Ried bei Kerzers (French: Essert; Arpitan: Èssèrts [eˈʃɛ] ⓘ) is a municipality in the district of See, within the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.

It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French speaking Canton of Fribourg.

On 1 January 2006, Ried bei Kerzers incorporated the neighbouring municipality of Agriswil.

It consists of the linear village of Ried bei Kerzers, the hamlet of Gurzelen, part of the Grosses Moos, and since 2006 the former municipality of Agriswil.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Argent a House of the same roofed Gules behind a Beech Vert all issuant from a Base of the last.

[10] Most of the population (as of 2000[update]) speaks German (633 or 91.1%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (25 or 3.6%) and French is the third (22 or 3.2%).

[9] Of the population in the municipality, 266 or about 38.3% were born in Ried bei Kerzers and lived there in 2000.

[10] The historical population is given in the following chart:[4][13] In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the SVP which received 30.4% of the vote.

In the tertiary sector; 109 or 79.6% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 6 or 4.4% were in the movement and storage of goods, 5 or 3.6% were in a hotel or restaurant, 2 or 1.5% were in the information industry, 1 was the insurance or financial industry, 3 or 2.2% were in education and 6 or 4.4% were in health care.

[10] From the 2000 census[update], 114 or 16.4% were Roman Catholic, while 522 or 75.1% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church.

This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude.

The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs.

After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.

[18] During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 88 students attending 4 classes in Ried bei Kerzers.