Chezal-Benoît

Cher · CC du Pays d'Issoudun · INSEE 18065

A food shop and a school, but nowhere to eat or drink.

Few services 35.1/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 59 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Chezal-Benoît (INSEE 18065) is in Cher (18), part of CC du Pays d'Issoudun. Population 765 (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/18065-chezal-benoit

Vitality score

Vitality score 35.1/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 59 % of the 15,935 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	0.53	25	13.19
Social	0	20	0
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0.32	10	3.16
Public & culture	0.32	5	1.58
Population trend	0.13	10	1.31
Housing mix	0.86	5	4.31

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 2 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 1 of 4

Public services 1 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 food shop and a school, but nowhere to eat or drink. ^[3,4]

3 × Bakery (boulangerie) (JOSEPH-BEGUIN). ^[3,4]

1 × Grocery (épicerie / supérette) (ELB). ^[3,4]

1 × Primary school (élémentaire) (ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE PUBLIQUE). ^[3]

1 × Pharmacy (PHARMACIE VANDERVLIET). ^[3,4]

1 × Post office / agence postale (LA POSTE). ^[3]

2 × Hairdresser (EFFET MIROIR). ^[3,4]

Not found in the commune: Butcher (boucherie), Supermarket, Restaurant, Café / bar, Nursery school (maternelle), GP (médecin généraliste), Library. ^[3,4]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	3	JOSEPH-BEGUIN	INSEE BPE 3 / INSEE SIRENE 3 [3,4]
Butcher (boucherie)	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Grocery (épicerie / supérette)	1	ELB	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [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 2 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Café / bar	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE PUBLIQUE	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Pharmacy	1	PHARMACIE VANDERVLIET	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
Nurse	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Dentist	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Post office / agence postale	1	LA POSTE	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	2	EFFET MIROIR	INSEE BPE 2 / INSEE SIRENE 2 [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: 1,526 2023: 765 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 938 (2012) → 765 (2023): -18.4 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 1,212 (1990) → 765 (2023): -36.9 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 403, of which 6.9 % second homes and 9.9 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Bakery, Food shop, Primary school, Pharmacy GP — 6.9 km NE 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 (Chezal-Benoît): 0.1 km to the east (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Chezal-Benoît): 0.2 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

GP (Mareuil-sur-Arnon): 6.9 km to the north-east (straight line). ^[9]

Pharmacy (Chezal-Benoît): 0.1 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Chezal-Benoît): 0.3 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 23.4

Days at or below 0 °C 64.7

Muggy days a summer 4.8

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 23 days a year at or above 30 °C and 65 days at or below 0 °C, over 20 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[10]

Measured at the MAREUIL weather station, 6.8 km away at 137 m; the village itself is at 176 m. ^[10]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 5 days a summer. ^[10]

Humidity measured at CIVRAY, 19.1 km away at 148 m, over 15 summers. ^[10]

An average of 782 mm of rain a year, spread over 129 days — about 6.1 mm on a day it rains. ^[10]

Rainfall measured at MAREUIL, 6.8 km away at 137 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 — 18065/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18065/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18065/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 18065/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 18065
INSEE BPE 2025 — 18137
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
Lignières-Ambleville	16	226 km SW	690	39.8	Few services	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 55 % · humidity 100 %
Crulai	61	235 km NW	797	33.6	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 99 % · humidity 64 %
Saulnot	70	351 km E	758	43.8	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 87 % · winter 99 % · humidity 71 %
Varacieux	38	306 km SE	881	36.2	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 74 % · winter 76 % · humidity 79 %
Saillat-sur-Vienne	87	146 km SW	840	45.4	Partly served	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 66 % · humidity 86 %
Chaumergy	39	256 km E	510	39.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 91 % · humidity 86 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Saillat-sur-Vienne	87	146 km SW	840	45.4	Partly served	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 66 % · humidity 86 %
Lignières-Ambleville	16	226 km SW	690	39.8	Few services	Similar summers, milder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 55 % · humidity 100 %
Crulai	61	235 km NW	797	33.6	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 99 % · humidity 64 %
Chaumergy	39	256 km E	510	39.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 91 % · humidity 86 %
Varacieux	38	306 km SE	881	36.2	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 74 % · winter 76 % · humidity 79 %
Saulnot	70	351 km E	758	43.8	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 87 % · winter 99 % · humidity 71 %

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 Chezal-Benoît'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
Chaumergy	39	256 km E	510	39.2	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 91 % · humidity 86 %
Dommartin-lès-Cuiseaux	71	246 km E	801	45.6	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 86 % · humidity 93 %
Méry-sur-Cher	18	48 km N	690	32.4	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 87 % · winter 88 % · humidity 93 %
La Chapelle-d'Angillon	18	64 km N	606	35.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %
Sault-Brénaz	01	275 km E	1,021	37.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 85 % · humidity 100 %
Brûlain	79	199 km W	735	24.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · 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/18065-chezal-benoit