Chavannes-près-Renens is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Ouest Lausannois.

A bronze figurine, an axe, knives and several iron items have been found from that period.

From the middle ages until the 18th century it was a rural town focused on agriculture.

In another document from October 1272 the former bisschop of Lausanne Jean de Cossonay talks about the territory of Chavannes as well as its mills.

[3] Chavannes-près-Renens has an area, as of 2009[update], of 1.7 square kilometers (0.66 sq mi).

Of the rest of the land, 1.08 km2 (0.42 sq mi) or 65.5% is settled (buildings or roads), 0.04 km2 (9.9 acres) or 2.4% is either rivers or lakes.

The flag and coat of arms of the town consists of an arched bridge and a cherry branch on an argent (silver) and gules (red) background.

The cherries symbolize the importance of orchards for the town at the beginning of the 20th century.

A special type of dark cherries, called "Noire de Chavannes" was cultivated during that time.

[6] The coat of arms shows red cherries instead of dark ones, probably for aesthetic reasons.

[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks French (4,454 or 73.5%), with Italian being second most common (387 or 6.4%) and German being third (277 or 4.6%).

[9] The age distribution, as of 2009[update], in Chavannes-près-Renens is; 905 children or 13.7% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 748 teenagers or 11.3% are between 10 and 19.

[10] The historical population is given in the following chart:[14][15] The Cantonal Archives of Vaud in Chavannes-près-Renens is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.

[10] There were 3,080 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 42.5% of the workforce.

In the tertiary sector; 373 or 19.5% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 14 or 0.7% were in the movement and storage of goods, 61 or 3.2% were in a hotel or restaurant, 9 or 0.5% were in the information industry, 2 or 0.1% were the insurance or financial industry, 94 or 4.9% were technical professionals or scientists, 878 or 45.8% were in education and 49 or 2.6% were in health care.

[10] From the 2000 census[update], 2,481 or 40.9% were Roman Catholic, while 1,440 or 23.8% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts.

The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years.