Town comparison · Ballybofey-Stranorlar vs Donegal

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Ballybofey-Stranorlar or Donegal?

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 | Donegal, Co. Donegal · F94 · 3,000 people

Ballybofey-Stranorlar and Donegal are closely matched. Each leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions, with 3 level.

Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transport
Donegal leads on
affluenceeducation levels
81431

Ballybofey-Stranorlar aheadlevel or not comparableDonegal ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
Ballybofey-StranorlarDonegal
iBallybofey-Stranorlar sits in F93, Donegal in F94. 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
Donegal

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
3,000

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€215k
Median sale pricelower is better
€186k
Donegal leads
€159k – €266k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€125k – €270k
84
Sales (24m)
1,553
+68.1%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
21.4%
New-build share
5.2%

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 · 1 sec
Ballybofey-Stranorlar 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
Donegal · 5 schools (largest first)
Abbey Vocational School Secondary
999 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil An Linbh Íosa Primary
266 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Aodh Rua&nuala Primary
235 pupils · Catholic
Glebe Ns Primary
121 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Gaelscoil Na Gceithre Maistri Primary
54 pupils · Inter Denominational
5
Creches
11
Donegal leads
N/A
GP practices
2
1
Pharmacies
3
Donegal leads
1
Hospitals
1
8
Bus stops
3
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
8
Gyms & leisure
2
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
5
Parks & playgrounds
2
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
28
Sports pitches
12
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
13
Donegal leads
0
Cafés
4
Donegal leads
8
Pubs & bars
14
Donegal leads
1
Takeaways
6
Donegal leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
335
Residents per venuelower is better
81
Donegal leads
#73 of 131 small towns
Most vibrant (national)lower is better
#18 of 131 small towns
Donegal 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
3
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
2
Convenience shops
4
Donegal leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Donegal leads
1
Banks
5
Donegal leads
1
Post offices
1
1
Hairdressers
4
Donegal leads
0
Dentists
1
Donegal leads
0
Vets
2
Donegal leads
3
Filling stations
4
Donegal leads
2
EV charging
4
Donegal leads
1
Library & community centre
4
Donegal leads
314
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
88
Donegal 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.

196m · ~220 rush
Galwaylower is better
177m · ~200 rush
Donegal leads
185m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
186m · ~220 rush
Ballybofey-Stranorlar leads
242m · ~260 rush
Limericklower is better
223m · ~240 rush
Donegal leads
290m · ~305 rush
Waterfordlower is better
283m · ~295 rush
Donegal leads
321m · ~345 rush
Corklower is better
303m · ~325 rush
Donegal leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-9.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.2
Donegal leads
Ballybofey-Stranorlar · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-12StranorlarDisadvantaged
-9DooishDisadvantaged
-9StranorlarDisadvantaged
-8KnockDisadvantaged
-7KnockBelow average
-2DooishBelow average
Donegal · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6DonegalBelow average
-3DonegalBelow average
29.2%
Third-level educated
36.1%
Donegal leads
30.9%
Professional class
36.0%
Donegal leads
15.4%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.5%
Donegal leads
68.5%
Owner-occupier
70.6%
Donegal leads
14.8%
Private rental
18.6%
12.4%
Social housing (LA)
9.0%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F93 / F94

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Ballybofey-StranorlarF93, DonegalF94); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

54/100
Quality of Life
57/100
Donegal leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F93 / F94) 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-StranorlarDonegalOverall (avg)
Safety54715771
Affordability100100
Infrastructure2222
Family8083
Education1720
Environment6974
Economic1928
020406080100020406080100
#101
National ranklower is better
#93
Donegal leads
#3
County ranklower is better
#2
Donegal 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.

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.
Donegal Below average-4.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donegal -6 (least affluent) → Donegal -3 (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 34 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballybofey-Stranorlar

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.