Town comparison · Ballincollig vs Blackrock

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Ballincollig or Blackrock?

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.

Ballincollig, Co. Cork City · P31 · 2,491 people | Blackrock, Co. Cork City · T12 · 664 people

Ballincollig is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Blackrock’s 2, with 2 level.

Ballincollig leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenities
Blackrock leads on
public transportsafety
28168

Ballincollig aheadlevel or not comparableBlackrock ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallincolligBlackrock
iBallincollig sits in P31, Blackrock in T12. 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.
!Ballincollig & Blackrock are city suburbs — its boundary follows the postal area (the Small Areas whose addresses carry the name), not an official settlement line, so it can run broader than the local core and the figures cover that wider postal patch.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Ballincollig
Blackrock

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.

2,491
Population
664

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€425k
Median sale price
€425k
€338k – €470k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€331k – €571k
326
Sales (24m)
211
+8.1%
Price momentum (YoY)
+17.5%
21.2%
New-build share
1.9%

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.

3 prim · 3 sec
Schools
1 prim · 1 sec
Ballincollig leads
Ballincollig · 6 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Choilm Secondary
1,364 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
Ballincollig Community School Secondary
980 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
Le Cheile Secondary School Ballincollig Secondary
195 pupils · 60% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Gael Scoil Ui Riordain Primary
731 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naomh Mhuire C Primary
447 pupils · Catholic
S N Naomh Eoin B Primary
391 pupils · Catholic
Blackrock · 2 schools (largest first)
Christ King Girls' Secondary School Secondary
703 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Scoil Ursula Primary
188 pupils · CatholicDEIS
8
Creches
6
Ballincollig leads
6
GP practices
N/A
6
Pharmacies
2
Ballincollig leads
0
Hospitals
0
14
Bus stops
18
Blackrock leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
13
Gyms & leisure
3
Ballincollig leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
4
Blackrock leads
14
Sports pitches
9
Ballincollig 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.

14
Restaurants
4
Ballincollig leads
10
Cafés
6
Ballincollig leads
5
Pubs & bars
5
8
Takeaways
5
Ballincollig leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
1
66
Residents per venuelower is better
32
Blackrock 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
Ballincollig leads
3
Convenience shops
2
Ballincollig leads
3
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Ballincollig leads
4
Banks
2
Ballincollig leads
1
Post offices
1
20
Hairdressers
1
Ballincollig leads
4
Dentists
0
Ballincollig leads
2
Vets
0
Ballincollig leads
2
Filling stations
1
Ballincollig leads
2
EV charging
2
3
Library & community centre
0
Ballincollig leads
48
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
55
Ballincollig 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.

13m · ~20 rush
Corklower is better
9m · ~15 rush
Blackrock leads
93m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
94m · ~110 rush
Ballincollig leads
115m · ~130 rush
Waterfordlower is better
105m · ~120 rush
Blackrock leads
163m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
164m · ~190 rush
Ballincollig leads
185m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
175m · ~210 rush
Blackrock leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
4
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-2.6
Ballincollig leads
Ballincollig · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+3BallincolligAbove average
+5BallincolligAffluent
Blackrock · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Mahon BBelow average
-4Mahon BBelow average
-3Mahon ABelow average
-2Tramore CBelow average
-1Mahon ABelow average
+1Tramore CAbove average
48.6%
Third-level educated
40.6%
Ballincollig leads
47.0%
Professional class
36.8%
Ballincollig leads
6.9%
Unemploymentlower is better
11.6%
Ballincollig leads
72.5%
Owner-occupier
53.1%
Ballincollig leads
17.7%
Private rental
22.5%
7.6%
Social housing (LA)
22.5%

Liveability & safety

AREA · P31 / T12

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallincolligP31, BlackrockT12); safety & crime are the Cork North Garda division.

72/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Ballincollig leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (P31 / T12) 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.

BallincolligBlackrockOverall (avg)
Safety72566661
Affordability7172
Infrastructure6186
Family8364
Education6955
Environment8462
Economic8264
020406080100020406080100
#4
National ranklower is better
#35
Ballincollig leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#9
Ballincollig leads
56/100
Safety
61/100
Blackrock leads
67
Crime / 1,000lower is better
58.8
Blackrock 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.

Ballincollig Affluent+4.0
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ballincollig +3 (least affluent) → Ballincollig +5 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above the national average.
Blackrock Below average-2.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Mahon B -8 (least affluent) → Tramore C +1 (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 (Cork 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 10 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballincollig

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.