482	34.9	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 41 % · winter 66 % · humidity 93 %
Gagnac-sur-Cère	46	210 km SE	650	21.5	Few services	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 95 % · winter 72 % · humidity 79 %
La Loye	39	474 km E	518	30.4	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 62 % · humidity 93 %
Novion-Porcien	08	546 km NE	526	20.6	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.summer 62 % · winter 64 %
Le Crestet	07	408 km E	518	19	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 77 % · winter 93 % · humidity 86 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Gagnac-sur-Cère	46	210 km SE	650	21.5	Few services	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 95 % · winter 72 % · humidity 79 %
Annebault	14	372 km N	521	37.8	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 38 % · winter 92 % · humidity 100 %
Ryes	14	378 km N	482	34.9	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 41 % · winter 66 % · humidity 93 %
Le Crestet	07	408 km E	518	19	No daily shops	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 77 % · winter 93 % · humidity 86 %
La Loye	39	474 km E	518	30.4	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 62 % · humidity 93 %
Novion-Porcien	08	546 km NE	526	20.6	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.summer 62 % · winter 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 Varaize'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
Pruniers	36	213 km NE	496	26.8	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 95 % · humidity 93 %
Sonnac	17	15 km SE	512	25.9	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 100 % · humidity 86 %
Gouex	86	99 km NE	487	24.3	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 88 % · humidity 93 %
Fontenille-Saint-Martin-d'Entraigues	79	32 km NE	531	9.4	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 95 % · humidity 93 %
Douzat	16	40 km SE	438	29	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %
Bruère-Allichamps	18	239 km NE	567	44.7	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 86 % · humidity 93 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/17459-varaize