While Orne has plenty to keep the tourists entertained, what is it like to live there? From property prices to transport, we investigate...
Security
Orne is one of the safest departments in France. In 2023, police recorded 9,315 offences in a population of 276,973, and around a third related to drug possession and petty vandalism. Approximately a third related to theft and burglary, and a third were related to assault.
The main security preoccupations are drug offences and domestic assault.
Orne does not have any large university teaching hospitals, but has 10 smaller clinics around the department with a total of around 900 beds.
It has 130 GPs for every 100,000 people (compared to 234 per 100,000 in Paris) making it almost bottom of the table when it comes to density of doctors (the region of Centre-Val de Loire is bottom).
Part of Orne's sleepy rural charm is that transport is extremely under-developed. It has no international airports although it has several aerodromes used for general aviation.
There is an airport at Caen (Calvados), which offers internal flights to the south of France plus summer flights to Kerry (Ireland). Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) has flights to the UK, Holland, Ireland and the south of France.
The A28 motorway links Alençon, the capital of Orne, to Le Mans (Sarthe) and Rouen (Seine-Maritime). The A88 joins the A28 just north of Alençon and goes to Caen. It is an easy two-hour drive to the ferry port at Le Havre (Seine-Maritime), however.
There are trains from Alençon to Paris (Montparnasse) via Le Mans, which take just over two hours. Argentan is on the railway line from Paris to Granville. The Caen-Tours railway line goes via Alençon and Le Mans.
Buses mostly serve school routesEBASCOL / Shutterstock
The bus routes are mainly designed to get children to school, although there are two urban bus lines in Argentan.
Since there are no large cities in Orne, cycling is generally regarded as a sporting or leisure pursuit rather than transport.
It would be difficult to live in Orne without a car.
Property prices
The median price of property per m2 is €1,318, although this varies across the region. Bagnoles de l'Orne is the most expensive town at €1,877/m2, while Alençon costs €1,426/m2.
Prices fluctuate, but older properties tend to be less expensive than newer builds.
In the cheapest areas, 100-120m2 ruins with a garden start at around €35,000, wrecks at €50,000 and liveable houses at around €75,000.
A cheap two-bed, 70m2 flat in Alençon starts at around €45,000.
Agriculture accounts for around 10% of jobs in the Orne departmentOrne Tourisme
Population
The population of Orne has steadily declined since its all-time recorded high of 443,688 in 1836. Today it stands at around 276,000.
Alençon is home to around 26,000 peopleJean-Eric RUBIO / Orne Tourisme
The largest town, Alençon, is home to around 26,000 people, followed by Flers with 15,000 and Argentan with 14,000.
The ageing population of Orne tends to vote centre-right.
More than 36% of the population are retired compared with a national average of 26.6%. People have lots of space in Orne; population density in 2021 was 45.2 inhabitants per km2 compared to an average of 107.1 across France.
It is pertinent to note that the estimated equine population in Orne is 31,400; the second highest in France, after Manche with an estimated equine population of 35,000. According to Insee, 1,500 British people live in Orne.
Twins
Alençon is twinned with Basingstoke and Deane in the UK.
Argentan is twinned with Abingdon (UK).
Flers is twinned with Warminster (UK) and Charleston, South Carolina (US).
Main industries
Agriculture accounts for around 10% of jobs in Orne, mainly meat and dairy farming. Horse-related activities also account for a sizable number of jobs, while around 20% of employment is industrial, primarily in the areas of food processing, metallurgy, automotive, plastics and printing.
Orne is France's leading producer of sewing needles.
