Town comparison · Birr vs Mucklagh

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Birr or Mucklagh?

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 | Mucklagh, Co. Offaly · R35 · 918 people

Birr and Mucklagh are closely matched. Each leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions, with 1 level.

Birr leads on
schools & amenitiesaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
Mucklagh leads on
affluenceeducation levelspublic transport
33127

Birr aheadlevel or not comparableMucklagh ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BirrMucklagh
iBirr sits in R42, Mucklagh in R35. 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
Mucklagh

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
918

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€230k
Median sale pricelower is better
€375k
Birr leads
€146k – €305k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€345k – €490k
166
Sales (24m)
9
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
Mucklagh · 1 schools (largest first)
Scoil Colmain Naofa Primary
323 pupils · Catholic
4
Creches
2
Birr leads
1
GP practices
N/A
4
Pharmacies
0
Birr leads
1
Hospitals
0
Birr leads
6
Bus stops
7
Mucklagh leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
7
Gyms & leisure
1
Birr leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
0
Birr leads
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
1
Birr leads
2
Takeaways
0
Birr leads
1
Nightclubs
0
Birr leads
0
Cinema & theatre
0
112
Residents per venuelower is better
918
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
1
Birr leads
6
Convenience shops
0
Birr leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Birr leads
3
Banks
0
Birr leads
1
Post offices
0
Birr leads
2
Hairdressers
0
Birr leads
2
Dentists
0
Birr leads
1
Vets
0
Birr leads
8
Filling stations
0
Birr leads
2
EV charging
0
Birr leads
2
Library & community centre
1
Birr leads
109
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
459
Birr 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
95m · ~115 rush
Birr leads
108m · ~145 rush
Dublinlower is better
83m · ~120 rush
Mucklagh leads
83m · ~105 rush
Galwaylower is better
97m · ~120 rush
Birr leads
112m · ~125 rush
Waterfordlower is better
116m · ~130 rush
Birr leads
132m · ~155 rush
Corklower is better
150m · ~170 rush
Birr leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-11.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-1.3
Mucklagh leads
Birr · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Birr UrbanDisadvantaged
-10Birr UrbanDisadvantaged
Mucklagh · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-3ScregganBelow average
+0ScregganAbove average
27.9%
Third-level educated
37.8%
Mucklagh leads
26.3%
Professional class
43.0%
Mucklagh leads
18.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
8.2%
Mucklagh leads
52.9%
Owner-occupier
89.2%
Mucklagh leads
25.1%
Private rental
6.0%
17.7%
Social housing (LA)
3.5%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R42 / R35

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BirrR42, MucklaghR35); safety & crime are the Laois/Offaly Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

63/100
Quality of Life
59/100
Birr leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R42 / R35) 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.

BirrMucklaghOverall (avg)
Safety63405940
Affordability10096
Infrastructure8858
Family7977
Education3634
Environment7469
Economic2737
020406080100020406080100
#62
National ranklower is better
#85
Birr leads
#1
County ranklower is better
#3
Birr leads
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.
Mucklagh Below average-1.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Screggan -3 (least affluent) → Screggan +0 (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 (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 16 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Birr

The towns are level, so these are from the first.

Compare somewhere else

Put any two Irish towns head to head, or step up to the wider Eircode areas.