Town comparison · Castlebar vs Swinford

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Castlebar or Swinford?

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.

Castlebar, Co. Mayo · F23 · 12,267 people | Swinford, Co. Mayo · F12 · 1,220 people

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

Castlebar leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
Swinford leads on
affordability
301111

Castlebar aheadlevel or not comparableSwinford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
CastlebarSwinford
iCastlebar sits in F23, Swinford in F12. 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.

Castlebar
Swinford

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.

12,267
Population
1,220

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€265k
Median sale pricelower is better
€169k
Swinford leads
€206k – €330k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€116k – €235k
460
Sales (24m)
108
+81.0%
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
17.4%
New-build share
0.0%

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 · 3 sec
Schools
1 prim · 1 sec
Castlebar leads
Castlebar · 8 schools (largest first)
Davitt College Secondary
880 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
St. Geralds College Secondary
665 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St Joseph's Secondary School Secondary
539 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Castlebar Primary School Primary
849 pupils · Catholic
Breaffy N S Primary
386 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Peters Ns Primary
281 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Raifteirí Primary
221 pupils · Catholic
Castlebar Educate Together National School Primary
128 pupils · Multi Denominational
Swinford · 2 schools (largest first)
Scoil Muire Agus Padraig Secondary
410 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Swinford Ns Primary
201 pupils · CatholicDEIS
15
Creches
2
Castlebar leads
2
GP practices
3
Swinford leads
8
Pharmacies
0
Castlebar leads
2
Hospitals
1
Castlebar leads
14
Bus stops
2
Castlebar leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Castlebar leads
17
Gyms & leisure
1
Castlebar leads
15
Parks & playgrounds
3
Castlebar leads
39
Sports pitches
9
Castlebar 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.

12
Restaurants
0
Castlebar leads
26
Cafés
1
Castlebar leads
23
Pubs & bars
6
Castlebar leads
21
Takeaways
1
Castlebar leads
0
Nightclubs
0
3
Cinema & theatre
0
Castlebar leads
144
Residents per venuelower is better
153
Castlebar 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.

6
Supermarkets
1
Castlebar leads
12
Convenience shops
2
Castlebar leads
6
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Castlebar leads
6
Banks
2
Castlebar leads
1
Post offices
1
19
Hairdressers
2
Castlebar leads
2
Dentists
0
Castlebar leads
4
Vets
0
Castlebar leads
9
Filling stations
2
Castlebar leads
5
EV charging
2
Castlebar leads
3
Library & community centre
2
Castlebar leads
168
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
87
Swinford 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.

74m · ~100 rush
Galwaylower is better
81m · ~105 rush
Castlebar leads
130m · ~150 rush
Limericklower is better
127m · ~145 rush
Swinford leads
187m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
165m · ~200 rush
Swinford leads
209m · ~230 rush
Corklower is better
207m · ~230 rush
Swinford leads
241m · ~255 rush
Waterfordlower is better
226m · ~240 rush
Swinford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-4.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-10.2
Castlebar leads
Castlebar · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-10Castlebar UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Castlebar UrbanBelow average
-2Castlebar RuralBelow average
+1BreaghwyAbove average
+1Castlebar RuralAbove average
+2BreaghwyAbove average
Swinford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-12SwinefordDisadvantaged
-8SwinefordDisadvantaged
39.1%
Third-level educated
28.6%
Castlebar leads
34.3%
Professional class
34.2%
Castlebar leads
14.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
15.3%
Castlebar leads
57.2%
Owner-occupier
75.8%
Swinford leads
32.3%
Private rental
11.8%
7.9%
Social housing (LA)
7.8%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F23 / F12

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (CastlebarF23, SwinfordF12); safety & crime are the Mayo Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

65/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Swinford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F23 / F12) 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.

CastlebarSwinfordOverall (avg)
Safety65826682
Affordability99100
Infrastructure2539
Family7986
Education4630
Environment7680
Economic4642
020406080100020406080100
#50
National ranklower is better
#35
Swinford leads
#4
County ranklower is better
#3
Swinford leads
82/100
Safety
82/100
26.9
Crime / 1,000
26.9

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.

Castlebar Below average-4.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Castlebar Urban -10 (least affluent) → Breaghwy +2 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Swinford Disadvantaged-10.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Swineford -12 (least affluent) → Swineford -8 (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 (Mayo), 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 58 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Castlebar

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.