Town comparison · Castleknock vs Rathgar

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Castleknock or Rathgar?

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.

Castleknock, Co. Dublin City · D15 · 3,716 people | Rathgar, Co. Dublin City · D06 · 1,610 people

Rathgar is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Castleknock’s 2, with 2 level.

Castleknock leads on
schools & amenitiesaffordability
Rathgar leads on
affluenceeducation levelssafety
161125

Castleknock aheadlevel or not comparableRathgar ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
CastleknockRathgar
iCastleknock sits in D15, Rathgar in D06. 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.
!Castleknock & Rathgar 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.

Castleknock
Rathgar

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.

3,716
Population
1,610

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€540k
Median sale pricelower is better
€920k
Castleknock leads
€435k – €743k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€573k – €1738k
630
Sales (24m)
191
+1.0%
Price momentum (YoY)
+22.6%
17.6%
New-build share
1.0%

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.

7 prim · 3 sec
Schools
2 prim · 4 sec
Castleknock leads
Castleknock · 10 schools (largest first)
Castleknock Community College Secondary
1,290 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Luttrellstown Community College Secondary
998 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Edmund Rice College Secondary
813 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St Patricks Ns Primary
891 pupils · Catholic
St Brigids Mxd N S Primary
878 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Thomais Primary
640 pupils · Catholic
Castleknock Educate Together Ns Primary
409 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Francis Xavier J N S Primary
388 pupils · Catholic
St Francis Xavier Senior N S Primary
376 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naisunta Chnuacha Primary
199 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Rathgar · 6 schools (largest first)
The High School Secondary
824 pupils · 95% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
St Louis High School Secondary
684 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
De La Salle College Secondary
417 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Stratford College Secondary
191 pupils · 80% to 3rd-level · JEWISHFee-paying
Zion Parish Primary School Primary
97 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Scoil Naisiunta Stratford Primary
90 pupils · Jewish
20
Creches
6
Castleknock leads
3
GP practices
5
Rathgar leads
8
Pharmacies
5
Castleknock leads
0
Hospitals
2
Rathgar leads
42
Bus stops
44
Rathgar leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Castleknock leads
5
Gyms & leisure
6
Rathgar leads
6
Parks & playgrounds
9
Rathgar leads
66
Sports pitches
21
Castleknock 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.

8
Restaurants
6
Castleknock leads
5
Cafés
4
Castleknock leads
10
Pubs & bars
1
Castleknock leads
9
Takeaways
6
Castleknock leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
116
Residents per venuelower is better
95
Rathgar 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.

4
Supermarkets
1
Castleknock leads
4
Convenience shops
6
Rathgar leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Rathgar leads
0
Banks
2
Rathgar leads
2
Post offices
0
Castleknock leads
3
Hairdressers
11
Rathgar leads
4
Dentists
3
Castleknock leads
1
Vets
1
1
Filling stations
1
5
EV charging
2
Castleknock leads
2
Library & community centre
6
Rathgar leads
138
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
46
Rathgar 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.

17m · ~35 rush
Dublinlower is better
12m · ~25 rush
Rathgar leads
118m · ~130 rush
Waterfordlower is better
116m · ~130 rush
Rathgar leads
139m · ~155 rush
Limericklower is better
138m · ~155 rush
Rathgar leads
144m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
149m · ~175 rush
Castleknock leads
178m · ~200 rush
Corklower is better
177m · ~200 rush
Rathgar leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
6.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
10.5
Rathgar leads
Castleknock · 8 EDs, poorest → richest
-7Blanchardstown-coolmineBelow average
-6Blanchardstown-coolmineBelow average
0Blanchardstown-delwoodBelow average
+0Blanchardstown-delwoodAbove average
+8Castleknock-knockmaroonAffluent
+9Castleknock-knockmaroonAffluent
+9Castleknock-parkAffluent
+10Castleknock-parkAffluent
Rathgar · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
+10RathfarnhamAffluent
+10Rathmines West DAffluent
+10Rathmines West DAffluent
+10RathfarnhamAffluent
+10Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+10Rathmines West FAffluent
+10Rathmines West FAffluent
+11Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+12Rathmines West CAffluent
+13Rathmines West CVery affluent
60.1%
Third-level educated
74.9%
Rathgar leads
56.0%
Professional class
60.6%
Rathgar leads
7.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.8%
Rathgar leads
71.7%
Owner-occupier
50.4%
Castleknock leads
24.4%
Private rental
44.4%
3.1%
Social housing (LA)
2.4%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D15 / D06

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Castleknock → D15, Rathgar → D06); safety & crime are the DMR West Garda division.

66/100
Quality of Life
68/100
Rathgar leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D15 / D06) 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.

CastleknockRathgarOverall (avg)
Safety66486860
Affordability6610
Infrastructure100100
Family6046
Education63100
Environment6974
Economic5389
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#28
Rathgar leads
#10
County ranklower is better
#9
Rathgar leads
48/100
Safety
60/100
Rathgar leads
79.6
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.2
Rathgar 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.

Castleknock Affluent+6.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Blanchardstown-coolmine -7 (least affluent) → Castleknock-park +10 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Rathgar Affluent+10.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Rathfarnham +10 (least affluent) → Rathmines West C +13 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above 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 (DMR West), 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 18 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Rathgar

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.