Town comparison · Ashbourne vs Oldcastle

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Ashbourne or Oldcastle?

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.

Ashbourne, Co. Meath · A84 · 13,321 people | Oldcastle, Co. Meath · A82 · 813 people

Ashbourne is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 5 of the 7 dimensions to Oldcastle’s 2.

Ashbourne leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
Oldcastle leads on
safetyaffordability
281410

Ashbourne aheadlevel or not comparableOldcastle ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
AshbourneOldcastle
iAshbourne sits in A84, Oldcastle in A82. 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.

Ashbourne
Oldcastle

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.

13,321
Population
813

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€427k
Median sale pricelower is better
€300k
Oldcastle leads
€315k – €463k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€208k – €326k
541
Sales (24m)
83
+14.7%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
40.3%
New-build share
24.1%

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.

6 prim · 2 sec
Schools
1 prim · 1 sec
Ashbourne leads
Ashbourne · 8 schools (largest first)
Ashbourne Community School Secondary
1,111 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
De Lacy College Secondary
913 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil Nais Deaglain Primary
647 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Mhuire Primary
481 pupils · Catholic
Ashbourne Educate Together National School Primary
410 pupils · Multi Denominational
Ashbourne Community National School Primary
303 pupils · Multi Denominational
Gaelscoil Na Mí Primary
283 pupils · Multi Denominational
Gaelscoil Na Cille Primary
227 pupils · Catholic
Oldcastle · 2 schools (largest first)
St Oliver Post Primary Secondary
641 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Gilson National School Primary
227 pupils · CatholicDEIS
13
Creches
1
Ashbourne leads
4
GP practices
1
Ashbourne leads
5
Pharmacies
2
Ashbourne leads
0
Hospitals
1
Oldcastle leads
29
Bus stops
1
Ashbourne leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
22
Gyms & leisure
4
Ashbourne leads
6
Parks & playgrounds
1
Ashbourne leads
46
Sports pitches
8
Ashbourne 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.

10
Restaurants
2
Ashbourne leads
8
Cafés
2
Ashbourne leads
5
Pubs & bars
9
Oldcastle leads
12
Takeaways
3
Ashbourne leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
1
370
Residents per venuelower is better
48
Oldcastle 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.

8
Supermarkets
2
Ashbourne leads
9
Convenience shops
4
Ashbourne leads
3
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Ashbourne leads
3
Banks
2
Ashbourne leads
0
Post offices
1
Oldcastle leads
8
Hairdressers
6
Ashbourne leads
3
Dentists
0
Ashbourne leads
1
Vets
1
4
Filling stations
4
1
EV charging
0
Ashbourne leads
3
Library & community centre
1
Ashbourne leads
310
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
35
Oldcastle 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.

27m · ~55 rush
Dublinlower is better
76m · ~110 rush
Ashbourne leads
127m · ~140 rush
Waterfordlower is better
172m · ~185 rush
Ashbourne leads
153m · ~175 rush
Galwaylower is better
139m · ~165 rush
Oldcastle leads
148m · ~165 rush
Limericklower is better
167m · ~185 rush
Ashbourne leads
187m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
215m · ~235 rush
Ashbourne leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-5.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.8
Ashbourne leads
Ashbourne · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-10DonaghmoreDisadvantaged
-4DonaghmoreBelow average
+3KilbrewAbove average
+3KilbrewAbove average
Oldcastle · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-11OldcastleDisadvantaged
-8OldcastleDisadvantaged
28.4%
Third-level educated
23.8%
Ashbourne leads
35.8%
Professional class
27.5%
Ashbourne leads
12.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.1%
Ashbourne leads
90.0%
Owner-occupier
64.1%
Ashbourne leads
6.7%
Private rental
18.7%
1.8%
Social housing (LA)
15.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A84 / A82

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (AshbourneA84, OldcastleA82); safety & crime are the Meath Garda division.

62/100
Quality of Life
62/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A84 / A82) 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.

AshbourneOldcastleOverall (avg)
Safety62476274
Affordability7994
Infrastructure5926
Family9083
Education5742
Environment5684
Economic4334
020406080100020406080100
#66
National rank
#66
#2
County ranklower is better
#1
Oldcastle leads
47/100
Safety
74/100
Oldcastle leads
76
Crime / 1,000lower is better
40
Oldcastle 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.

Ashbourne Below average-5.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donaghmore -10 (least affluent) → Kilbrew +3 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Oldcastle Disadvantaged-9.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Oldcastle -11 (least affluent) → Oldcastle -8 (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 (Meath), 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 43 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ashbourne

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.