France's school-dense towns are the cheap ones
Across France the map of schools per resident tilts against the map of prices. In the cheapest price quartile the median commune carries 21.01 schools per 10,000 residents; in the dearest, 9.41.
Buyers assume the towns thick with schools are the ones that have been bid up. The data says the opposite. Sort France's communes by price and school density falls at every rung: the cheapest quartile posts a median 21.01 schools per 10,000 residents, the dearest just 9.41. Among communes above 5,000 residents, the 2,150 with a school figure span 0.28 to 24.17 per 10,000; the 2,075 with a price span €624 to €14,628 per square metre — and the two rankings pull apart.
Where the schools are, the prices are not
The towns above 5,000 residents with the most schools per head are mid-market, not premium. Châtillon-sur-Seine tops the list at 24.17 schools per 10,000 with median prices of €860 per square metre; only Pauillac and Loches reach €1,573 or above. These are the family-friendly communes that have not yet been repriced.
The ladder runs one way
Split every priced commune into four bands and the inverse relationship is clean. School density more than halves from the cheapest band to the dearest, with the national median sitting at 13.85 per 10,000. Cheap does not mean under-served on schools; it often means the reverse.
The caveat
School density counts buildings against residents, not teaching quality or catchment. A commune of a few hundred can post absurd ratios — Saint-Jean-du-Castillonnais reaches 434.78 on a population of 23 — which is why the national picture is read from towns above 5,000. On that filter the signal is steady: the family-town discount is real, but check the school run, not just the count.