Town comparison · Ballygar vs Headford

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Ballygar or Headford?

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.

Ballygar, Co. Galway · F42 · 484 people | Headford, Co. Galway · H91 · 1,418 people

Headford is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 4 of the 7 dimensions to Ballygar’s 2, with 1 level.

Ballygar leads on
safetyaffordability
Headford leads on
affluenceeducation levelspublic transportaccess to its nearest city
102121

Ballygar aheadlevel or not comparableHeadford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallygarHeadford
iBallygar sits in F42, Headford in H91. 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.

Ballygar
Headford

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.

484
Population
1,418

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€240k
Median sale pricelower is better
€370k
Ballygar leads
€165k – €290k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€315k – €415k
21
Sales (24m)
191
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
N/A
New-build share
16.2%

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.

1 prim · 1 sec
Schools
2 prim · 1 sec
Headford leads
Ballygar · 2 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Mhuire Secondary
294 pupils · 60% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Scoil Mhuire Gan Smal Primary
82 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Headford · 3 schools (largest first)
Presentation College Secondary
845 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Headford Primary School Primary
138 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naomh Padraig Primary
64 pupils · Catholic
4
Creches
2
Ballygar leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
0
Pharmacies
0
0
Hospitals
0
2
Bus stops
13
Headford leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
0
Gyms & leisure
1
Headford leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
0
Ballygar leads
5
Sports pitches
11
Headford 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.

0
Restaurants
0
0
Cafés
1
Headford leads
0
Pubs & bars
1
Headford leads
0
Takeaways
1
Headford leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
N/A
Residents per venue
473

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

0
Supermarkets
2
Headford leads
2
Convenience shops
1
Ballygar leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
0
Banks
1
Headford leads
1
Post offices
1
0
Hairdressers
0
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
3
Filling stations
2
Ballygar leads
0
EV charging
1
Headford leads
0
Library & community centre
0
81
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
177
Ballygar 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.

62m · ~85 rush
Galwaylower is better
28m · ~50 rush
Headford leads
106m · ~125 rush
Limericklower is better
94m · ~110 rush
Headford leads
122m · ~155 rush
Dublinlower is better
164m · ~200 rush
Ballygar leads
186m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
174m · ~195 rush
Headford leads
176m · ~190 rush
Waterfordlower is better
207m · ~220 rush
Ballygar leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-5.9
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-1.5
Headford leads
Ballygar · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-7KilleroranBelow average
-5KilleroranBelow average
Headford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-4HeadfordBelow average
+1HeadfordAbove average
30.4%
Third-level educated
39.7%
Headford leads
32.5%
Professional class
39.6%
Headford leads
12.0%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.8%
Headford leads
70.9%
Owner-occupier
75.5%
Headford leads
17.9%
Private rental
17.4%
8.0%
Social housing (LA)
4.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F42 / H91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallygarF42, HeadfordH91); safety & crime are the Roscommon/Longford Garda division.

65/100
Quality of Life
69/100
Headford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F42 / H91) 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.

BallygarHeadfordOverall (avg)
Safety65776961
Affordability9975
Infrastructure4181
Family8675
Education4050
Environment6588
Economic4555
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#26
Headford leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#1
Headford leads
77/100
Safety
61/100
Ballygar leads
35
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.1
Ballygar 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.

Ballygar Below average-5.9
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Killeroran -7 (least affluent) → Killeroran -5 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Headford Below average-1.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Headford -4 (least affluent) → Headford +1 (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 (Roscommon/Longford), 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 8 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Headford

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.