Town comparison · Ballyshannon vs Carndonagh

Compare others

Ballyshannon or Carndonagh?

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.

Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal · F94 · 1,147 people | Carndonagh, Co. Donegal · F93 · 2,550 people

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

Ballyshannon leads on
affluenceeducation levels
Carndonagh leads on
schools & amenities
22219

Ballyshannon aheadlevel or not comparableCarndonagh ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallyshannonCarndonagh
iBallyshannon sits in F94, Carndonagh in F93. 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.

Ballyshannon
Carndonagh

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.

1,147
Population
2,550

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€149k
Median sale pricelower is better
€155k
Ballyshannon leads
€100k – €238k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€120k – €220k
87
Sales (24m)
54
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
0.0%
New-build share
0.0%

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.

5 prim · 1 sec
Schools
5 prim · 1 sec
Ballyshannon · 6 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Cholmcille Secondary
700 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Sn An Br M O Cleirigh Primary
224 pupils · Catholic
Holy Family National School Primary
183 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Naomh Chaitriona Primary
82 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Kilbarron N S Primary
32 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
Gaelscoil Eirne Primary
28 pupils · Inter DenominationalDEIS
Carndonagh · 6 schools (largest first)
Carndonagh Community School Secondary
1,142 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Scoil Naomh Colmchille Primary
169 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Naomh Padraig Primary
149 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Scoil Chroí Naofa, Carndomhnach Primary
136 pupils · CatholicDEIS
S N Donaigh Primary
32 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
Glentogher Con N S Primary
13 pupils · CatholicDEIS
3
Creches
9
Carndonagh leads
1
GP practices
N/A
1
Pharmacies
2
Carndonagh leads
1
Hospitals
1
3
Bus stops
4
Carndonagh leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
4
Gyms & leisure
3
Ballyshannon leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
2
8
Sports pitches
15
Carndonagh 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.

4
Restaurants
3
Ballyshannon leads
3
Cafés
3
11
Pubs & bars
9
Ballyshannon leads
3
Takeaways
3
0
Nightclubs
1
Carndonagh leads
0
Cinema & theatre
0
55
Residents per venuelower is better
134
Ballyshannon 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
5
Carndonagh leads
4
Convenience shops
1
Ballyshannon leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Ballyshannon leads
2
Banks
3
Carndonagh leads
1
Post offices
1
3
Hairdressers
0
Ballyshannon leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
3
Carndonagh leads
1
EV charging
1
1
Library & community centre
3
Carndonagh leads
76
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
150
Ballyshannon 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.

160m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
261m · ~285 rush
Ballyshannon leads
169m · ~205 rush
Dublinlower is better
227m · ~260 rush
Ballyshannon leads
206m · ~225 rush
Limericklower is better
308m · ~325 rush
Ballyshannon leads
265m · ~280 rush
Waterfordlower is better
332m · ~345 rush
Ballyshannon leads
285m · ~305 rush
Corklower is better
383m · ~405 rush
Ballyshannon leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-11.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-13.3
Ballyshannon leads
Ballyshannon · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-14Ballyshannon UrbanDisadvantaged
-12Ballyshannon UrbanDisadvantaged
-7Ballyshannon RuralBelow average
-1Ballyshannon RuralBelow average
Carndonagh · 5 EDs, poorest → richest
-20GlentogherVery disadvantaged
-16GlentogherDisadvantaged
-13CarndonaghDisadvantaged
-10CarndonaghDisadvantaged
-7GleneganonBelow average
28.0%
Third-level educated
26.5%
Ballyshannon leads
28.2%
Professional class
26.1%
Ballyshannon leads
17.3%
Unemploymentlower is better
18.1%
Ballyshannon leads
65.1%
Owner-occupier
64.5%
Ballyshannon leads
18.4%
Private rental
17.7%
10.2%
Social housing (LA)
12.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F94 / F93

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BallyshannonF94, CarndonaghF93); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

57/100
Quality of Life
54/100
Ballyshannon leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F94 / 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.

BallyshannonCarndonaghOverall (avg)
Safety57715471
Affordability100100
Infrastructure2222
Family8380
Education2017
Environment7469
Economic2819
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#101
Ballyshannon leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#3
Ballyshannon 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.

Ballyshannon Disadvantaged-11.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Ballyshannon Urban -14 (least affluent) → Ballyshannon Rural -1 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Carndonagh Disadvantaged-13.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Glentogher -20 (least affluent) → Gleneganon -7 (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 16 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Ballyshannon

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.