Town comparison · Arklow vs Roundwood

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Arklow or Roundwood?

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.

Arklow, Co. Wicklow · Y14 · 12,137 people | Roundwood, Co. Wicklow · A98 · 907 people

Arklow and Roundwood are closely matched. Each leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions, with 1 level.

Arklow leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
Roundwood leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
241414

Arklow aheadlevel or not comparableRoundwood ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
ArklowRoundwood
iArklow sits in Y14, Roundwood in A98. 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.

Arklow
Roundwood

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.

12,137
Population
907

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€305k
Median sale pricelower is better
€441k
Arklow leads
€236k – €376k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€391k – €507k
349
Sales (24m)
83
+7.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
7.2%
New-build share
67.5%

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.

5 prim · 4 sec
Schools
1 prim · 0 sec
Arklow leads
Arklow · 9 schools (largest first)
Glenart College Secondary
629 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
St Marys College Secondary
540 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Arklow Cbs Secondary
383 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Gaelcholáiste Na Mara Secondary
302 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
St Josephs N S Primary
517 pupils · Catholic
St John's Senior School Primary
351 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Michael's And St Peter's Junior School Primary
278 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil An Inbhir Mhoir Primary
275 pupils · Inter Denominational
Carysfort Mxd N S Primary
198 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Roundwood · 1 schools (largest first)
St Laurence O'toole's Ns Primary
264 pupils · Catholic
16
Creches
2
Arklow leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
7
Pharmacies
1
Arklow leads
0
Hospitals
0
15
Bus stops
4
Arklow leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Arklow leads
13
Gyms & leisure
3
Arklow leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
2
Arklow leads
29
Sports pitches
5
Arklow 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.

3
Restaurants
2
Arklow leads
6
Cafés
2
Arklow leads
19
Pubs & bars
5
Arklow leads
14
Takeaways
2
Arklow leads
0
Nightclubs
0
3
Cinema & theatre
0
Arklow leads
270
Residents per venuelower is better
82
Roundwood 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.

7
Supermarkets
0
Arklow leads
11
Convenience shops
1
Arklow leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
4
Banks
0
Arklow leads
1
Post offices
1
11
Hairdressers
2
Arklow leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
1
Roundwood leads
4
Filling stations
0
Arklow leads
4
EV charging
0
Arklow leads
4
Library & community centre
1
Arklow leads
253
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
113
Roundwood 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.

65m · ~100 rush
Dublinlower is better
45m · ~80 rush
Roundwood leads
82m · ~95 rush
Waterfordlower is better
111m · ~125 rush
Arklow leads
178m · ~195 rush
Limericklower is better
158m · ~175 rush
Roundwood leads
193m · ~215 rush
Galwaylower is better
173m · ~195 rush
Roundwood leads
178m · ~200 rush
Corklower is better
197m · ~220 rush
Arklow leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-8.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-2.4
Roundwood leads
Arklow · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-12Arklow No. 1 UrbanDisadvantaged
-8Arklow No. 1 UrbanBelow average
-7Arklow No. 2 UrbanBelow average
-6Arklow RuralBelow average
-4Arklow No. 2 UrbanBelow average
-2Arklow RuralBelow average
Roundwood · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-3TogherBelow average
-2TogherBelow average
28.1%
Third-level educated
35.5%
Roundwood leads
29.6%
Professional class
37.2%
Roundwood leads
15.9%
Unemploymentlower is better
8.1%
Roundwood leads
65.4%
Owner-occupier
69.8%
Roundwood leads
19.7%
Private rental
8.8%
11.9%
Social housing (LA)
9.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · Y14 / A98

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (ArklowY14, RoundwoodA98); safety & crime are the Wicklow Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

65/100
Quality of Life
67/100
Roundwood leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (Y14 / A98) 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.

ArklowRoundwoodOverall (avg)
Safety65706770
Affordability9149
Infrastructure8875
Family7574
Education3757
Environment6489
Economic2855
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#31
Roundwood leads
#3
County ranklower is better
#2
Roundwood leads
70/100
Safety
70/100
43.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
43.9
Arklow leads

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.

Arklow Disadvantaged-8.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Arklow No. 1 Urban -12 (least affluent) → Arklow Rural -2 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Roundwood Below average-2.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Togher -2 (least affluent) → Togher -2 (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 (Wicklow), 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 50 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Arklow

The towns are level, so these are from the first.

Compare somewhere else

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