Saint-Nicolas-des-Bois

Orne · CU d'Alençon · INSEE 61433

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

Few services 20.4/100 · confidence: high· Better served than 48 % of the {n|commune|communes} of a similar size.

Identity

Saint-Nicolas-des-Bois (INSEE 61433) is in Orne (61), part of CU d'Alençon. Population 285 (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/61433-saint-nicolas-des-bois

Vitality score

Vitality score 20.4/100 — Few services (model fr-v0.2).

Confidence: high.

Better served than 48 % of the 17,723 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	0.32	20	6.32
Education	0	10	0
Health	0	10	0
Public & culture	0	5	0
Population trend	0.68	10	6.83
Housing mix	0.84	5	4.2

Services

What is here, at a glance

Food 0 of 6

Eating out 1 of 1

Cafés and bars 0 of 1

Schools 0 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”.

Somewhere to eat or drink, but no food shop and no school. ^[3,4]

1 × Restaurant (ELIZARNO). ^[3,4]

Not found in the commune: Bakery (boulangerie), Butcher (boucherie), Grocery (épicerie / supérette), Supermarket, Café / bar, Nursery school (maternelle), Primary school (élémentaire), 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	1	ELIZARNO	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)	0		INSEE BPE 0 [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: 213 peak 2017: 285 2023: 285 axis from zero, so the slope compares with any other commune

Population 273 (2012) → 285 (2023): 4.4 % over 10 years. ^[5,1]

Population 241 (1990) → 285 (2023): 18.3 % over 30 years. ^[6,1]

Dwellings (2023): 137, of which 8 % second homes and 7.3 % vacant. ^[7]

Access and surroundings

Which way the everyday services lie

Primary school — 4.2 km SEPharmacy — 6.2 km SWFood shop — 6.3 km EBakery — 6.5 km SWGP — 6.5 km E 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-Denis-sur-Sarthon): 6.5 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[8]

Food shop (Écouves): 6.3 km to the east (straight line). ^[9]

GP (Écouves): 6.5 km to the east (straight line). ^[9]

Pharmacy (Saint-Denis-sur-Sarthon): 6.2 km to the south-west (straight line). ^[8]

Primary school (Lonrai): 4.2 km to the south-east (straight line). ^[10]

Climate

Where this sits nationally

Days at or above 30 °C 6.8

Days at or below 0 °C 48.3

Muggy days a summer 0.5

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 7 days a year at or above 30 °C and 48 days at or below 0 °C, over 30 complete years in 1995–2024. ^[11]

Measured at the ALENCON weather station, 8.9 km away at 143 m; the village itself is at 230 m. ^[11]

The village sits 87 m above 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. ^[11]

Muggy days — a dew point at or above 18 °C — average 1 day a summer. ^[11]

Humidity measured at ALENCON, 8.9 km away at 143 m, over 30 summers. ^[11]

That station sits 87 m below the village, so each day's humidity was shifted by 4.22 °C per km before the muggy days were counted. ^[11]

An average of 847 mm of rain a year, spread over 132 days — about 6.4 mm on a day it rains. ^[11]

Rainfall measured at RADON, 6.2 km away at 165 m. Rainfall is not adjusted for altitude: unlike temperature it has no simple gradient to correct by. ^[11]

Uncertainties

No specific uncertainties flagged.

References

INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 61433/2023
INSEE density grid 2026
INSEE BPE 2025
INSEE SIRENE 2026-09
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 61433/2012
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 61433/1990
INSEE census (RP) 2023 — 61433/logement/2023
INSEE BPE 2025 — 61382
INSEE BPE 2025 — 61341
INSEE BPE 2025 — 61234
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-Hilaire-de-Briouze	61	34 km NW	292	17.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.summer 95 % · winter 93 %
Saint-Félix-de-Foncaude	33	427 km S	293	20.7	Few services	Warmer summers and milder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 41 % · winter 76 % · humidity 57 %
Saint-Eugène	17	333 km S	288	17.3	No daily shops	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 56 % · winter 93 % · humidity 36 %
Saint-Lary	32	532 km S	271	24.2	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 36 % · winter 95 % · humidity 57 %
Moulines	50	77 km W	280	17.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.summer 100 % · winter 92 %
Marly-sur-Arroux	71	373 km SE	301	15.7	No daily shops	Warmer summers and colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 93 %

Order by distance instead

Commune	Dept	Distance	Population	Score	Band	Climate vs here
Saint-Hilaire-de-Briouze	61	34 km NW	292	17.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.summer 95 % · winter 93 %
Moulines	50	77 km W	280	17.7	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.summer 100 % · winter 92 %
Saint-Eugène	17	333 km S	288	17.3	No daily shops	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 56 % · winter 93 % · humidity 36 %
Marly-sur-Arroux	71	373 km SE	301	15.7	No daily shops	Warmer summers and colder winters.Summers feel about as humid.summer 74 % · winter 68 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Félix-de-Foncaude	33	427 km S	293	20.7	Few services	Warmer summers and milder winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 41 % · winter 76 % · humidity 57 %
Saint-Lary	32	532 km S	271	24.2	Few services	Warmer summers, similar winters.Summers feel more humid.summer 36 % · winter 95 % · humidity 57 %

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-Nicolas-des-Bois'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
Aunou-sur-Orne	61	20 km NE	283	21.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 97 % · humidity 93 %
Saint-Nicolas-de-Sommaire	61	56 km NE	261	20	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 97 % · winter 89 % · humidity 93 %
Le Thil-Riberpré	76	171 km NE	241	20.5	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 90 % · winter 91 % · humidity 100 %
Moncy	61	63 km NW	261	25.1	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 95 % · winter 92 % · humidity 100 %
Saint-Jouin-de-Blavou	61	34 km E	311	17.6	No daily shops	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 95 % · humidity 100 %
Escames	60	175 km NE	226	20.7	Few services	Much the same temperatures.Summers feel about as humid.summer 92 % · winter 86 % · humidity 100 %

Elsewhere

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

Permanent link: https://vivantrural.com/en/fr/61433-saint-nicolas-des-bois