Town comparison · Arklow vs Stratford

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Arklow or Stratford?

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 | Stratford, Co. Wicklow · W91 · 211 people

Arklow is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 4 of the 7 dimensions to Stratford’s 3.

Arklow leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportsafetyaffordability
Stratford leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
261313

Arklow aheadlevel or not comparableStratford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
ArklowStratford
iArklow sits in Y14, Stratford in W91. 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
Stratford

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
211

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€305k
Median sale pricelower is better
€430k
Arklow leads
€236k – €376k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€281k – €454k
349
Sales (24m)
20
+7.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
7.2%
New-build share
N/A

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
Stratford · 1 schools (largest first)
S N Muire Primary
65 pupils · CatholicDEIS
16
Creches
2
Arklow leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
7
Pharmacies
0
Arklow leads
0
Hospitals
0
15
Bus stops
2
Arklow leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Arklow leads
13
Gyms & leisure
1
Arklow leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
0
Arklow leads
29
Sports pitches
2
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
1
Arklow leads
6
Cafés
0
Arklow leads
19
Pubs & bars
1
Arklow leads
14
Takeaways
0
Arklow leads
0
Nightclubs
0
3
Cinema & theatre
0
Arklow leads
270
Residents per venuelower is better
106
Stratford 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
0
Arklow leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Arklow leads
4
Banks
0
Arklow leads
1
Post offices
0
Arklow leads
11
Hairdressers
0
Arklow leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
4
Filling stations
0
Arklow leads
4
EV charging
0
Arklow leads
4
Library & community centre
0
Arklow leads
253
Residents per shop or service
N/A

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
60m · ~95 rush
Stratford leads
82m · ~95 rush
Waterfordlower is better
85m · ~100 rush
Arklow leads
178m · ~195 rush
Limericklower is better
131m · ~150 rush
Stratford leads
178m · ~200 rush
Corklower is better
170m · ~190 rush
Stratford leads
193m · ~215 rush
Galwaylower is better
172m · ~195 rush
Stratford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-8.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.7
Stratford 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
Stratford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-7StratfordBelow average
-2StratfordBelow average
28.1%
Third-level educated
31.9%
Stratford leads
29.6%
Professional class
32.0%
Stratford leads
15.9%
Unemploymentlower is better
11.3%
Stratford leads
65.4%
Owner-occupier
79.9%
Stratford leads
19.7%
Private rental
9.7%
11.9%
Social housing (LA)
11.6%

Liveability & safety

AREA · Y14 / W91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (ArklowY14, StratfordW91); safety & crime are the Wicklow Garda division.

65/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Stratford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (Y14 / W91) 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.

ArklowStratfordOverall (avg)
Safety65706663
Affordability9166
Infrastructure8864
Family7581
Education3756
Environment6473
Economic2862
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#35
Stratford leads
#3
County ranklower is better
#2
Stratford leads
70/100
Safety
63/100
Arklow leads
43.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
55.1
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.
Stratford Below average-4.7
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Stratford -7 (least affluent) → Stratford -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 48 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Arklow

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.