Town comparison · Ballinalack vs Castlepollard

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Ballinalack or Castlepollard?

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.

Ballinalack, Co. Westmeath · N91 · 161 people | Castlepollard, Co. Westmeath · N91 · 821 people

Ballinalack is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Castlepollard’s 1, with 3 level.

Ballinalack leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
Castlepollard leads on
affordability
132514

Ballinalack aheadlevel or not comparableCastlepollard ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallinalackCastlepollard
iBoth towns sit in the same Eircode area N91 — on the routing-key area page they would read as one number. At town level they diverge. 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.

Ballinalack
Castlepollard

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.

161
Population
821

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€323k
Median sale pricelower is better
€250k
Castlepollard leads
€291k – €354k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€198k – €300k
2
Sales (24m)
60
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
N/A
New-build share
15.0%

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.

0 prim · 0 sec
Schools
2 prim · 1 sec
Castlepollard leads
Ballinalack · 0 schools (largest first)
No schools inside the boundary.
Castlepollard · 3 schools (largest first)
Castlepollard Community College Secondary
334 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Castlepollard Mixed N S Primary
163 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Castlepollard Paroc.n S Primary
25 pupils · Church Of Ireland
0
Creches
2
Castlepollard leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
0
Pharmacies
2
Castlepollard leads
0
Hospitals
1
Castlepollard leads
2
Bus stops
2
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
0
Gyms & leisure
0
0
Parks & playgrounds
3
Castlepollard leads
1
Sports pitches
5
Castlepollard 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
0
1
Cafés
3
Castlepollard leads
1
Pubs & bars
4
Castlepollard leads
1
Takeaways
1
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
54
Residents per venuelower is better
103
Ballinalack 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.

1
Supermarkets
1
1
Convenience shops
1
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Castlepollard leads
0
Banks
1
Castlepollard leads
0
Post offices
1
Castlepollard leads
0
Hairdressers
3
Castlepollard leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
2
1
EV charging
0
Ballinalack leads
0
Library & community centre
1
Castlepollard leads
32
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
68
Ballinalack 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.

72m · ~105 rush
Dublinlower is better
81m · ~115 rush
Ballinalack leads
109m · ~135 rush
Galwaylower is better
123m · ~145 rush
Ballinalack leads
141m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
150m · ~170 rush
Ballinalack leads
154m · ~170 rush
Waterfordlower is better
163m · ~175 rush
Ballinalack leads
189m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
197m · ~220 rush
Ballinalack leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-2.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-12.6
Ballinalack leads
Ballinalack · 1 EDs, poorest → richest
-3BallinalackBelow average
Castlepollard · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-13KinturkDisadvantaged
-12KinturkDisadvantaged
39.6%
Third-level educated
22.0%
Ballinalack leads
28.9%
Professional class
23.4%
Ballinalack leads
6.7%
Unemploymentlower is better
18.5%
Ballinalack leads
83.8%
Owner-occupier
65.4%
Ballinalack leads
9.2%
Private rental
17.5%
4.9%
Social housing (LA)
14.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · N91 / N91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallinalackN91, CastlepollardN91); safety & crime are the Westmeath Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

58/100
Quality of Life
58/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (N91 / N91) 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.

BallinalackCastlepollardOverall (avg)
Safety58315831
Affordability8989
Infrastructure5959
Family7979
Education3939
Environment7474
Economic3535
020406080100020406080100
#89
National rank
#89
#2
County rank
#2
31/100
Safety
31/100
99.2
Crime / 1,000
99.2

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.

Ballinalack Below average-2.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Single Electoral Division (Ballinalack) — below the national average.
Castlepollard Disadvantaged-12.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Kinturk -13 (least affluent) → Kinturk -12 (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 (Westmeath), 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 5 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballinalack

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.