Saint-Calais-du-Désert

Mayenne · CC du Mont des Avaloirs · INSEE 53204

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

Few services 20.7/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 37 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Saint-Calais-du-Désert (INSEE 53204) is in Mayenne (53), part of CC du Mont des Avaloirs. Population 396 (2023). ^[1]

INSEE density class: Rural à habitat très dispersé (level 7). ^[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/53204-saint-calais-du-desert

Vitality score

Vitality score 20.7/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 37 % of the 18,004 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	20	0
Education	0.63	10	6.32
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0	5	0
Population trend	0.76	10	7.61
Housing mix	0.73	5	3.65

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 0 of 6

Eating out 0 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 1 of 3

Health 0 of 4

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

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

Not found in the commune: Bakery (boulangerie), Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Restaurant, Café / bar, Nursery school (maternelle), GP (médecin généraliste), Pharmacy, Post office / agence postale, Library. ^[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 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)	1	ECOLE ELEMENTAIRE PUBLIQUE	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	0		INSEE BPE 0 [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: 399 2023: 396 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 391 (2012) → 396 (2023): 1.3 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 314 (1990) → 396 (2023): 26.1 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 266, of which 13.5 % second homes and 22.6 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

In the commune Primary school Food shop — 4.2 km WGP — 5.1 km SEBakery — 5.4 km SEPharmacy — 9.4 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 (Pré-en-Pail-Saint-Samson): 5.4 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Neuilly-le-Vendin): 4.2 km to the west (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Pré-en-Pail-Saint-Samson): 5.1 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[8]

Pharmacy (Javron-les-Chapelles): 9.4 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[10]

Primary school (Saint-Calais-du-Désert): 0.4 km to the north-east (straight line). ^[11]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 7.4

Days at or below 0 °C 34.4

Muggy days a summer 0.6

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 7 days a year at or above 30 °C and 34 days at or below 0 °C, over 28 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[12]

Measured at the PRE-EN-PAIL_SAPC weather station, 6.9 km away at 277 m; the village itself is at 224 m. ^[12]

The village sits 53 m below the station, so each day's reading was shifted by 5.71 °C per km of altitude before the days were counted. Expect the result to be within about 0.68 °C. ^[12]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 1 day a summer. ^[12]

Humidity measured at LE HORPS, 15.8 km away at 268 m, over 21 summers. ^[12]

An average of 862 mm of rain a year, spread over 133 days — about 6.5 mm on a day it rains. ^[12]

Rainfall measured at PRE-EN-PAIL_SAPC, 6.9 km away at 277 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 — 53204/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 53204/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 53204/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 53204/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 53185
INSEE BPE 2025 — 53164
INSEE BPE 2025 — 53121
INSEE BPE 2025 — 53204
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
Saint-Quintin-sur-Sioule	63	365 km SE	387	21.8	Few services	Warmer summers and colder winters.summer 62 % · winter 15 %
Andouque	81	534 km SE	383	17	No daily shops	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 59 % · winter 97 % · humidity 86 %
Auradou	47	469 km S	405	21	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 5 % · winter 86 % · humidity 50 %
La Chapelle-Gauthier	27	77 km NE	406	19.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 89 % · humidity 100 %
Cauzac	47	475 km S	420	20.5	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 13 % · winter 96 % · humidity 43 %
Écorcei	61	67 km NE	367	22.9	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 80 % · humidity 93 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Écorcei	61	67 km NE	367	22.9	Few services	Similar summers, colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 80 % · humidity 93 %
La Chapelle-Gauthier	27	77 km NE	406	19.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 89 % · humidity 100 %
Saint-Quintin-sur-Sioule	63	365 km SE	387	21.8	Few services	Warmer summers and colder winters.summer 62 % · winter 15 %
Auradou	47	469 km S	405	21	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 5 % · winter 86 % · humidity 50 %
Cauzac	47	475 km S	420	20.5	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 13 % · winter 96 % · humidity 43 %
Andouque	81	534 km SE	383	17	No daily shops	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 59 % · winter 97 % · humidity 86 %

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-Calais-du-Désert'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
La Chapelle-Gauthier	27	77 km NE	406	19.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 100 % · winter 89 % · humidity 100 %
Persquen	56	223 km W	365	16.5	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 92 % · humidity 100 %
Saint-Laurent-des-Bois	41	145 km SE	330	23.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 85 % · humidity 100 %
Le Ham	53	14 km SW	338	14.9	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 91 % · humidity 100 %
Le Grippon	50	89 km W	391	16.1	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 91 % · humidity 100 %
Haudricourt	76	200 km NE	461	18.9	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 88 % · humidity 100 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/53204-saint-calais-du-desert