Town comparison · Ballsbridge vs Rathgar

Compare others

Ballsbridge or Rathgar?

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 | Rathgar, Co. Dublin City · D06 · 1,610 people

Ballsbridge is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions to Rathgar’s 0, with 5 level.

Ballsbridge leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transport
201418

Ballsbridge aheadlevel or not comparableRathgar ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallsbridgeRathgar
iBallsbridge sits in D04, Rathgar in D06. 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 & Rathgar 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.

Ballsbridge
Rathgar

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
1,610

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€800k
Median sale pricelower is better
€920k
Ballsbridge leads
€561k – €1310k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€573k – €1738k
907
Sales (24m)
191
+26.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
+22.6%
4.3%
New-build share
1.0%

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.

4 prim · 2 sec
Schools
2 prim · 4 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
Rathgar · 6 schools (largest first)
The High School Secondary
824 pupils · 95% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
St Louis High School Secondary
684 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
De La Salle College Secondary
417 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Stratford College Secondary
191 pupils · 80% to 3rd-level · JEWISHFee-paying
Zion Parish Primary School Primary
97 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Scoil Naisiunta Stratford Primary
90 pupils · Jewish
14
Creches
6
Ballsbridge leads
1
GP practices
5
Rathgar leads
3
Pharmacies
5
Rathgar leads
5
Hospitals
2
Ballsbridge leads
58
Bus stops
44
Ballsbridge leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
11
Gyms & leisure
6
Ballsbridge leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
9
Rathgar leads
56
Sports pitches
21
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
4
Ballsbridge leads
14
Pubs & bars
1
Ballsbridge leads
12
Takeaways
6
Ballsbridge leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
468
Residents per venuelower is better
95
Rathgar 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.

6
Supermarkets
1
Ballsbridge leads
5
Convenience shops
6
Rathgar leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Rathgar leads
2
Banks
2
2
Post offices
0
Ballsbridge leads
4
Hairdressers
11
Rathgar leads
5
Dentists
3
Ballsbridge leads
0
Vets
1
Rathgar leads
2
Filling stations
1
Ballsbridge leads
5
EV charging
2
Ballsbridge leads
0
Library & community centre
6
Rathgar leads
1,072
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
46
Rathgar 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
12m · ~25 rush
Ballsbridge leads
120m · ~135 rush
Waterfordlower is better
116m · ~130 rush
Rathgar leads
142m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
138m · ~155 rush
Rathgar leads
151m · ~175 rush
Galwaylower is better
149m · ~175 rush
Rathgar leads
181m · ~205 rush
Corklower is better
177m · ~200 rush
Rathgar leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
11
Affluence (Pobal HP)
10.5
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
Rathgar · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
+10RathfarnhamAffluent
+10Rathmines West DAffluent
+10Rathmines West DAffluent
+10RathfarnhamAffluent
+10Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+10Rathmines West FAffluent
+10Rathmines West FAffluent
+11Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+12Rathmines West CAffluent
+13Rathmines West CVery affluent
76.9%
Third-level educated
74.9%
Ballsbridge leads
60.7%
Professional class
60.6%
Ballsbridge leads
5.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.8%
Ballsbridge leads
43.8%
Owner-occupier
50.4%
Rathgar leads
49.5%
Private rental
44.4%
3.2%
Social housing (LA)
2.4%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D04 / D06

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Ballsbridge → D04, Rathgar → D06); safety & crime are the DMR South Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

65/100
Quality of Life
68/100
Rathgar leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D04 / D06) 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.

BallsbridgeRathgarOverall (avg)
Safety65606860
Affordability1510
Infrastructure100100
Family3846
Education78100
Environment8074
Economic8689
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#28
Rathgar leads
#13
County ranklower is better
#9
Rathgar leads
60/100
Safety
60/100
60.2
Crime / 1,000
60.2

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.

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.
Rathgar Affluent+10.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Rathfarnham +10 (least affluent) → Rathmines West C +13 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above 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 152 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.