Town comparison · Blessington vs Wicklow

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Blessington or Wicklow?

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.

Blessington, Co. Wicklow · W91 · 5,088 people | Wicklow, Co. Wicklow · A67 · 12,150 people

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

Blessington leads on
affluencepublic transportaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
Wicklow leads on
schools & amenitiessafety
201517

Blessington aheadlevel or not comparableWicklow ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BlessingtonWicklow
iBlessington sits in W91, Wicklow in A67. 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.

Blessington
Wicklow

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.

5,088
Population
12,150

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€397k
Median sale pricelower is better
€417k
Blessington leads
€290k – €460k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€325k – €524k
125
Sales (24m)
1,902
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+11.8%
6.4%
New-build share
17.8%

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.

5 prim · 1 sec
Schools
4 prim · 4 sec
Wicklow leads
Blessington · 6 schools (largest first)
Blessington Community College Secondary
715 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
S N Mhuire Senior School Primary
305 pupils · Catholic
S N Muire Primary
268 pupils · Catholic
Blessington 1 N S Primary
195 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Gaelscoil Na Lochanna Primary
144 pupils · Inter Denominational
Blessington Educate Together Ns Primary
96 pupils · Multi Denominational
Wicklow · 8 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Chill Mhantáin Secondary
933 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Dominican College Secondary
473 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School Secondary
375 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
East Glendalough School Secondary
366 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELAND
Scoil An Choroin Mhuire Primary
425 pupils · Catholic
Wicklow Educate Together Ns Primary
382 pupils · Multi Denominational
Padraig Naofa N S Primary
369 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Glebe Ns Primary
207 pupils · Church Of Ireland
4
Creches
18
Wicklow leads
1
GP practices
1
3
Pharmacies
4
Wicklow leads
0
Hospitals
0
30
Bus stops
21
Blessington leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Wicklow leads
3
Gyms & leisure
12
Wicklow leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
7
22
Sports pitches
26
Wicklow 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
5
Wicklow leads
3
Cafés
7
Wicklow leads
5
Pubs & bars
8
Wicklow leads
5
Takeaways
5
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Blessington leads
283
Residents per venuelower is better
486
Blessington leads

Blessington is a small town and Wicklow is a large town, so their national rankings aren’t like-for-like — each is ranked only against places of its own size. Compare them on the residents-per-venue row instead.

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
4
Wicklow leads
5
Convenience shops
5
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
2
Banks
4
Wicklow leads
1
Post offices
1
5
Hairdressers
4
Blessington leads
1
Dentists
2
Wicklow leads
0
Vets
1
Wicklow leads
3
Filling stations
2
Blessington leads
2
EV charging
7
Wicklow leads
5
Library & community centre
0
Blessington leads
175
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
380
Blessington 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.

37m · ~70 rush
Dublinlower is better
50m · ~85 rush
Blessington leads
100m · ~115 rush
Waterfordlower is better
98m · ~110 rush
Wicklow leads
125m · ~145 rush
Limericklower is better
167m · ~185 rush
Blessington leads
159m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Blessington leads
164m · ~185 rush
Corklower is better
194m · ~215 rush
Blessington leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-0.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.6
Blessington leads
Blessington · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-8NewtownBelow average
-2BlessingtonBelow average
-1BlessingtonBelow average
+2BurgageAbove average
+3BurgageAbove average
+7NewtownAffluent
Wicklow · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Wicklow UrbanDisadvantaged
-5Wicklow UrbanBelow average
-2Wicklow RuralBelow average
+1Wicklow RuralAbove average
37.7%
Third-level educated
36.7%
Blessington leads
40.4%
Professional class
38.6%
Blessington leads
8.7%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.5%
Blessington leads
73.1%
Owner-occupier
68.0%
Blessington leads
16.9%
Private rental
14.7%
8.3%
Social housing (LA)
14.3%

Liveability & safety

AREA · W91 / A67

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BlessingtonW91, WicklowA67); safety & crime are the Kildare Garda division.

66/100
Quality of Life
61/100
Blessington leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (W91 / A67) 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.

BlessingtonWicklowOverall (avg)
Safety66636170
Affordability6668
Infrastructure6446
Family8177
Education5635
Environment7382
Economic6247
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#77
Blessington leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#4
Blessington leads
63/100
Safety
70/100
Wicklow leads
55.1
Crime / 1,000lower is better
43.8
Wicklow 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.

Blessington Below average-0.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Newtown -8 (least affluent) → Newtown +7 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Wicklow Below average-4.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Wicklow Urban -8 (least affluent) → Wicklow Rural +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 (Kildare), 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 56 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Blessington

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.