Town comparison · Balbriggan vs Donabate

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Balbriggan or Donabate?

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.

Balbriggan, Co. Fingal · K32 · 22,570 people | Donabate, Co. Fingal · K36 · 9,092 people

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

Balbriggan leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
Donabate leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
201616

Balbriggan aheadlevel or not comparableDonabate ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BalbrigganDonabate
iBalbriggan sits in K32, Donabate in K36. 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.

Balbriggan
Donabate

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.

22,570
Population
9,092

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€335k
Median sale pricelower is better
€432k
Balbriggan leads
€274k – €387k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€388k – €510k
574
Sales (24m)
456
+11.8%
Price momentum (YoY)
+7.2%
23.5%
New-build share
56.1%

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.

9 prim · 5 sec
Schools
4 prim · 1 sec
Balbriggan leads
Balbriggan · 14 schools (largest first)
Loreto Secondary School Secondary
1,232 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Ardgillan Community College Secondary
1,001 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Bremore Educate Together Secondary School Secondary
836 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Balbriggan Community College Secondary
696 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Coláiste Ghlór Na Mara Secondary
500 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
St Molaga Senior Ns Primary
434 pupils · Catholic
Bracken Educate Together Ns Primary
383 pupils · Multi DenominationalDEIS
S N Naomh Teresa Primary
377 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Chormaic Primary
376 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N Peadar Agus Pol N Primary
358 pupils · Catholic
Balbriggan Educate Together Ns Primary
357 pupils · Multi DenominationalDEIS
Gaelscoil Bhaile Brigin Primary
337 pupils · Inter Denominational
St Georges N S Primary
334 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Balscadden N S Primary
202 pupils · Catholic
Donabate · 5 schools (largest first)
Donabate Community College Secondary
813 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Donabate/portrane Educate Together Ns Primary
419 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N C Naomh Padraig Primary
384 pupils · Catholic
St Patricks Boys National School Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Na Mara Primary
105 pupils · Multi Denominational
22
Creches
16
Balbriggan leads
N/A
GP practices
2
3
Pharmacies
3
0
Hospitals
0
41
Bus stops
21
Balbriggan leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
1
13
Gyms & leisure
7
Balbriggan leads
16
Parks & playgrounds
7
Balbriggan leads
39
Sports pitches
33
Balbriggan 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.

4
Restaurants
2
Balbriggan leads
7
Cafés
4
Balbriggan leads
5
Pubs & bars
1
Balbriggan leads
13
Takeaways
4
Balbriggan leads
0
Nightclubs
0
2
Cinema & theatre
0
Balbriggan leads
728
Residents per venuelower is better
827
Balbriggan leads

Balbriggan is a large town and Donabate is a small town, so their national rankings aren’t like-for-like — each is ranked only against places of its own size. Compare them on the residents-per-venue row instead.

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

6
Supermarkets
2
Balbriggan leads
6
Convenience shops
2
Balbriggan leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Donabate leads
3
Banks
1
Balbriggan leads
1
Post offices
1
4
Hairdressers
5
Donabate leads
1
Dentists
1
2
Vets
0
Balbriggan leads
4
Filling stations
1
Balbriggan leads
2
EV charging
0
Balbriggan leads
2
Library & community centre
2
705
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
535
Donabate 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.

31m · ~60 rush
Dublinlower is better
26m · ~50 rush
Donabate leads
136m · ~150 rush
Waterfordlower is better
132m · ~145 rush
Donabate leads
158m · ~175 rush
Limericklower is better
153m · ~170 rush
Donabate leads
163m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
158m · ~180 rush
Donabate leads
197m · ~220 rush
Corklower is better
192m · ~215 rush
Donabate leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-4.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
5.6
Donabate leads
Balbriggan · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Balbriggan UrbanBelow average
-6Balbriggan UrbanBelow average
-5Balbriggan RuralBelow average
-2Balbriggan RuralBelow average
Donabate · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+5DonabateAffluent
+6DonabateAffluent
34.4%
Third-level educated
51.2%
Donabate leads
30.9%
Professional class
53.6%
Donabate leads
13.3%
Unemploymentlower is better
7.3%
Donabate leads
62.6%
Owner-occupier
78.9%
Donabate leads
23.0%
Private rental
13.5%
12.1%
Social housing (LA)
4.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · K32 / K36

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BalbrigganK32, DonabateK36); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

64/100
Quality of Life
70/100
Donabate leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (K32 / K36) 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.

BalbrigganDonabateOverall (avg)
Safety64597059
Affordability8629
Infrastructure5079
Family6871
Education5082
Environment9582
Economic3885
020406080100020406080100
#58
National ranklower is better
#18
Donabate leads
#15
County ranklower is better
#6
Donabate leads
59/100
Safety
59/100
61.5
Crime / 1,000lower is better
61.8
Balbriggan 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.

Balbriggan Below average-4.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Balbriggan Urban -8 (least affluent) → Balbriggan Rural -2 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Donabate Affluent+5.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donabate +5 (least affluent) → Donabate +7 (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 (DMR North), 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 98 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Balbriggan

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.