Town comparison · Balrothery vs Donabate

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Balrothery or Donabate?

Both towns measured at town level, not the wider Eircode area, on the same 53 figures: prices, schools, amenities, social life, commute, affluence and safety.

Balrothery, Co. Fingal · K32 · 2,282 people | Donabate, Co. Fingal · K36 · 9,092 people

Donabate is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 6 of the 7 dimensions to Balrothery’s 0, with 1 level.

Donabate leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
31436

Balrothery aheadlevel or not comparableDonabate ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BalrotheryDonabate
iBalrothery sits in K32, Donabate in K36. 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.

Balrothery
Donabate

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.

2,282
Population
9,092

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€450k
Median sale pricelower is better
€432k
Donabate leads
€400k – €466k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€383k – €510k
29
Sales (24m)
460
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+6.1%
N/A
New-build share
55.4%

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 · 1 sec
Donabate leads
Balrothery · 1 schools (largest first)
Blessed Oliver N S Primary
307 pupils · Catholic
Donabate · 5 schools (largest first)
Donabate Community College Secondary
813 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Donabate/portrane Educate Together Ns Primary
419 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N C Naomh Padraig Primary
384 pupils · Catholic
St Patricks Boys National School Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Na Mara Primary
105 pupils · Multi Denominational
2
Creches
16
Donabate leads
N/A
GP practices
2
1
Pharmacies
3
Donabate leads
0
Hospitals
0
8
Bus stops
21
Donabate leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Donabate leads
5
Gyms & leisure
7
Donabate leads
4
Parks & playgrounds
7
Donabate leads
10
Sports pitches
33
Donabate 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
2
Donabate leads
1
Cafés
4
Donabate leads
2
Pubs & bars
1
Balrothery leads
1
Takeaways
4
Donabate leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
571
Residents per venuelower is better
827
Balrothery leads
#122 of 131 small towns
Most vibrant (national)lower is better
#90 of 131 small towns
Donabate 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
2
Donabate leads
1
Convenience shops
2
Donabate leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Donabate leads
0
Banks
1
Donabate leads
0
Post offices
1
Donabate leads
0
Hairdressers
5
Donabate leads
0
Dentists
1
Donabate leads
0
Vets
0
0
Filling stations
1
Donabate leads
0
EV charging
0
1
Library & community centre
2
Donabate leads
1,141
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
535
Donabate 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.

30m · ~60 rush
Dublinlower is better
26m · ~50 rush
Donabate leads
135m · ~150 rush
Waterfordlower is better
132m · ~145 rush
Donabate leads
157m · ~175 rush
Limericklower is better
153m · ~170 rush
Donabate leads
162m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
158m · ~180 rush
Donabate leads
196m · ~220 rush
Corklower is better
192m · ~215 rush
Donabate leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-3.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
5.6
Donabate leads
Balrothery · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-5Balbriggan RuralBelow average
-2Balbriggan RuralBelow average
Donabate · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+5DonabateAffluent
+6DonabateAffluent
37.3%
Third-level educated
51.2%
Donabate leads
31.7%
Professional class
53.6%
Donabate leads
13.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
7.3%
Donabate leads
59.9%
Owner-occupier
78.9%
Donabate leads
23.2%
Private rental
13.5%
14.3%
Social housing (LA)
4.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · K32 / K36

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BalrotheryK32, DonabateK36); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

64/100
Quality of Life
70/100
Donabate leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (K32 / K36) 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.

BalrotheryDonabateOverall (avg)
Safety64597059
Affordability8629
Infrastructure5079
Family6871
Education5082
Environment9582
Economic3885
020406080100020406080100
#58
National ranklower is better
#18
Donabate leads
#15
County ranklower is better
#6
Donabate leads
59/100
Safety
59/100
61.5
Crime / 1,000lower is better
61.8
Balrothery 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.

Balrothery Below average-3.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Balbriggan Rural -5 (least affluent) → Balbriggan Rural -2 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Donabate Affluent+5.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donabate +5 (least affluent) → Donabate +7 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above 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 34 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Donabate

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.