Town comparison · Athy vs Ballyoulster

Compare others

Athy or Ballyoulster?

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.

Athy, Co. Kildare · R14 · 11,035 people | Ballyoulster, Co. Kildare · W23 · 523 people

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

Athy leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
Ballyoulster leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
261313

Athy aheadlevel or not comparableBallyoulster ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
AthyBallyoulster
iAthy sits in R14, Ballyoulster in W23. 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.

Athy
Ballyoulster

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.

11,035
Population
523

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€325k
Median sale pricelower is better
€546k
Athy leads
€250k – €366k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€534k – €558k
484
Sales (24m)
2
+59.5%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
42.4%
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.

4 prim · 2 sec
Schools
0 prim · 0 sec
Athy leads
Athy · 6 schools (largest first)
Árdscoil Na Trionóide Secondary
882 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Athy Community College Secondary
655 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Scoil Phadraig Naofa Primary
596 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Mhichil Naofa Primary
502 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Átha Í Primary
155 pupils · Inter DenominationalDEIS
Athy Model School Primary
91 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Ballyoulster · 0 schools (largest first)
No schools inside the boundary.
11
Creches
3
Athy leads
2
GP practices
1
Athy leads
5
Pharmacies
0
Athy leads
1
Hospitals
0
Athy leads
27
Bus stops
20
Athy leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
1
9
Gyms & leisure
8
Athy leads
4
Parks & playgrounds
0
Athy leads
25
Sports pitches
21
Athy 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.

7
Restaurants
1
Athy leads
10
Cafés
2
Athy leads
16
Pubs & bars
2
Athy leads
8
Takeaways
0
Athy leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
269
Residents per venuelower is better
105
Ballyoulster 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.

5
Supermarkets
0
Athy leads
6
Convenience shops
0
Athy leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Athy leads
2
Banks
3
Ballyoulster leads
1
Post offices
1
3
Hairdressers
0
Athy leads
3
Dentists
0
Athy leads
1
Vets
0
Athy leads
6
Filling stations
0
Athy leads
3
EV charging
1
Athy leads
5
Library & community centre
0
Athy leads
298
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
105
Ballyoulster 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.

62m · ~95 rush
Dublinlower is better
25m · ~50 rush
Ballyoulster leads
77m · ~90 rush
Waterfordlower is better
108m · ~120 rush
Athy leads
102m · ~120 rush
Limericklower is better
130m · ~150 rush
Athy leads
146m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
133m · ~155 rush
Ballyoulster leads
142m · ~165 rush
Corklower is better
169m · ~190 rush
Athy leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-11.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
5.6
Ballyoulster leads
Athy · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-21Athy West UrbanVery disadvantaged
-16Athy West UrbanVery disadvantaged
-12Athy East UrbanDisadvantaged
-9Athy RuralDisadvantaged
-6Athy East UrbanBelow average
-6Athy RuralBelow average
Ballyoulster · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+5DonaghcumperAffluent
+6DonaghcumperAffluent
27.2%
Third-level educated
53.3%
Ballyoulster leads
25.5%
Professional class
53.0%
Ballyoulster leads
20.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.5%
Ballyoulster leads
60.2%
Owner-occupier
75.6%
Ballyoulster leads
21.9%
Private rental
17.5%
13.7%
Social housing (LA)
4.5%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R14 / W23

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (AthyR14, BallyoulsterW23); safety & crime are the Kildare Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

62/100
Quality of Life
68/100
Ballyoulster leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R14 / W23) 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.

AthyBallyoulsterOverall (avg)
Safety62636863
Affordability9459
Infrastructure8866
Family7181
Education3473
Environment6458
Economic2377
020406080100020406080100
#66
National ranklower is better
#28
Ballyoulster leads
#4
County ranklower is better
#1
Ballyoulster leads
63/100
Safety
63/100
55.1
Crime / 1,000
55.1

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.

Athy Disadvantaged-11.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Athy West Urban -21 (least affluent) → Athy Rural -6 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Ballyoulster Affluent+5.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donaghcumper +5 (least affluent) → Donaghcumper +6 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above 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 (Kildare), 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 Athy

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.