Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay

Loire · CC du Pays Entre Loire et Rhône · INSEE 42289

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

Served 61.4/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 94 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay (INSEE 42289) is in Loire (42), part of CC du Pays Entre Loire et Rhône. Population 1,979 (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/42289-saint-symphorien-de-lay

Vitality score

Vitality score 61.4/100 — Served (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 94 % of the 9,691 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	0.34	25	8.55
Social	0.82	20	16.42
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0.63	10	6.29
Public & culture	0.39	5	1.97
Population trend	0.83	10	8.29
Housing mix	0.87	5	4.33

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 3 of 6

Eating out 1 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 1 of 2

Everyday services 3 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]

2 × Bakery (boulangerie) (MURE PIERRE-YVES · MARCELLIN). ^[3,4]

1 × Grocery (épicerie / supérette) (L'ECHOPPE). ^[3,4]

1 × Supermarket (INTERMARCHE). ^[3,4]

3 × Restaurant (TH RESTAURATION · L'AUBERGE DU VIADUC). ^[3,4]

4 × Café / bar (LE CARREFOUR). ^[4]

2 × Primary school (élémentaire) (ECOLE PRIMAIRE PUBLIQUE RUE DES ECOLES PRIMAIRE · ECOLE PRIMAIRE PRIVEE A). ^[3]

4 × GP (médecin généraliste) (PATRICE LE RAT, MÉDECIN · PAULINE GUERRA, MÉDECIN · ARNAUD MARTIN, MÉDECIN · CRISTINA BOROANCA, MÉDECIN). ^[3]

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

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

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

1 × Gym / sports hall (SALLE DES SPORTS). ^[3]

1 × Bank (CAISSE EPARGNE PREVO LOIRE DROME ARDECHE). ^[3]

5 × Hairdresser (COIFFURE A DOMICILE VERONIQUE · L.D.CREATION · SOPHIE COIFFURE). ^[3,4]

3 × Fuel station (STATION SERVICE). ^[3]

Not counted, because the business register records them as closed: 1 × Restaurant, 1 × Hairdresser.

Not found in the commune: Butcher (boucherie), Nursery school (maternelle). ^[4,3]

All 25 service types, with per-source counts

Type	Count	Names	Sources
Bakery (boulangerie)	2	MURE PIERRE-YVES · MARCELLIN	INSEE BPE 2 / INSEE SIRENE 2 [3,4]
Butcher (boucherie)	0		INSEE SIRENE 1 / INSEE BPE 0 [4]
Grocery (épicerie / supérette)	1	L'ECHOPPE	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 2 [3,4]
Supermarket	1	INTERMARCHE	INSEE BPE 1 / INSEE SIRENE 1 [3,4]
Cheese shop (fromagerie)	0		INSEE SIRENE 0 [4]
Fishmonger	0		INSEE BPE 0 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3,4]
Restaurant	3	TH RESTAURATION · L'AUBERGE DU VIADUC	INSEE BPE 3 / INSEE SIRENE 6 [3,4]
Café / bar	4	LE CARREFOUR	INSEE SIRENE 4 [4]
Nursery school (maternelle)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Primary school (élémentaire)	2	ECOLE PRIMAIRE PUBLIQUE RUE DES ECOLES PRIMAIRE · ECOLE PRIMAIRE PRIVEE A	INSEE BPE 2 [3]
Collège	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
GP (médecin généraliste)	4	PATRICE LE RAT, MÉDECIN · PAULINE GUERRA, MÉDECIN · ARNAUD MARTIN, MÉDECIN · CRISTINA BOROANCA, MÉDECIN	INSEE BPE 4 [3]
Pharmacy	1	PHARMACIE ALLARY	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	1	BIBLIOTHÈQUE - SAINT-SYMPHORIEN-DE-LAY	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Cinema	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Gym / sports hall	1	SALLE DES SPORTS	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Swimming pool	0		INSEE BPE 0 [3]
Bank	1	CAISSE EPARGNE PREVO LOIRE DROME ARDECHE	INSEE BPE 1 [3]
Hairdresser	5	COIFFURE A DOMICILE VERONIQUE · L.D.CREATION · SOPHIE COIFFURE	INSEE BPE 5 / INSEE SIRENE 6 [3,4]
Fuel station	3	STATION SERVICE	INSEE BPE 3 / INSEE SIRENE 0 [3]
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: 1,604 2023: 1,979 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 1,877 (2012) → 1,979 (2023): 5.4 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 1,489 (1990) → 1,979 (2023): 32.9 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 980, of which 6.7 % second homes and 8.2 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Bakery, Food shop, Primary school, GP, Pharmacy 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 (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 0.1 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 0.3 km to the west (straight line). ^[8]

GP (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 0.2 km to the east (straight line). ^[8]

Pharmacy (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 0.1 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Saint-Symphorien-de-Lay): 0.2 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[8]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 30.2

Days at or below 0 °C 56.1

Muggy days a summer 12.5▸

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 56 days at or below 0 °C, over 30 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[9]

Measured at the FOURNEAUX weather station, 4.5 km away at 510 m; the village itself is at 444 m. ^[9]

The village sits 66 m below the station, so each day's reading was shifted by 6.06 °C per km of altitude before the days were counted. Expect the result to be within about 0.68 °C. ^[9]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 13 days a summer. ^[9]

Humidity measured at NEULISE, 5.3 km away at 557 m, over 10 summers. ^[9]

That station sits 113 m above the village, so each day's humidity was shifted by 3.69 °C per km before the muggy days were counted. ^[9]

An average of 891 mm of rain a year, spread over 118 days — about 7.6 mm on a day it rains. ^[9]

Rainfall measured at FOURNEAUX, 4.5 km away at 510 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[9]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42289/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42289/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42289/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 42289/logement/2023
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
Beaune-la-Rolande	45	272 km NW	1,992	54.6	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 69 % · winter 93 %
Le Faou	29	686 km NW	1,911	62	Served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 33 % · winter 55 % · humidity 14 %
Cérences	50	538 km NW	1,852	52.1	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 31 % · winter 72 % · humidity 21 %
Vaucouleurs	55	315 km N	1,906	50.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 65 % · humidity 21 %
Bonny-sur-Loire	45	207 km NW	1,870	48.1	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 72 % · winter 99 %
Senones	88	343 km NE	2,205	53.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 56 % · winter 80 % · humidity 14 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Bonny-sur-Loire	45	207 km NW	1,870	48.1	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 72 % · winter 99 %
Beaune-la-Rolande	45	272 km NW	1,992	54.6	Partly served	Cooler summers, similar winters.summer 69 % · winter 93 %
Vaucouleurs	55	315 km N	1,906	50.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and colder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 69 % · winter 65 % · humidity 21 %
Senones	88	343 km NE	2,205	53.5	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 56 % · winter 80 % · humidity 14 %
Cérences	50	538 km NW	1,852	52.1	Partly served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 31 % · winter 72 % · humidity 21 %
Le Faou	29	686 km NW	1,911	62	Served	Cooler summers and milder winters.Summers feel drier.summer 33 % · winter 55 % · humidity 14 %

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 Saint-Symphorien-de-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
Landiras	33	393 km W	2,310	44	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %
Soumoulou	64	459 km SW	1,583	61.8	Served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 89 % · humidity 86 %
Saint-Symphorien	33	405 km SW	1,878	55.8	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 86 % · humidity 86 %
Guîtres	33	357 km W	1,631	54.5	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 100 % · humidity 86 %
Noaillan	33	394 km SW	1,717	40.8	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %
Villandraut	33	396 km SW	1,112	54.1	Partly served	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 92 % · humidity 86 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/42289-saint-symphorien-de-lay