Town comparison · Ballyshannon vs Muff

Compare others

Ballyshannon or Muff?

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 | Muff, Co. Donegal · F93 · 1,213 people

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

Ballyshannon leads on
schools & amenities
Muff leads on
affluenceeducation levels
25198

Ballyshannon aheadlevel or not comparableMuff ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BallyshannonMuff
iBallyshannon sits in F94, Muff 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
Muff

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
1,213

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€150k
Median sale pricelower is better
€220k
Ballyshannon leads
€100k – €235k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€186k – €257k
85
Sales (24m)
38
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
1 prim · 0 sec
Ballyshannon leads
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
Muff · 1 schools (largest first)
Scoil Naomh Brid Primary
199 pupils · Catholic
3
Creches
2
Ballyshannon leads
1
GP practices
N/A
1
Pharmacies
1
1
Hospitals
0
Ballyshannon leads
3
Bus stops
2
Ballyshannon leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
4
Gyms & leisure
0
Ballyshannon leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
0
Ballyshannon leads
8
Sports pitches
3
Ballyshannon 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
2
Ballyshannon leads
3
Cafés
1
Ballyshannon leads
11
Pubs & bars
2
Ballyshannon leads
3
Takeaways
1
Ballyshannon leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
55
Residents per venuelower is better
202
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
0
4
Convenience shops
3
Ballyshannon leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Muff leads
2
Banks
1
Ballyshannon leads
1
Post offices
1
3
Hairdressers
3
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
1
Muff leads
2
Filling stations
3
Muff leads
1
EV charging
0
Ballyshannon leads
1
Library & community centre
1
76
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
81
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
239m · ~265 rush
Ballyshannon leads
169m · ~205 rush
Dublinlower is better
206m · ~240 rush
Ballyshannon leads
206m · ~225 rush
Limericklower is better
286m · ~305 rush
Ballyshannon leads
265m · ~280 rush
Waterfordlower is better
311m · ~325 rush
Ballyshannon leads
285m · ~305 rush
Corklower is better
362m · ~385 rush
Ballyshannon leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-11.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-3.8
Muff leads
Ballyshannon · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-14Ballyshannon UrbanDisadvantaged
-12Ballyshannon UrbanDisadvantaged
-7Ballyshannon RuralBelow average
-1Ballyshannon RuralBelow average
Muff · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6KilderryBelow average
-2KilderryBelow average
28.0%
Third-level educated
38.9%
Muff leads
28.2%
Professional class
38.3%
Muff leads
17.3%
Unemploymentlower is better
11.2%
Muff leads
65.1%
Owner-occupier
79.6%
Muff leads
18.4%
Private rental
12.1%
10.2%
Social housing (LA)
4.7%

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, MuffF93); 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.

BallyshannonMuffOverall (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.
Muff Below average-3.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Kilderry -6 (least affluent) → Kilderry -2 (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 11 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Muff

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.