Town comparison · Blackrock vs Mallow

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Blackrock or Mallow?

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 | Mallow, Co. Cork · P51 · 12,934 people

Blackrock is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 5 of the 7 dimensions to Mallow’s 2.

Blackrock leads on
affluenceeducation levelspublic transportsafetyaccess to its nearest city
Mallow leads on
schools & amenitiesaffordability
151225

Blackrock aheadlevel or not comparableMallow ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BlackrockMallow
iBlackrock sits in T12, Mallow in P51. 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 is a city suburb — 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
Mallow

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
12,934

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€425k
Median sale pricelower is better
€273k
Mallow leads
€331k – €573k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€200k – €340k
208
Sales (24m)
525
+17.5%
Price momentum (YoY)
-2.2%
1.9%
New-build share
8.4%

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 · 1 sec
Schools
7 prim · 3 sec
Mallow 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
Mallow · 10 schools (largest first)
Davis College Secondary
1,010 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
St Mary's Secondary School Secondary
758 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Patrician Academy Secondary
570 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Scoil Ghobnatan Primary
497 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gael Scoil Thomais Daibhis Primary
409 pupils · Catholic
Convent Girls Senior National School Primary
249 pupils · Catholic
S N Naomh Padraig Boys Senior School Primary
209 pupils · Catholic
Mallow Community National School Primary
204 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N Iosagain Primary
143 pupils · Catholic
S N Rathain Primary
105 pupils · Catholic
6
Creches
15
Mallow leads
N/A
GP practices
3
2
Pharmacies
5
Mallow leads
0
Hospitals
2
Mallow leads
18
Bus stops
8
Blackrock leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Mallow leads
3
Gyms & leisure
12
Mallow leads
4
Parks & playgrounds
7
Mallow leads
9
Sports pitches
24
Mallow 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
11
Mallow leads
6
Cafés
8
Mallow leads
5
Pubs & bars
11
Mallow leads
5
Takeaways
4
Blackrock leads
0
Nightclubs
1
Mallow leads
1
Cinema & theatre
1
32
Residents per venuelower is better
359
Blackrock 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.

1
Supermarkets
6
Mallow leads
2
Convenience shops
4
Mallow leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
2
Banks
4
Mallow leads
1
Post offices
2
Mallow leads
1
Hairdressers
11
Mallow leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
7
Mallow leads
2
EV charging
4
Mallow leads
0
Library & community centre
4
Mallow leads
55
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
294
Blackrock 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.

9m · ~15 rush
Corklower is better
32m · ~55 rush
Blackrock leads
94m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
60m · ~80 rush
Mallow leads
105m · ~120 rush
Waterfordlower is better
109m · ~125 rush
Blackrock leads
164m · ~190 rush
Galwaylower is better
130m · ~155 rush
Mallow leads
175m · ~210 rush
Dublinlower is better
170m · ~205 rush
Mallow leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-2.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-5.1
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
Mallow · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Mallow South UrbanDisadvantaged
-9Mallow South UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Mallow North UrbanBelow average
-3Mallow RuralBelow average
-2Mallow North UrbanBelow average
-2Mallow RuralBelow average
40.6%
Third-level educated
34.7%
Blackrock leads
36.8%
Professional class
31.7%
Blackrock leads
11.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
12.4%
Blackrock leads
53.1%
Owner-occupier
59.6%
Mallow leads
22.5%
Private rental
22.1%
22.5%
Social housing (LA)
14.3%

Liveability & safety

AREA · T12 / P51

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Blackrock → T12, Mallow → P51); safety & crime are the Cork City Garda division.

66/100
Quality of Life
64/100
Blackrock leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (T12 / P51) 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.

BlackrockMallowOverall (avg)
Safety66616456
Affordability7299
Infrastructure8657
Family6482
Education5541
Environment6266
Economic6449
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#58
Blackrock leads
#9
County ranklower is better
#12
Blackrock leads
61/100
Safety
56/100
Blackrock leads
58.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
67
Blackrock 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.

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.
Mallow Below average-5.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Mallow South Urban -13 (least affluent) → Mallow Rural -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 (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 54 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.