Town comparison · Ballsbridge vs Sandyford

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Ballsbridge or Sandyford?

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 | Sandyford, Co. Dublin City · D18 · 3,522 people

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

Ballsbridge leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenities
Sandyford leads on
affordability
181321

Ballsbridge aheadlevel or not comparableSandyford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallsbridgeSandyford
iBallsbridge sits in D04, Sandyford in D18. 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 & Sandyford 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
Sandyford

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
3,522

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€800k
Median sale pricelower is better
€495k
Sandyford leads
€561k – €1310k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€400k – €695k
907
Sales (24m)
453
+26.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
+8.9%
4.3%
New-build share
11.0%

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
3 prim · 0 sec
Ballsbridge leads
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
Sandyford · 3 schools (largest first)
Stepaside Educate Together National School Primary
514 pupils · Multi Denominational
Gaelscoil Thaobh Na Coille Primary
409 pupils · Catholic
St. Mary's National School Primary
244 pupils · Catholic
14
Creches
12
Ballsbridge leads
1
GP practices
2
Sandyford leads
3
Pharmacies
5
Sandyford leads
5
Hospitals
1
Ballsbridge leads
58
Bus stops
52
Ballsbridge leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
6
Sandyford leads
11
Gyms & leisure
20
Sandyford leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
8
Sandyford leads
56
Sports pitches
13
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
12
Ballsbridge leads
21
Cafés
17
Ballsbridge leads
14
Pubs & bars
3
Ballsbridge leads
12
Takeaways
10
Ballsbridge leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
468
Residents per venuelower is better
84
Sandyford leads

Ballsbridge is a large town and Sandyford 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
4
Ballsbridge leads
5
Convenience shops
6
Sandyford leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Sandyford leads
2
Banks
3
Sandyford leads
2
Post offices
1
Ballsbridge leads
4
Hairdressers
4
5
Dentists
1
Ballsbridge leads
0
Vets
1
Sandyford leads
2
Filling stations
1
Ballsbridge leads
5
EV charging
6
Sandyford leads
0
Library & community centre
3
Sandyford leads
1,072
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
114
Sandyford 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
21m · ~40 rush
Ballsbridge leads
120m · ~135 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Sandyford leads
142m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
140m · ~160 rush
Sandyford leads
151m · ~175 rush
Galway
151m · ~175 rush
181m · ~205 rush
Corklower is better
179m · ~200 rush
Sandyford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
11
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.4
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
Sandyford · 12 EDs, poorest → richest
-7EdmondstownBelow average
-1EdmondstownBelow average
+6Dundrum-sandyfordAffluent
+6Dundrum-balallyAffluent
+8Dundrum-sandyfordAffluent
+9Dundrum-balallyAffluent
+9GlencullenAffluent
+9GlencullenAffluent
+9Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Mansion House BAffluent
+17Mansion House BVery affluent
76.9%
Third-level educated
61.5%
Ballsbridge leads
60.7%
Professional class
52.9%
Ballsbridge leads
5.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.9%
Ballsbridge leads
43.8%
Owner-occupier
58.0%
Sandyford leads
49.5%
Private rental
32.8%
3.2%
Social housing (LA)
6.7%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D04 / D18

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Ballsbridge → D04, Sandyford → D18); safety & crime are the DMR South Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

65/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Sandyford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D04 / D18) 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.

BallsbridgeSandyfordOverall (avg)
Safety65607160
Affordability1534
Infrastructure100100
Family3863
Education7870
Environment8082
Economic8686
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#10
Sandyford leads
#13
County ranklower is better
#2
Sandyford 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.
Sandyford Affluent+7.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Edmondstown -7 (least affluent) → Mansion House B +17 (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 155 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.