Town comparison · Ballybofey-Stranorlar vs Buncrana

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Ballybofey-Stranorlar or Buncrana?

Both towns measured at town level, not the wider Eircode area, on the same 53 figures: prices, schools, amenities, social life, commute, affluence and safety.

Ballybofey-Stranorlar, Co. Donegal · F93 · 5,019 people | Buncrana, Co. Donegal · F93 · 6,029 people

Buncrana is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Ballybofey-Stranorlar’s 0, with 4 level.

Buncrana leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiespublic transport
192410

Ballybofey-Stranorlar aheadlevel or not comparableBuncrana ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
Ballybofey-StranorlarBuncrana
iBoth towns sit in the same Eircode area F93 — on the routing-key area page they would read as one number. At town level they diverge. 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.

Ballybofey-Stranorlar
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.

5,019
Population
6,029

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€215k
Median sale pricelower is better
€190k
Buncrana leads
€158k – €265k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€140k – €261k
85
Sales (24m)
102
+45.2%
Price momentum (YoY)
+13.6%
21.2%
New-build share
4.9%

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.

4 prim · 2 sec
Schools
4 prim · 3 sec
Buncrana leads
Ballybofey-Stranorlar · 6 schools (largest first)
St Columbas College Secondary
949 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Finn Valley College Secondary
424 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Scoil Mhuire B & C Primary
498 pupils · CatholicDEIS
S N Seiseadh Ui Neill Primary
190 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Robertson N S Primary
90 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
S N Gleann Coimhead Primary
59 pupils · Catholic
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
5
Creches
15
Buncrana leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
1
Pharmacies
2
Buncrana leads
1
Hospitals
1
8
Bus stops
10
Buncrana leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
8
Gyms & leisure
7
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
5
Parks & playgrounds
5
28
Sports pitches
21
Ballybofey-Stranorlar 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.

5
Restaurants
3
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
0
Cafés
1
Buncrana leads
8
Pubs & bars
2
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
1
Takeaways
1
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
1
335
Residents per venuelower is better
754
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
#73 of 131 small towns
Most vibrant (national)lower is better
#100 of 131 small towns
Ballybofey-Stranorlar 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.

5
Supermarkets
4
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
2
Convenience shops
1
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
1
Banks
1
1
Post offices
0
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
1
Hairdressers
0
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
3
Filling stations
4
Buncrana leads
2
EV charging
2
1
Library & community centre
2
Buncrana leads
314
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
431
Ballybofey-Stranorlar 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.

185m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
216m · ~250 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
196m · ~220 rush
Galwaylower is better
245m · ~270 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
242m · ~260 rush
Limericklower is better
291m · ~310 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
290m · ~305 rush
Waterfordlower is better
322m · ~335 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
321m · ~345 rush
Corklower is better
370m · ~390 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-9.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.5
Buncrana leads
Ballybofey-Stranorlar · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-12StranorlarDisadvantaged
-9DooishDisadvantaged
-9StranorlarDisadvantaged
-8KnockDisadvantaged
-7KnockBelow average
-2DooishBelow average
Buncrana · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-10Buncrana RuralDisadvantaged
-9Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Buncrana RuralBelow average
29.2%
Third-level educated
31.1%
Buncrana leads
30.9%
Professional class
29.7%
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
15.4%
Unemploymentlower is better
16.9%
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
68.5%
Owner-occupier
64.7%
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
14.8%
Private rental
18.8%
12.4%
Social housing (LA)
13.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F93 / F93

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Ballybofey-StranorlarF93, BuncranaF93); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

54/100
Quality of Life
54/100

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

Ballybofey-StranorlarBuncranaOverall (avg)
Safety54715471
Affordability100100
Infrastructure2222
Family8080
Education1717
Environment6969
Economic1919
020406080100020406080100
#101
National rank
#101
#3
County rank
#3
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.

Ballybofey-Stranorlar Disadvantaged-9.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Stranorlar -12 (least affluent) → Dooish -2 (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 47 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Buncrana

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.