Town comparison · Ballintra vs Buncrana

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Ballintra or Buncrana?

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.

Ballintra, Co. Donegal · F94 · 242 people | Buncrana, Co. Donegal · F93 · 6,029 people

Ballintra and Buncrana are closely matched. Each leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions, with 3 level.

Ballintra leads on
affluenceeducation levels
Buncrana leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transport
141919

Ballintra aheadlevel or not comparableBuncrana ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallintraBuncrana
iBallintra sits in F94, Buncrana in F93. 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.

Ballintra
Buncrana

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.

242
Population
6,029

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€175k
Median sale pricelower is better
€197k
Ballintra leads
€148k – €310k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€140k – €266k
16
Sales (24m)
100
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
N/A
New-build share
5.0%

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.

2 prim · 0 sec
Schools
4 prim · 3 sec
Buncrana leads
Ballintra · 2 schools (largest first)
Scoil Naomh Earnan Primary
92 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Robertson N S Primary
64 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
Buncrana · 7 schools (largest first)
Scoil Mhuire Secondary School Secondary
875 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Crana College Secondary
604 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Coláiste Eoghain Secondary
17 pupils · 55% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil Iosagain Primary
790 pupils · Catholic
St Orans N S Primary
232 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Bhun Cranncha Primary
69 pupils · Inter Denominational
St. Mura's National School Primary
30 pupils · Church Of Ireland
2
Creches
15
Buncrana leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
0
Pharmacies
2
Buncrana leads
0
Hospitals
1
Buncrana leads
3
Bus stops
10
Buncrana leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
0
Gyms & leisure
7
Buncrana leads
0
Parks & playgrounds
5
Buncrana leads
1
Sports pitches
21
Buncrana 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
3
Buncrana leads
0
Cafés
1
Buncrana leads
0
Pubs & bars
2
Buncrana leads
0
Takeaways
1
Buncrana leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Buncrana leads
N/A
Residents per venue
754

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

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

0
Supermarkets
4
Buncrana leads
0
Convenience shops
1
Buncrana leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
0
Banks
1
Buncrana leads
0
Post offices
0
0
Hairdressers
0
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
0
Filling stations
4
Buncrana leads
0
EV charging
2
Buncrana leads
0
Library & community centre
2
Buncrana leads
N/A
Residents per shop or service
431

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.

166m · ~190 rush
Galwaylower is better
245m · ~270 rush
Ballintra leads
176m · ~210 rush
Dublinlower is better
216m · ~250 rush
Ballintra leads
212m · ~230 rush
Limericklower is better
291m · ~310 rush
Ballintra leads
272m · ~285 rush
Waterfordlower is better
322m · ~335 rush
Ballintra leads
292m · ~315 rush
Corklower is better
370m · ~390 rush
Ballintra leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-7.4
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.5
Ballintra leads
Ballintra · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-9BallintraDisadvantaged
-6BallintraBelow average
Buncrana · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-10Buncrana RuralDisadvantaged
-9Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Buncrana RuralBelow average
34.1%
Third-level educated
31.1%
Ballintra leads
34.3%
Professional class
29.7%
Ballintra leads
13.0%
Unemploymentlower is better
16.9%
Ballintra leads
81.0%
Owner-occupier
64.7%
Ballintra leads
9.3%
Private rental
18.8%
5.4%
Social housing (LA)
13.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F94 / F93

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallintraF94, BuncranaF93); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

57/100
Quality of Life
54/100
Ballintra leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F94 / F93) 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.

BallintraBuncranaOverall (avg)
Safety57715471
Affordability100100
Infrastructure2222
Family8380
Education2017
Environment7469
Economic2819
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#101
Ballintra leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#3
Ballintra leads
71/100
Safety
71/100
44.8
Crime / 1,000
44.8

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.

Ballintra Below average-7.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ballintra -9 (least affluent) → Ballintra -6 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Buncrana Disadvantaged-9.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Buncrana Urban -13 (least affluent) → Buncrana Rural -6 (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 (Donegal), 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 26 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballintra

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.