Town comparison · Ballina vs Shrule

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Ballina or Shrule?

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.

Ballina, Co. Mayo · F26 · 9,955 people | Shrule, Co. Mayo · H91 · 362 people

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

Ballina leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportsafetyaffordability
Shrule leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
251215

Ballina aheadlevel or not comparableShrule ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallinaShrule
iBallina sits in F26, Shrule in H91. 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.

Ballina
Shrule

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.

9,955
Population
362

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€176k
Median sale pricelower is better
€286k
Ballina leads
€110k – €263k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€163k – €369k
417
Sales (24m)
23
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
2.6%
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.

6 prim · 3 sec
Schools
1 prim · 0 sec
Ballina leads
Ballina · 9 schools (largest first)
St. Mary's Secondary School Secondary
539 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St Muredachs College Secondary
401 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Moyne College Secondary
207 pupils · 35% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Quignamanger N S Primary
364 pupils · Catholic
Cullens N S Primary
266 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Íosa Primary
245 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Joseph's Ns Primary
218 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Na Gceithre Maol Primary
138 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Saint Michaels N S Primary
27 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Shrule · 1 schools (largest first)
S N Naomh Sheosamh Primary
102 pupils · Catholic
12
Creches
2
Ballina leads
1
GP practices
N/A
12
Pharmacies
0
Ballina leads
1
Hospitals
0
Ballina leads
8
Bus stops
5
Ballina leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Ballina leads
14
Gyms & leisure
0
Ballina leads
6
Parks & playgrounds
0
Ballina leads
41
Sports pitches
5
Ballina 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
0
Ballina leads
8
Cafés
0
Ballina leads
10
Pubs & bars
3
Ballina leads
6
Takeaways
1
Ballina leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Ballina leads
284
Residents per venuelower is better
91
Shrule 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
1
Ballina leads
7
Convenience shops
0
Ballina leads
5
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Ballina leads
4
Banks
0
Ballina leads
1
Post offices
1
7
Hairdressers
1
Ballina leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
8
Filling stations
0
Ballina leads
3
EV charging
0
Ballina leads
1
Library & community centre
0
Ballina leads
226
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
91
Shrule 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.

107m · ~130 rush
Galwaylower is better
35m · ~60 rush
Shrule leads
153m · ~170 rush
Limericklower is better
100m · ~120 rush
Shrule leads
191m · ~225 rush
Dublinlower is better
169m · ~205 rush
Shrule leads
232m · ~255 rush
Corklower is better
180m · ~200 rush
Shrule leads
252m · ~265 rush
Waterfordlower is better
212m · ~225 rush
Shrule leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-13.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.8
Shrule leads
Ballina · 8 EDs, poorest → richest
-19Ardnaree South UrbanVery disadvantaged
-19Ardnaree South UrbanVery disadvantaged
-17Ballina UrbanVery disadvantaged
-16Ballina UrbanVery disadvantaged
-8Ballina RuralBelow average
-5Ballina RuralBelow average
-2Ardnaree South RuralBelow average
+1Ardnaree South RuralAbove average
Shrule · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6DalganBelow average
-3DalganBelow average
26.3%
Third-level educated
30.2%
Shrule leads
27.1%
Professional class
34.3%
Shrule leads
21.7%
Unemploymentlower is better
8.7%
Shrule leads
61.4%
Owner-occupier
88.6%
Shrule leads
24.5%
Private rental
8.0%
11.2%
Social housing (LA)
2.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F26 / H91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallinaF26, ShruleH91); safety & crime are the Mayo Garda division.

68/100
Quality of Life
69/100
Shrule leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F26 / H91) 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.

BallinaShruleOverall (avg)
Safety68826961
Affordability10075
Infrastructure8881
Family8375
Education1650
Environment8288
Economic2255
020406080100020406080100
#28
National ranklower is better
#26
Shrule leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#1
Shrule leads
82/100
Safety
61/100
Ballina leads
26.9
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.1
Ballina 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.

Ballina Disadvantaged-13.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ardnaree South Urban -19 (least affluent) → Ardnaree South Rural +1 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Shrule Below average-4.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Dalgan -6 (least affluent) → Dalgan -3 (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 (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 46 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballina

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.