Poitiers is strategically situated on the Seuil du Poitou, a shallow zone which is a gap between the Armorican and the Central Massif and connects the Aquitaine Basin to the Paris Basin. Poitiers's primary site sits on a vast promontory between the valleys of the Boivre and the Clain. The old town occupies the slopes and summit of a plateau which rises 130 feet (40 m) above the streams which surround it on three sides.
Inhabitants of Poitiers are called Pictaviens (masculine) and Pictaviennes (feminine). One out of three people in Poitiers is under the age of 30 and one out of four people in Poitiers is a student.