Town comparison · Béal An Mhuirthead vs Castlebar

Compare others

Béal An Mhuirthead or Castlebar?

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.

Béal An Mhuirthead, Co. Mayo · F26 · 799 people | Castlebar, Co. Mayo · F23 · 12,267 people

Castlebar is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 6 of the 7 dimensions to Béal An Mhuirthead’s 0, with 1 level.

Castlebar leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
71233

Béal An Mhuirthead aheadlevel or not comparableCastlebar ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
Béal An MhuirtheadCastlebar
iBéal An Mhuirthead sits in F26, Castlebar in F23. 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.

Béal An Mhuirthead
Castlebar

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.

799
Population
12,267

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€330k
Median sale pricelower is better
€276k
Castlebar leads
€225k – €330k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€215k – €349k
10
Sales (24m)
429
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+53.6%
N/A
New-build share
19.1%

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.

2 prim · 2 sec
Schools
5 prim · 3 sec
Castlebar leads
Béal An Mhuirthead · 4 schools (largest first)
St. Brendan's College Secondary
329 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEISGaelscoil
Our Lady's Secondary School Secondary
248 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEISGaelscoil
Sn Croi Muire Primary
131 pupils · CatholicDEISGaelscoil
S N Beal An Mhuirthead Primary
61 pupils · CatholicDEISGaelscoil
Castlebar · 8 schools (largest first)
Davitt College Secondary
880 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
St. Geralds College Secondary
665 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St Joseph's Secondary School Secondary
539 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Castlebar Primary School Primary
849 pupils · Catholic
Breaffy N S Primary
386 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Peters Ns Primary
281 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Raifteirí Primary
221 pupils · Catholic
Castlebar Educate Together National School Primary
128 pupils · Multi Denominational
3
Creches
15
Castlebar leads
1
GP practices
2
Castlebar leads
3
Pharmacies
8
Castlebar leads
1
Hospitals
2
Castlebar leads
6
Bus stops
14
Castlebar leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Castlebar leads
2
Gyms & leisure
17
Castlebar leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
15
Castlebar leads
15
Sports pitches
39
Castlebar 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.

0
Restaurants
12
Castlebar leads
0
Cafés
26
Castlebar leads
6
Pubs & bars
23
Castlebar leads
2
Takeaways
21
Castlebar leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
3
Castlebar leads
100
Residents per venuelower is better
144
Béal An Mhuirthead 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.

3
Supermarkets
6
Castlebar leads
1
Convenience shops
12
Castlebar leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
6
Castlebar leads
3
Banks
6
Castlebar leads
1
Post offices
1
1
Hairdressers
19
Castlebar leads
2
Dentists
2
1
Vets
4
Castlebar leads
2
Filling stations
9
Castlebar leads
3
EV charging
5
Castlebar leads
2
Library & community centre
3
Castlebar leads
38
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
168
Béal An Mhuirthead 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.

146m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
74m · ~100 rush
Castlebar leads
201m · ~220 rush
Limericklower is better
130m · ~150 rush
Castlebar leads
246m · ~280 rush
Dublinlower is better
187m · ~220 rush
Castlebar leads
281m · ~305 rush
Corklower is better
209m · ~230 rush
Castlebar leads
307m · ~320 rush
Waterfordlower is better
241m · ~255 rush
Castlebar leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-10.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.5
Castlebar leads
Béal An Mhuirthead · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-13BelmulletDisadvantaged
-8BelmulletDisadvantaged
Castlebar · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-10Castlebar UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Castlebar UrbanBelow average
-2Castlebar RuralBelow average
+1BreaghwyAbove average
+1Castlebar RuralAbove average
+2BreaghwyAbove average
25.8%
Third-level educated
39.1%
Castlebar leads
27.6%
Professional class
34.3%
Castlebar leads
13.2%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.1%
Béal An Mhuirthead leads
66.7%
Owner-occupier
57.2%
Béal An Mhuirthead leads
19.8%
Private rental
32.3%
7.7%
Social housing (LA)
7.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F26 / F23

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Béal An MhuirtheadF26, CastlebarF23); safety & crime are the Mayo Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

68/100
Quality of Life
65/100
Béal An Mhuirthead leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F26 / F23) 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.

Béal An MhuirtheadCastlebarOverall (avg)
Safety68826582
Affordability10099
Infrastructure8825
Family8379
Education1646
Environment8276
Economic2246
020406080100020406080100
#28
National ranklower is better
#50
Béal An Mhuirthead leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#4
Béal An Mhuirthead leads
82/100
Safety
82/100
26.9
Crime / 1,000
26.9

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.

Béal An Mhuirthead Disadvantaged-10.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Belmullet -13 (least affluent) → Belmullet -8 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Castlebar Below average-4.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Castlebar Urban -10 (least affluent) → Breaghwy +2 (most affluent). It straddles 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 (Mayo), 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 54 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Castlebar

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.