Town comparison · Ballyliffin vs Buncrana

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Ballyliffin or Buncrana?

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.

Ballyliffin, Co. Donegal · F93 · 479 people | Buncrana, Co. Donegal · F93 · 6,029 people

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

Buncrana leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transport
111823

Ballyliffin aheadlevel or not comparableBuncrana ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallyliffinBuncrana
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.

Ballyliffin
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.

479
Population
6,029

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€184k
Median sale pricelower is better
€197k
Ballyliffin leads
€154k – €220k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€140k – €266k
14
Sales (24m)
100
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
N/A
New-build share
5.0%

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.

1 prim · 0 sec
Schools
4 prim · 3 sec
Buncrana leads
Ballyliffin · 1 schools (largest first)
St Francis' National School Primary
125 pupils · CatholicDEIS
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
3
Creches
15
Buncrana leads
1
GP practices
N/A
1
Pharmacies
2
Buncrana leads
0
Hospitals
1
Buncrana leads
5
Bus stops
10
Buncrana leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
0
Gyms & leisure
7
Buncrana leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
5
Buncrana leads
5
Sports pitches
21
Buncrana 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.

1
Restaurants
3
Buncrana leads
1
Cafés
1
3
Pubs & bars
2
Ballyliffin leads
2
Takeaways
1
Ballyliffin leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Buncrana leads
68
Residents per venuelower is better
754
Ballyliffin 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.

0
Supermarkets
4
Buncrana leads
2
Convenience shops
1
Ballyliffin leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Ballyliffin leads
0
Banks
1
Buncrana leads
1
Post offices
0
Ballyliffin leads
1
Hairdressers
0
Ballyliffin leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
3
Filling stations
4
Buncrana leads
0
EV charging
2
Buncrana leads
1
Library & community centre
2
Buncrana leads
53
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
431
Ballyliffin 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.

236m · ~270 rush
Dublinlower is better
216m · ~250 rush
Buncrana leads
264m · ~290 rush
Galwaylower is better
245m · ~270 rush
Buncrana leads
310m · ~330 rush
Limericklower is better
291m · ~310 rush
Buncrana leads
341m · ~355 rush
Waterfordlower is better
322m · ~335 rush
Buncrana leads
390m · ~410 rush
Corklower is better
370m · ~390 rush
Buncrana leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-13.4
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.5
Buncrana leads
Ballyliffin · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-18StraidVery disadvantaged
-15BallyliffinDisadvantaged
-13StraidDisadvantaged
-8BallyliffinBelow average
Buncrana · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-10Buncrana RuralDisadvantaged
-9Buncrana UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Buncrana RuralBelow average
24.1%
Third-level educated
31.1%
Buncrana leads
27.0%
Professional class
29.7%
Buncrana leads
15.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
16.9%
Ballyliffin leads
81.6%
Owner-occupier
64.7%
Ballyliffin leads
9.2%
Private rental
18.8%
4.4%
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 (BallyliffinF93, 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.

BallyliffinBuncranaOverall (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.

Ballyliffin Disadvantaged-13.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Straid -18 (least affluent) → Ballyliffin -8 (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 26 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.