What we observe in Indre-et-Loire looks a lot like a concentration of what we observe at the national level. For Louis Maurin, director of the Observatory of Inequalities, an organization established for more than twenty years in Tours, the Report on the rich in France 2024 shows that Touraine is “a mirror of France” with regard to its wealthier inhabitants.
The Observatory of Inequalities sets a wealth threshold at double the median salary for a single person, or €3,860 per month. But the report also looks at more detailed data, with the income of the 10% of the wealthiest residents of each municipality or each neighborhood.
Strong contrasts between neighboring municipalities
Thus, in Indre-et-Loire, the municipalities where the inhabitants are the wealthiest are Vouvray (where you enter the richest 10% from €4,100 per month), Saint-Avertin (€4,143), Fondettes (€4,178), Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (€4,228) and Rochecorbon (€4,321).
Conversely, the municipalities of Chouzé-sur-Loire (where you enter the richest 10% from €2,806 per month), Sainte-Maure-de-Touraine (€2,793), Descartes (€2,673 €), Saint-Pierre-des-Corps (€2,624) and Château-Renault (€2,580) are the least well-off in the department.
However, the situation in Touraine is representative of the situation in France, underlines Louis Maurin: “We can see the concentration of wealth in certain suburbs, such as Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, Rochecorbon, Fondettes and Vouvray. In these municipalities, we find more executives and households who have high standards of living. »
Thus, between municipalities that are close, the contrast can be very strong. “You can see it when you cross the Loire between Rochecorbon and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps”indicates the director of the Observatory of Inequalities.
These differences are also visible at even finer meshes. “In the Sanitas-Rotonde 2 district, we enter the richest 10% from €1,583 per month, three times less than in Prébendes, which is not far away,” explains Louis Morin.
“Some tell us that with €4,000 of income per month per person, we are not rich in the Velpeau district, in Tours, since real estate prices are high, the district having necessarily become gentrified. However, they could come and settle in Sanitas or in other neighborhoods where prices are much lower, but they do not do so. If they decide to live in neighborhoods despite these prices, it’s because they find themselves there,” he adds.
This is for example the case of Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, “where we see that young households are coming to settle because the prices in certain areas of Tours are unaffordable for them”. But Louis Maurin also invites “do not draw more conclusions than what this study says. Especially since there are many intermediate neighborhoods or municipalities. There are no bunkered neighborhoods in Tours. »
