NUTS-3 FRB05 · France
Population
327,4032025
GDP
€11,025M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.9%2025
Active firms
67,7502026
Cadastral parcels
792,5462026
Area
6,411.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRB05 · FRB01
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Loir-et-Cher (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Cher (46). Contrarian pick: Cher — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 89).
Why you might not pick Loir-et-Cher
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 19) — Cher may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Loir-et-Cher · Manufacturing → Cher · Office → Loir-et-Cher · Residential → Loir-et-Cher.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
55.7
45.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.3
51.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.8
53.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
79.3
89.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
33.7
28.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
73.0
73.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.0
43.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.3% 5y
7.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,673
€32,630
Population density
51 /km²
41 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,421
2,332
Firms per 1k pop
207
197
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,845M
€8,628M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€291M
€458M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,002M
€2,038M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,468M
€1,518M
GVA — construction (F)
€688M
€445M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,747M
€1,395M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,500
€23,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,000 PPS
30,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,600
€32,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,283M
€20,283M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,604M
€2,604M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€46,136M
€46,136M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,414M
€1,404M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€103M
€194M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,674M
€2,120M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,442M
€2,172M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,775M
€8,572M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,167
€86,808
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,485M
€2,179M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
130,400
113,500
Self-employed persons
15,200
13,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,700
15,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.3%
76.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
18.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.1%
6.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,500
130,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
20,295
16,983
Enterprise births
2,580
2,083
Enterprise deaths
1,943
1,671
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.4%
41.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.6%
51.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.2%
16.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.6%
26.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.0%
9.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,274,306
861,314
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
631 /1k
631 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,361 kt
8,464 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,001
1,221
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
25 km/1000km²
25 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
306
412
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
143
145
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
188,070
170,176
Population aged 65+
88,050
81,638
Population aged under 15
51,283
44,479
Median age of population
48.0 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
46.8%
48.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.0 /1k
-3.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.2 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
13.3 /1k
Live births
2,671
2,374
Deaths
4,040
3,960
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
74.1%
74.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.68
1.66
Population density (persons per km²)
52 /km²
41 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
270,334
222,742
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.1%
15.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.6 yrs
82.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.0%
11.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
555 /100k
555 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
862 /100k
862 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
34.4 /100k
37.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
543 /100k
592 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,432 /100k
1,319 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
66 /M
66 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
109 m
152 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
14 days/yr
16 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
26 days/yr
33 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr