Argelès-sur-Mer vs Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque
Two municipalities in Pyrénées-Orientales, France, side by side on the five things this site grades — climate & hazards, local vitality, services, affordability and property market. Every figure comes from official open data, and the ones that cannot honestly be compared are marked rather than quietly averaged.
Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque
Pillar by pillar
| Pillar | Argelès-sur-Mer | Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque |
|---|---|---|
| Climate & hazards | 72/100 ▲ | 59/100 |
| Local vitality | 76/100 ▲ | 64/100 |
| Services & access | 87/100 ▲ | 84/100 |
| Affordability | 7/100 | 21/100 ▲ |
| Property market | 56/100 ▲ | 40/100 |
Pillar scores are percentile ranks within each municipality's own country, so a 70 in Spain and a 70 in Italy each mean "ahead of 70% of this country's towns" — not that the two places are alike.
The underlying figures
| Indicator | Argelès-sur-Mer | Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque |
|---|---|---|
| Population | 10,593 inhab. (2020) | 10,053 inhab. (2020) |
| Population trend (~10y) | +2.0% (2015→2020) growing / stable | -2.4% (2015→2020) declining — the key rural depopulation risk |
| Price (€/m²) | 3,318 €/m² 2020 data | 2,324 €/m² ▲ 2020 data |
| Price appreciation (~5y) | +2.6%/yr ▲ 2017→2023 | +1.7%/yr 2017→2023 |
| Gross rental yield | 4.5% est. from ANIL rent ÷ DVF price | 5.6% ▲ est. from ANIL rent ÷ DVF price |
| Tourism / short-let potential | 8766.9 beds / 1,000 inhab. ▲ collective accommodation + second homes (INSEE bed equivalences) | 221.3 beds / 1,000 inhab. collective accommodation + second homes (INSEE bed equivalences) |
| Foreign residents | 3.97% (2021) ▲ | 3.47% (2021) |
| Everyday essentials | 4 of 4 in the municipality ▲ pharmacy, supermarket, school, doctor | 3 of 4 in the municipality pharmacy, supermarket, school |
| International airport | Barcelona-El Prat (BCN) (157.2 km) | Barcelona-El Prat (BCN) (185.1 km) |
| Wildfire exposure | 0.1% over 30 years (29 detection(s) < 20 km, max FRP 246.1 MW) NASA FIRMS 2012–2025 | <0.1% over 30 years (21 detection(s) < 20 km, max FRP 65.1 MW) ▲ NASA FIRMS 2012–2025 |
| Seismic activity | 0% over 30 years (13 quake(s) < 100 km, max M4.7) USGS, since 1960 | 0% over 30 years (12 quake(s) < 100 km, max M4.7) USGS, since 1960 |
| Tsunami exposure | 0% over 30 years (0 recorded tsunami(s) < 20 km, max height 0 m) NOAA, since 1600 | 0% over 30 years (0 recorded tsunami(s) < 20 km, max height 0 m) NOAA, since 1600 |
Which way each is going
| Population momentum | Argelès-sur-Mer | Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque |
|---|---|---|
| Annualised change | +0.40 %/yr 2015–2020 | -0.48 %/yr 2015–2020 |
Demographic momentum is an absolute rate and feeds no grade of its own — see the momentum pages.
How to read this
Grades are computed from official open data — statistics offices, hazard catalogues, land registries and OpenStreetMap — never from reviews, listings or opinion. Each indicator is ranked against the other municipalities of the same country, except the natural hazards, which are absolute 30-year probabilities and therefore mean the same thing everywhere.
That is why some rows above carry no comparison. Spain counts registered tourist dwellings where Italy counts every tourist bed place; each statistics office defines a foreign resident differently; the property-price vintages run from 2018 in Italy to 2025 in Portugal. Putting two such numbers side by side and calling the difference a finding would be inventing one, so the row states the reason instead.
Full method, sources and known gaps: the methodology page.