Methodology
Transparency on our data sources and update frequency.
Data Sources
Real estate prices
Demandes de Valeurs Foncières (DVF) — DGFiP
Fibre optic
ARCEP — Very High Speed Deployment Observatory
Population & demographics
INSEE — Population Census
Climate
Météo-France — 1991-2020 climate normals
Public services
Town hall directory, APF, France Services
Natural hazards
Géorisques — Ministry of Ecological Transition
Update Frequency
- Real estate prices: annual update from new DVF data published by DGFiP.
- Fibre optic: quarterly refresh from ARCEP data.
- Population: INSEE data recalculated at each census vintage (approximately every 5 years).
- Portraits: automatically updated when new data batches are integrated.
Territorial Coverage
Vivre Ailleurs covers all 35,000 French communes, including overseas territories. Some data (DVF real estate prices, detailed climate) may be unavailable for the smallest communes when the number of transactions or weather stations is insufficient.
When data is missing, the algorithm uses imputation by department or region median so as not to unfairly penalise a commune.