Town comparison · Ardara vs Lifford

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Ardara or Lifford?

Both towns measured at town level, not the wider Eircode area, on the same 52 figures: prices, schools, amenities, social life, commute, affluence and safety.

Ardara, Co. Donegal · F94 · 785 people | Lifford, Co. Donegal · F93 · 1,613 people

Ardara is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions to Lifford’s 0, with 5 level.

Ardara leads on
affluenceeducation levels
231712

Ardara aheadlevel or not comparableLifford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
ArdaraLifford
iArdara sits in F94, Lifford in F93. Each figure below is tagged with the geographic level it’s actually measured at. The town ahead on a row is the one in green. Scores and percentages are charted against a true 0 to 100 scale; every other row is charted against the larger of the two towns, so the bars compare but don’t imply a ceiling.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Ardara
Lifford

Size

TOWN · census

Resident population at the 2022 CSO census, summed over the Small Areas that make up each town. Not scored: a bigger town isn’t a better one, it just explains why the counts below differ.

785
Population
1,613

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€180k
Median sale pricelower is better
€160k
Lifford leads
€140k – €245k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€112k – €240k
33
Sales (24m)
137
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
3.0%
New-build share
0.0%

Schools, health & amenities

TOWN · counts

Facilities in and around each town — each counted once, for the town it’s closest to. Bigger towns naturally score higher — read alongside population.

2 prim · 0 sec
Schools
2 prim · 0 sec
Ardara · 2 schools (largest first)
S N Muire Gan Smal Primary
89 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Ardara Mixed N S Primary
18 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
Lifford · 2 schools (largest first)
St Patricks N S Primary
160 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Náisiúnta Muire Gan Smál Primary
120 pupils · CatholicDEIS
2
Creches
3
Lifford leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
1
Pharmacies
1
0
Hospitals
1
Lifford leads
4
Bus stops
4
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
0
Gyms & leisure
1
Lifford leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
0
Ardara leads
2
Sports pitches
5
Lifford leads

Social life

TOWN · counts

Places to eat, drink and go out in and around each town — each counted once, for the town it’s closest to. The residents per venue row is the fairer read — raw counts just track town size, so a big town wins by being big.

2
Restaurants
1
Ardara leads
2
Cafés
1
Ardara leads
10
Pubs & bars
0
Ardara leads
3
Takeaways
0
Ardara leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Lifford leads
46
Residents per venuelower is better
538
Ardara leads

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

2
Supermarkets
0
Ardara leads
2
Convenience shops
5
Lifford leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
1
Banks
0
Ardara leads
1
Post offices
0
Ardara leads
5
Hairdressers
0
Ardara leads
1
Dentists
0
Ardara leads
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
3
Lifford leads
0
EV charging
1
Lifford leads
2
Library & community centre
1
Ardara leads
49
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
161
Ardara leads

Commute by car

TOWN · from centre

Drive time from the town centre to each city centre — typical off-peak, with an estimated weekday rush hour. OSRM road routing.

215m · ~250 rush
Dublinlower is better
174m · ~210 rush
Lifford leads
205m · ~230 rush
Galwaylower is better
217m · ~240 rush
Ardara leads
251m · ~270 rush
Limericklower is better
263m · ~280 rush
Ardara leads
311m · ~325 rush
Waterfordlower is better
279m · ~295 rush
Lifford leads
331m · ~355 rush
Corklower is better
329m · ~350 rush
Lifford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-7.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-18.2
Ardara leads
Ardara · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-11ArdaraDisadvantaged
-4ArdaraBelow average
Lifford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-19Clonleigh SouthVery disadvantaged
-17Clonleigh SouthVery disadvantaged
29.4%
Third-level educated
20.2%
Ardara leads
31.6%
Professional class
21.8%
Ardara leads
14.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
25.4%
Ardara leads
65.0%
Owner-occupier
63.7%
Ardara leads
15.4%
Private rental
17.7%
10.8%
Social housing (LA)
14.3%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F94 / F93

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (ArdaraF94, LiffordF93); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

57/100
Quality of Life
54/100
Ardara leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F94 / F93) from official data — Garda crime, CSO income & census, OPW flood, EPA water, and transport/healthcare/broadband coverage. Refreshed quarterly. The dashed line is each town’s overall score (that average) — dimensions to its right beat the average, to its left fall short. Two towns can share a score with a very different mix.

ArdaraLiffordOverall (avg)
Safety57715471
Affordability100100
Infrastructure2222
Family8380
Education2017
Environment7469
Economic2819
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#101
Ardara leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#3
Ardara leads
71/100
Safety
71/100
44.8
Crime / 1,000
44.8

Affluence range

Pobal HP deprivation index, published per Electoral Division, so the spread shows the town’s poorest to richest ED. A town that is a single ED shows one mark, no range.

Ardara Below average-7.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ardara -11 (least affluent) → Ardara -4 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Lifford Very disadvantaged-18.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Clonleigh South -19 (least affluent) → Clonleigh South -17 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.

How accurate is this, and at what level?

TOWN
Prices, amenities and commute are exact and town-specific.

Prices come from individual PPR sales inside the town’s Small-Area boundary; schools, GPs, transport, gyms and parks are counted the same way; commute is routed from the town centre.

ED
Affluence, profile and tenure are Electoral-Division level.

Published per Electoral Division and averaged across the town’s EDs, with a range where the town spans several.

AREA
Liveability and safety are wider-area, not the town.

Quality of life and rank are per Eircode routing key; safety and crime are the Garda division (Donegal), coarser than a town, so two towns in the same county read the same.

Population growth isn’t shown: the 2016 and 2022 censuses don’t use the same Small Areas, and the areas that were re-cut are the ones that grew, so a like-for-like comparison understates growth badly. Rent and yield are still too sparse to show per town. Built from 11 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ardara

The stronger town on the data.

Compare somewhere else

Put any two Irish towns head to head, or step up to the wider Eircode areas.