Town comparison · Ballymun vs Rathfarnham

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Ballymun or Rathfarnham?

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.

Ballymun, Co. Dublin City · D11 · 902 people | Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin City · D14 · 2,265 people

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

Ballymun leads on
affordability
Rathfarnham leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transport
111625

Ballymun aheadlevel or not comparableRathfarnham ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallymunRathfarnham
iBallymun sits in D11, Rathfarnham in D14. 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.
!Ballymun & Rathfarnham 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.

Ballymun
Rathfarnham

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.

902
Population
2,265

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€277k
Median sale pricelower is better
€705k
Ballymun leads
€250k – €371k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€570k – €890k
135
Sales (24m)
738
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+8.7%
12.6%
New-build share
11.9%

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.

6 prim · 2 sec
Schools
4 prim · 2 sec
Ballymun leads
Ballymun · 8 schools (largest first)
Beneavin De La Salle College Secondary
603 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Trinity Comprehensive School Secondary
574 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
St Canices B N S Primary
372 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Ui Earcain Primary
269 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Our Lady Of Victories Infant N S Primary
210 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Bantiarna Na Mbuanna Girls Primary
185 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Bantiarna Na Mbuanna Boys Primary
170 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil An Tseachtar Laoch Primary
165 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Rathfarnham · 6 schools (largest first)
Loreto High School Secondary
645 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
St Columba's College Secondary
351 pupils · 85% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
Scoil Mhuire Boys Primary
388 pupils · Catholic
Na Maighdine Muire Girl Primary
224 pupils · Catholic
Scoil An Maighdine Mhuire Boys Primary
201 pupils · Catholic
Whitechurch Nat School Primary
199 pupils · Church Of Ireland
8
Creches
12
Rathfarnham leads
3
GP practices
1
Ballymun leads
4
Pharmacies
3
Ballymun leads
0
Hospitals
0
38
Bus stops
41
Rathfarnham leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
3
Gyms & leisure
7
Rathfarnham leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
6
Rathfarnham leads
13
Sports pitches
41
Rathfarnham 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
1
2
Cafés
5
Rathfarnham leads
2
Pubs & bars
6
Rathfarnham leads
8
Takeaways
3
Ballymun leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
1
64
Residents per venuelower is better
142
Ballymun 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
0
5
Convenience shops
7
Rathfarnham leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
2
Banks
3
Rathfarnham leads
2
Post offices
2
7
Hairdressers
3
Ballymun leads
1
Dentists
0
Ballymun leads
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
3
Rathfarnham leads
0
EV charging
2
Rathfarnham leads
1
Library & community centre
2
Rathfarnham leads
45
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
98
Ballymun 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.

14m · ~30 rush
Dublinlower is better
17m · ~35 rush
Ballymun leads
120m · ~135 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Rathfarnham leads
141m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
139m · ~155 rush
Rathfarnham leads
146m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Ballymun leads
181m · ~205 rush
Corklower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Rathfarnham leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-8.2
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.1
Rathfarnham leads
Ballymun · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-21Ballymun DVery disadvantaged
-20Ballymun DVery disadvantaged
-8Ballygall BDisadvantaged
-4Ballygall BBelow average
+1Ballymun EAbove average
+3Ballymun EAbove average
Rathfarnham · 16 EDs, poorest → richest
-7EdmondstownBelow average
-1EdmondstownBelow average
+4Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+5Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+7Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+7Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+8Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+9Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+9Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+10Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+11Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
29.5%
Third-level educated
59.2%
Rathfarnham leads
30.9%
Professional class
61.6%
Rathfarnham leads
13.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
5.7%
Rathfarnham leads
59.0%
Owner-occupier
84.6%
Rathfarnham leads
12.7%
Private rental
12.9%
24.7%
Social housing (LA)
2.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D11 / D14

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallymunD11, RathfarnhamD14); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division.

58/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Rathfarnham leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D11 / D14) 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.

BallymunRathfarnhamOverall (avg)
Safety58597160
Affordability8110
Infrastructure100100
Family5675
Education1786
Environment7474
Economic1890
020406080100020406080100
#89
National ranklower is better
#10
Rathfarnham leads
#20
County ranklower is better
#2
Rathfarnham leads
59/100
Safety
60/100
Rathfarnham leads
61.5
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.2
Rathfarnham 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.

Ballymun Disadvantaged-8.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ballymun D -21 (least affluent) → Ballymun E +3 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Rathfarnham Affluent+7.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Edmondstown -7 (least affluent) → Churchtown-landscape +12 (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 North), 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 11 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Rathfarnham

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.