Lay

Loire · CC du Pays Entre Loire et Rhône · INSEE 42118

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

Few services 37.4/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 65 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Lay (INSEE 42118) is in Loire (42), part of CC du Pays Entre Loire et Rhône. Population 777 (2023). ^[1]

INSEE density class: Bourgs ruraux (level 5). ^[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/42118-lay

Vitality score

Vitality score 37.4/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 65 % of the 15,828 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	0.32	20	6.32
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0.63	5	3.16
Population trend	0.63	10	6.31
Housing mix	0.89	5	4.43

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 1 of 6

Eating out 1 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 0 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 food shop, a school and somewhere to eat or drink. ^[3,4]

1 × Bakery (boulangerie) (BOULANGERIE PATISSERIE JACQUETTON). ^[3,4]

1 × Restaurant. ^[3,4]

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

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

1 × Library (BIBLIOTHÈQUE - LAY). ^[3]

1 × Hairdresser (RAPH A ELLE & LUI). ^[3,4]

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

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	1	BOULANGERIE PATISSERIE JACQUETTON	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	1		INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
Café / bar	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	1	ECOLE PRIMAIRE BOURG	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	1	LAY AP	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Library	1	BIBLIOTHÈQUE - LAY	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	RAPH A ELLE & LUI	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: 644 2023: 777 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 718 (2012) → 777 (2023): 8.2 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 687 (1990) → 777 (2023): 13.1 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 334, of which 5.7 % second homes and 7.8 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Bakery, Primary school GP — 1.0 km SWPharmacy — 1.1 km SWFood shop — 1.2 km SW 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 (Lay): 0.1 km to the north (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 1.2 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 1 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[9]

Pharmacy (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 1.1 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[9]

Primary school (Lay): 0.1 km to the south (straight line). ^[8]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 29.3

Days at or below 0 °C 63.2

Muggy days a summer 11.9▸

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 29 days a year at or above 30 °C and 63 days at or below 0 °C, over 30 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[10]

Measured at the FOURNEAUX weather station, 4.2 km away at 510 m; the village itself is at 461 m. ^[10]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 12 days a summer. ^[10]

Humidity measured at NEULISE, 6.4 km away at 557 m, over 10 summers. ^[10]

That station sits 96 m above the village, so each day's humidity was shifted by 3.69 °C per km before the muggy days were counted. ^[10]

An average of 891 mm of rain a year, spread over 118 days — about 7.6 mm on a day it rains. ^[10]

Rainfall measured at FOURNEAUX, 4.2 km away at 510 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 — 42118/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42118/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42118/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42118/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 42118
INSEE BPE 2025 — 42289
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
Chooz	08	463 km N	825	39.7	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.summer 64 % · winter 78 %
Optevoz	38	89 km E	875	44.5	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 29 %
Remilly-Aillicourt	08	415 km N	754	38.3	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 54 % · winter 92 % · humidity 21 %
Uchizy	71	79 km NE	831	43.2	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 77 % · humidity 29 %
Plancher-les-Mines	70	278 km NE	839	32.2	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 64 % · humidity 14 %
Ceintrey	54	321 km NE	889	39.5	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 62 % · winter 86 % · humidity 21 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Uchizy	71	79 km NE	831	43.2	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 67 % · winter 77 % · humidity 29 %
Optevoz	38	89 km E	875	44.5	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel drier.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 29 %
Plancher-les-Mines	70	278 km NE	839	32.2	Few services	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 59 % · winter 64 % · humidity 14 %
Ceintrey	54	321 km NE	889	39.5	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 62 % · winter 86 % · humidity 21 %
Remilly-Aillicourt	08	415 km N	754	38.3	Few services	Cooler summers, similar winters.Summers feel drier.summer 54 % · winter 92 % · humidity 21 %
Chooz	08	463 km N	825	39.7	Few services	Cooler summers and milder winters.summer 64 % · winter 78 %

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 Lay'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
Budos	33	394 km W	823	33.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %
Fourneaux	42	4.4 km SE	563	52.7	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 100 % · humidity 100 %
Léogeats	33	393 km W	902	32	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %
Noaillan	33	395 km SW	1,717	40.8	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Martin-d'Estréaux	42	43 km NW	845	56.6	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 92 % · humidity 100 %
Balizac	33	400 km W	520	41	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 99 % · humidity 93 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/42118-lay