Town comparison · Clifden vs Headford

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Clifden or Headford?

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.

Clifden, Co. Galway · H71 · 1,014 people | Headford, Co. Galway · H91 · 1,418 people

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

Clifden leads on
schools & amenitiesaffordability
Headford leads on
affluenceeducation levelspublic transportaccess to its nearest city
211615

Clifden aheadlevel or not comparableHeadford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
ClifdenHeadford
iClifden sits in H71, Headford in H91. 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.

Clifden
Headford

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.

1,014
Population
1,418

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€254k
Median sale pricelower is better
€366k
Clifden leads
€193k – €320k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€308k – €415k
78
Sales (24m)
176
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
1.3%
New-build share
15.9%

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
2 prim · 1 sec
Headford leads
Clifden · 2 schools (largest first)
Scoil Phobail Secondary
494 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Scoil Mhuire Primary
241 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Headford · 3 schools (largest first)
Presentation College Secondary
845 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Headford Primary School Primary
138 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naomh Padraig Primary
64 pupils · Catholic
1
Creches
2
Headford leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
2
Pharmacies
0
Clifden leads
0
Hospitals
0
7
Bus stops
13
Headford leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
5
Gyms & leisure
1
Clifden leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
0
Clifden leads
16
Sports pitches
11
Clifden 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
0
Clifden leads
3
Cafés
1
Clifden leads
13
Pubs & bars
1
Clifden leads
2
Takeaways
1
Clifden leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Clifden leads
38
Residents per venuelower is better
473
Clifden 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.

3
Supermarkets
2
Clifden leads
3
Convenience shops
1
Clifden leads
4
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Clifden leads
2
Banks
1
Clifden leads
1
Post offices
1
2
Hairdressers
0
Clifden leads
1
Dentists
0
Clifden leads
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
2
2
EV charging
1
Clifden leads
1
Library & community centre
0
Clifden leads
48
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
177
Clifden 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.

67m · ~90 rush
Galwaylower is better
28m · ~50 rush
Headford leads
140m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
94m · ~110 rush
Headford leads
209m · ~245 rush
Dublinlower is better
164m · ~200 rush
Headford leads
219m · ~240 rush
Corklower is better
174m · ~195 rush
Headford leads
252m · ~265 rush
Waterfordlower is better
207m · ~220 rush
Headford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-6.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-1.5
Headford leads
Clifden · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-8ClifdenBelow average
-5ClifdenBelow average
Headford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-4HeadfordBelow average
+1HeadfordAbove average
34.9%
Third-level educated
39.7%
Headford leads
31.2%
Professional class
39.6%
Headford leads
11.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.8%
Headford leads
60.4%
Owner-occupier
75.5%
Headford leads
24.2%
Private rental
17.4%
9.6%
Social housing (LA)
4.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · H71 / H91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (ClifdenH71, HeadfordH91); safety & crime are the Galway Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

62/100
Quality of Life
69/100
Headford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (H71 / H91) 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.

ClifdenHeadfordOverall (avg)
Safety62616961
Affordability9475
Infrastructure8981
Family8175
Education2150
Environment6488
Economic2655
020406080100020406080100
#24
National ranklower is better
#26
Clifden leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#1
Headford leads
61/100
Safety
61/100
60.1
Crime / 1,000
60.1

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.

Clifden Below average-6.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Clifden -8 (least affluent) → Clifden -5 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Headford Below average-1.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Headford -4 (least affluent) → Headford +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 (Galway), 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 9 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Headford

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.