Town comparison · Blackrock vs Mahon

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Blackrock or Mahon?

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.

Blackrock, Co. Cork City · T12 · 664 people | Mahon, Co. Cork City · T23 · 1,044 people

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

Blackrock leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transport
Mahon leads on
affordability
32182

Blackrock aheadlevel or not comparableMahon ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BlackrockMahon
iBlackrock sits in T12, Mahon in T23. 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.
!Blackrock & Mahon are city suburbs — its boundary follows the postal area (the Small Areas whose addresses carry the name), not an official settlement line, so it can run broader than the local core and the figures cover that wider postal patch.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Blackrock
Mahon

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.

664
Population
1,044

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€425k
Median sale pricelower is better
€330k
Mahon leads
€331k – €558k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€279k – €386k
206
Sales (24m)
28
-8.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
+0.4%
1.9%
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.

1 prim · 1 sec
Schools
0 prim · 1 sec
Blackrock leads
Blackrock · 2 schools (largest first)
Christ King Girls' Secondary School Secondary
703 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Scoil Ursula Primary
188 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Mahon · 1 schools (largest first)
Bandon Grammar School Secondary
717 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
6
Creches
0
Blackrock leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
2
Pharmacies
0
Blackrock leads
0
Hospitals
0
18
Bus stops
0
Blackrock leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
3
Gyms & leisure
1
Blackrock leads
4
Parks & playgrounds
0
Blackrock leads
9
Sports pitches
5
Blackrock 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
Blackrock leads
6
Cafés
0
Blackrock leads
5
Pubs & bars
0
Blackrock leads
5
Takeaways
0
Blackrock leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Blackrock leads
32
Residents per venue
N/A

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

1
Supermarkets
0
Blackrock leads
2
Convenience shops
0
Blackrock leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Blackrock leads
2
Banks
0
Blackrock leads
1
Post offices
0
Blackrock leads
1
Hairdressers
0
Blackrock leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
0
Blackrock leads
2
EV charging
0
Blackrock leads
0
Library & community centre
0
55
Residents per shop or service
N/A

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.

9m · ~15 rush
Corklower is better
11m · ~20 rush
Blackrock leads
94m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
98m · ~115 rush
Blackrock leads
105m · ~120 rush
Waterfordlower is better
112m · ~125 rush
Blackrock leads
164m · ~190 rush
Galwaylower is better
168m · ~190 rush
Blackrock leads
175m · ~210 rush
Dublinlower is better
182m · ~215 rush
Blackrock leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-2.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-8.4
Blackrock leads
Blackrock · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Mahon BBelow average
-4Mahon BBelow average
-3Mahon ABelow average
-2Tramore CBelow average
-1Mahon ABelow average
+1Tramore CAbove average
Mahon · 8 EDs, poorest → richest
-17Fair Hill CVery disadvantaged
-16Fair Hill CVery disadvantaged
-14Farranferris ADisadvantaged
-12Farranferris ADisadvantaged
-4BallymodanBelow average
-2BallymodanBelow average
-2Tramore CBelow average
+1Tramore CAbove average
40.6%
Third-level educated
28.8%
Blackrock leads
36.8%
Professional class
27.3%
Blackrock leads
11.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.3%
Blackrock leads
53.1%
Owner-occupier
55.9%
Mahon leads
22.5%
Private rental
19.4%
22.5%
Social housing (LA)
22.7%

Liveability & safety

AREA · T12 / T23

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BlackrockT12, MahonT23); safety & crime are the Cork City Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

66/100
Quality of Life
60/100
Blackrock leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (T12 / T23) 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.

BlackrockMahonOverall (avg)
Safety66616061
Affordability7292
Infrastructure8693
Family6455
Education5528
Environment6269
Economic6423
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#81
Blackrock leads
#9
County ranklower is better
#15
Blackrock leads
61/100
Safety
61/100
58.8
Crime / 1,000
58.8

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.

Blackrock Below average-2.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Mahon B -8 (least affluent) → Tramore C +1 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Mahon Disadvantaged-8.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Fair Hill C -17 (least affluent) → Tramore C +1 (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 (Cork City), 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 7 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Blackrock

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.