Town comparison · Bray vs Donard

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Bray or Donard?

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.

Bray, Co. Wicklow · A98 · 32,430 people | Donard, Co. Wicklow · W91 · 238 people

Bray is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 5 of the 7 dimensions to Donard’s 1, with 1 level.

Bray leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportsafetyaccess to its nearest city
Donard leads on
affordability
33118

Bray aheadlevel or not comparableDonard ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
BrayDonard
iBray sits in A98, Donard in W91. 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.

Bray
Donard

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.

32,430
Population
238

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€505k
Median sale pricelower is better
€402k
Donard leads
€415k – €612k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€311k – €508k
710
Sales (24m)
10
+32.1%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
17.9%
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.

9 prim · 7 sec
Schools
1 prim · 0 sec
Bray leads
Bray · 16 schools (largest first)
Loreto Secondary School Secondary
735 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Presentation College Secondary
649 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St. Gerard's School Secondary
620 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
Woodbrook College Secondary
604 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
St. Kilian's Community School Secondary
417 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Coláiste Raithín Secondary
342 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
North Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School Secondary
325 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil Padraig Naofa Primary
715 pupils · Catholic
Ravenswell Primary School Primary
462 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Cronan Naofa N S Primary
392 pupils · Catholic
St Fergal's National School Primary
391 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Bray School Project N S Primary
231 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Andrews N S Primary
209 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Scoil Chualann Primary
189 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Ui Cheadaigh Primary
188 pupils · Catholic
St. Peter's Primary School Primary
155 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Donard · 1 schools (largest first)
Donard N S Primary
179 pupils · Catholic
30
Creches
1
Bray leads
6
GP practices
N/A
12
Pharmacies
0
Bray leads
0
Hospitals
0
104
Bus stops
0
Bray leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Bray leads
28
Gyms & leisure
0
Bray leads
19
Parks & playgrounds
0
Bray leads
75
Sports pitches
5
Bray 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.

19
Restaurants
0
Bray leads
30
Cafés
1
Bray leads
12
Pubs & bars
2
Bray leads
29
Takeaways
0
Bray leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Bray leads
356
Residents per venuelower is better
79
Donard 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.

13
Supermarkets
0
Bray leads
18
Convenience shops
1
Bray leads
8
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Bray leads
6
Banks
1
Bray leads
4
Post offices
0
Bray leads
23
Hairdressers
0
Bray leads
4
Dentists
0
Bray leads
2
Vets
0
Bray leads
3
Filling stations
0
Bray leads
8
EV charging
0
Bray leads
9
Library & community centre
1
Bray leads
331
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
79
Donard 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.

31m · ~60 rush
Dublinlower is better
55m · ~90 rush
Bray leads
116m · ~130 rush
Waterfordlower is better
94m · ~110 rush
Donard leads
147m · ~165 rush
Limericklower is better
132m · ~150 rush
Donard leads
159m · ~185 rush
Galwaylower is better
170m · ~195 rush
Bray leads
186m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
171m · ~195 rush
Donard leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-1.4
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-2.6
Bray leads
Bray · 11 EDs, poorest → richest
-18Rathmichael (bray)Very disadvantaged
-16Rathmichael (bray)Very disadvantaged
-5Bray No. 1Below average
-1KilmacanogeBelow average
-1Bray No. 3Below average
0KilmacanogeBelow average
+2Shankill-rathmichaelAbove average
+3Bray No. 2Above average
+4Shankill-shanganaghAffluent
+4Shankill-rathmichaelAffluent
+4Shankill-shanganaghAffluent
Donard · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-5DonardBelow average
+0DonardAbove average
41.8%
Third-level educated
32.4%
Bray leads
42.1%
Professional class
36.6%
Bray leads
10.2%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.1%
Donard leads
69.2%
Owner-occupier
71.1%
Donard leads
15.3%
Private rental
12.7%
13.7%
Social housing (LA)
9.8%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A98 / W91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (BrayA98, DonardW91); safety & crime are the Wicklow Garda division.

67/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Bray leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A98 / W91) 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.

BrayDonardOverall (avg)
Safety67706663
Affordability4966
Infrastructure7564
Family7481
Education5756
Environment8973
Economic5562
020406080100020406080100
#31
National ranklower is better
#35
Bray leads
#2
County rank
#2
70/100
Safety
63/100
Bray leads
43.9
Crime / 1,000lower is better
55.1
Bray 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.

Bray Below average-1.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Rathmichael (bray) -18 (least affluent) → Shankill-shanganagh +4 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Donard Below average-2.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donard -5 (least affluent) → Donard +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 (Wicklow), 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 113 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Bray

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.