Argelos is located some 25 km north of Pau and 3 km west of Auriac. Access to the commune is by the D214 road from the village north to join the D944 road south-east of Thèze. The A65 autoroute passes through the northern tip of the commune but the nearest exit is Exit 9 near Miossens-Lanusse. The commune is mixed farmland and forest.

Located in the Drainage basin of the Adour, the Luy de France forms the north-eastern border of the commune as it flows north-west fed by its tributaries the Basta and the Balaing.

The commune name in béarnais is Argelos. Brigitte Jobbé-Duval indicated that Argelos probably had a Latin origin of argilla (meaning "Clay") with the suffix -ossum. The meaning of the name would then be "clay soil".

The following table details the origins of the commune name and other names in the commune.

Sources:

• Raymond: Topographic Dictionary of the Department of Basses-Pyrenees, 1863, on the page numbers indicated in the table. (in French)
• Cassini: Cassini Map from 1750

Origins:

• Census: Census of Béarn

Paul Raymond noted on page 10 of his 1863 dictionary that in 1385 there were 29 fires in Argelos and it depended on the bailiwick of Pau. Auriac was formerly annexed to the commune.

The barony of Viven included Argelos, Auriac, and Viven and was a vassal of the Viscounts of Béarn.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2021)

List of Successive Mayors

Argelos is part of 4 inter-communal structures:

• the Communauté de communes des Luys en Béarn;
• the AEP association of the regions of Luy and Gabas;
• the Energy association of Pyrénées-Atlantiques ;
• the scholastic association Argelos - Astis.

In 2017 the commune had 282 inhabitants.

Historical population

Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1793 325 —     1800 533 +7.32% 1806 414 −4.12% 1821 357 −0.98% 1831 361 +0.11% 1836 392 +1.66% 1841 395 +0.15% 1846 373 −1.14% 1851 309 −3.69% 1856 307 −0.13% 1861 309 +0.13% 1866 293 −1.06% 1872 300 +0.39% 1876 301 +0.08% 1881 317 +1.04% 1886 301 −1.03% 1891 283 −1.23% 1896 255 −2.06%	Year Pop. ±% p.a. 1901 268 +1.00% 1906 283 +1.10% 1911 249 −2.53% 1921 214 −1.50% 1926 201 −1.25% 1931 206 +0.49% 1936 201 −0.49% 1946 173 −1.49% 1954 150 −1.77% 1962 133 −1.49% 1968 128 −0.64% 1975 136 +0.87% 1982 131 −0.53% 1990 197 +5.23% 1999 217 +1.08% 2007 253 +1.94% 2012 250 −0.24% 2017 282 +2.44%
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Source: EHESS and INSEE

The commune has several buildings and sites that are registered as historical monuments:

• The Maison Marque Farmhouse (18th century)
• A Farmhouse at Loubané (18th century)
• The Maison Lavignotte-Lagrela Farmhouse at Lavignotte (18th century)
• A Farmhouse at Lamarque (1725)
• Houses and Farms (18th century)
• A Fortified Complex at Lopou (Middle Ages)

The Parish Church of Saint-André (12th century) is registered as an historical monument. It contains many items which are registered as historical objects:

Argelos has a primary school which is shared with Astis as an inter-communal educational grouping.

• Communes of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department

• Community of communes of Luys en Béarn (in French)
• Argelos on the 1750 Cassini Map

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Argelos (Pyrénées-Atlantiques).