Aveyronnais - Settlements

The Aveyron is comprised of nearly 300 townships classified as rural (populations under 2,000), only six centers with more than 5,000 inhabitants, and no cities of national importance. The capital and largest city is Rodez, an administrative center with a 1982 population of 24,000. Two manufacturing centers, Decazeville in the west (coal and steel) and Millau in the east (leather tanning and glove making), achieved some importance in the nineteenth century, but they have long since declined. Rural townships typically are comprised of a small clustered settlement, or bourg, and a number of outlying isolated farms and small hamlets. In some rural areas (Especially the Aubrac Mountains and Tarn Valley), many of the homes are owned by migrants or their descendants and are used only for vacations or retirement.