Town comparison · Birr vs Cloghan

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Birr or Cloghan?

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.

Birr, Co. Offaly · R42 · 3,368 people | Cloghan, Co. Offaly · R42 · 654 people

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

Birr leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiesaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
Cloghan leads on
affluence
26197

Birr aheadlevel or not comparableCloghan ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BirrCloghan
iBoth towns sit in the same Eircode area R42 — 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.

Birr
Cloghan

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.

3,368
Population
654

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€225k
Median sale pricelower is better
€264k
Birr leads
€145k – €300k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€200k – €285k
169
Sales (24m)
25
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
2.4%
New-build share
N/A

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.

4 prim · 1 sec
Schools
1 prim · 0 sec
Birr leads
Birr · 5 schools (largest first)
St.brendan's Community School Secondary
847 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
St Brendans Monastery Primary
189 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Mercy Primary School Primary
139 pupils · CatholicDEIS
S N Osmann Primary
86 pupils · Church Of IrelandDEIS
Gaelscoil Na Laochra Primary
38 pupils · Multi Denominational
Cloghan · 1 schools (largest first)
St Marys National School Primary
105 pupils · CatholicDEIS
4
Creches
1
Birr leads
1
GP practices
N/A
4
Pharmacies
0
Birr leads
1
Hospitals
0
Birr leads
6
Bus stops
2
Birr leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
7
Gyms & leisure
1
Birr leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
1
17
Sports pitches
1
Birr 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
0
Birr leads
4
Cafés
0
Birr leads
19
Pubs & bars
2
Birr leads
2
Takeaways
1
Birr leads
1
Nightclubs
0
Birr leads
0
Cinema & theatre
0
112
Residents per venuelower is better
218
Birr 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.

3
Supermarkets
0
Birr leads
6
Convenience shops
1
Birr leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
3
Banks
0
Birr leads
1
Post offices
1
2
Hairdressers
1
Birr leads
2
Dentists
0
Birr leads
1
Vets
1
8
Filling stations
2
Birr leads
2
EV charging
1
Birr leads
2
Library & community centre
1
Birr leads
109
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
73
Cloghan 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.

68m · ~85 rush
Limericklower is better
77m · ~95 rush
Birr leads
83m · ~105 rush
Galwaylower is better
82m · ~105 rush
Cloghan leads
108m · ~145 rush
Dublinlower is better
102m · ~135 rush
Cloghan leads
112m · ~125 rush
Waterfordlower is better
124m · ~140 rush
Birr leads
132m · ~155 rush
Corklower is better
144m · ~165 rush
Birr leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-11.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-9.3
Cloghan leads
Birr · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Birr UrbanDisadvantaged
-10Birr UrbanDisadvantaged
Cloghan · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-10CloghanDisadvantaged
-9CloghanDisadvantaged
27.9%
Third-level educated
23.8%
Birr leads
26.3%
Professional class
26.5%
Cloghan leads
18.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
13.7%
Cloghan leads
52.9%
Owner-occupier
74.2%
Cloghan leads
25.1%
Private rental
9.6%
17.7%
Social housing (LA)
14.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R42 / R42

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BirrR42, CloghanR42); safety & crime are the Laois/Offaly Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

63/100
Quality of Life
63/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R42 / R42) 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.

BirrCloghanOverall (avg)
Safety63406340
Affordability100100
Infrastructure8888
Family7979
Education3636
Environment7474
Economic2727
020406080100020406080100
#62
National rank
#62
#1
County rank
#1
40/100
Safety
40/100
90.8
Crime / 1,000
90.8

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.

Birr Disadvantaged-11.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Birr Urban -13 (least affluent) → Birr Urban -10 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Cloghan Disadvantaged-9.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Cloghan -10 (least affluent) → Cloghan -9 (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 (Laois/Offaly), 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 15 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Birr

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.