Town comparison · Ballsbridge vs Portmarnock

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Ballsbridge or Portmarnock?

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.

Ballsbridge, Co. Dublin · D04 · 33,242 people | Portmarnock, Co. Fingal · D13 · 8,856 people

Ballsbridge is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 4 of the 7 dimensions to Portmarnock’s 0, with 3 level.

Ballsbridge leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiesaccess to its nearest city
261214

Ballsbridge aheadlevel or not comparablePortmarnock ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallsbridgePortmarnock
iBallsbridge sits in D04, Portmarnock in D13. 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.
!Ballsbridge is a city suburb — 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.

Ballsbridge
Portmarnock

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.

33,242
Population
8,856

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€800k
Median sale pricelower is better
€663k
Portmarnock leads
€561k – €1310k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€530k – €763k
907
Sales (24m)
320
+26.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
-1.7%
4.3%
New-build share
39.4%

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.

4 prim · 2 sec
Schools
5 prim · 1 sec
Ballsbridge · 6 schools (largest first)
St Michaels College Secondary
726 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
The Teresian School Secondary
239 pupils · 80% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
St Christopher's Ns Primary
567 pupils · CatholicDEIS
John Scottus Ns Primary
166 pupils · Multi Denominational
Scoil Caitriona Na Mbraithre Primary
148 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Eoin Primary
50 pupils · Multi Denominational
Portmarnock · 6 schools (largest first)
Portmarnock Community School Secondary
960 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil Naomh Mearnog Primary
623 pupils · Catholic
Malahide / Portmarnock Educate Together National School Primary
390 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Helens Senior N S Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
St Helens Junior N S Primary
330 pupils · Catholic
San Nioclas Myra Primary
190 pupils · Catholic
14
Creches
16
Portmarnock leads
1
GP practices
2
Portmarnock leads
3
Pharmacies
4
Portmarnock leads
5
Hospitals
0
Ballsbridge leads
58
Bus stops
50
Ballsbridge leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Portmarnock leads
11
Gyms & leisure
11
7
Parks & playgrounds
14
Portmarnock leads
56
Sports pitches
44
Ballsbridge 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.

24
Restaurants
6
Ballsbridge leads
21
Cafés
3
Ballsbridge leads
14
Pubs & bars
2
Ballsbridge leads
12
Takeaways
6
Ballsbridge leads
0
Nightclubs
1
Portmarnock leads
0
Cinema & theatre
0
468
Residents per venuelower is better
492
Ballsbridge leads

Ballsbridge is a large town and Portmarnock 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
Ballsbridge leads
5
Convenience shops
4
Ballsbridge leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
3
Portmarnock leads
2
Banks
0
Ballsbridge leads
2
Post offices
1
Ballsbridge leads
4
Hairdressers
3
Ballsbridge leads
5
Dentists
0
Ballsbridge leads
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
2
5
EV charging
0
Ballsbridge leads
0
Library & community centre
2
Portmarnock leads
1,072
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
521
Portmarnock 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.

8m · ~15 rush
Dublinlower is better
24m · ~50 rush
Ballsbridge leads
120m · ~135 rush
Waterfordlower is better
132m · ~145 rush
Ballsbridge leads
142m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
153m · ~170 rush
Ballsbridge leads
151m · ~175 rush
Galwaylower is better
158m · ~180 rush
Ballsbridge leads
181m · ~205 rush
Corklower is better
192m · ~215 rush
Ballsbridge leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
11
Affluence (Pobal HP)
4.5
Ballsbridge leads
Ballsbridge · 24 EDs, poorest → richest
-2Pembroke East ABelow average
-2Pembroke East ABelow average
+5Pembroke East DAffluent
+6Pembroke East DAffluent
+9South DockAffluent
+10Rathmines East AAffluent
+10Pembroke West AAffluent
+10Pembroke East BAffluent
+10Pembroke East EAffluent
+11South DockAffluent
+11Pembroke East BAffluent
+11Pembroke East CAffluent
+11Pembroke West CAffluent
+12Pembroke West AAffluent
+12Rathmines East DAffluent
+12Rathmines East BAffluent
+12Pembroke East CVery affluent
+12Pembroke West BVery affluent
+12Rathmines East AVery affluent
+13Pembroke West BVery affluent
+13Pembroke East EVery affluent
+13Rathmines East DVery affluent
+14Rathmines East BVery affluent
+15Pembroke West CVery affluent
Portmarnock · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
0BalgriffinBelow average
+3Portmarnock NorthAbove average
+3Portmarnock NorthAbove average
+4Portmarnock SouthAffluent
+5KinsaleyAffluent
+5KinsaleyAffluent
+7Portmarnock SouthAffluent
+8Malahide EastAffluent
+9Malahide EastAffluent
+10BalgriffinAffluent
76.9%
Third-level educated
51.8%
Ballsbridge leads
60.7%
Professional class
55.3%
Ballsbridge leads
5.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.1%
Ballsbridge leads
43.8%
Owner-occupier
83.7%
Portmarnock leads
49.5%
Private rental
12.5%
3.2%
Social housing (LA)
1.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D04 / D13

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Ballsbridge → D04, Portmarnock → D13); safety & crime are the DMR South Garda division.

65/100
Quality of Life
70/100
Portmarnock leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D04 / D13) 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.

BallsbridgePortmarnockOverall (avg)
Safety65607059
Affordability1549
Infrastructure10099
Family3870
Education7858
Environment8088
Economic8665
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#18
Portmarnock leads
#13
County ranklower is better
#6
Portmarnock leads
60/100
Safety
59/100
Ballsbridge leads
60.2
Crime / 1,000lower is better
61.5
Ballsbridge 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.

Ballsbridge Affluent+11.0
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Pembroke East A -2 (least affluent) → Pembroke West C +15 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Portmarnock Affluent+4.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Balgriffin 0 (least affluent) → Balgriffin +10 (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 (DMR South), 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 177 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballsbridge

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.