Town comparison · Clifden vs Loughrea

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Clifden or Loughrea?

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 | Loughrea, Co. Galway · H62 · 5,629 people

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

Clifden leads on
affordability
Loughrea leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
111823

Clifden aheadlevel or not comparableLoughrea ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
ClifdenLoughrea
iClifden sits in H71, Loughrea in H62. 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
Loughrea

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
5,629

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€255k
Median sale pricelower is better
€330k
Clifden leads
€190k – €320k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€260k – €388k
77
Sales (24m)
218
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+20.8%
1.3%
New-build share
11.0%

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.

1 prim · 1 sec
Schools
3 prim · 2 sec
Loughrea leads
Clifden · 2 schools (largest first)
Scoil Phobail Secondary
494 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Scoil Mhuire Primary
241 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Loughrea · 5 schools (largest first)
St Brigids College Secondary
754 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
St Raphaels College Secondary
741 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
S N Ide Naofa Primary
304 pupils · Catholic
St Brendans N S Primary
226 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Riabhach Primary
171 pupils · Multi Denominational
1
Creches
9
Loughrea leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
2
Pharmacies
3
Loughrea leads
0
Hospitals
0
7
Bus stops
12
Loughrea leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
5
Gyms & leisure
5
2
Parks & playgrounds
5
Loughrea leads
16
Sports pitches
13
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
4
Clifden leads
3
Cafés
2
Clifden leads
13
Pubs & bars
12
Clifden leads
2
Takeaways
4
Loughrea leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Clifden leads
38
Residents per venuelower is better
256
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
4
Loughrea leads
3
Convenience shops
5
Loughrea leads
4
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
4
2
Banks
3
Loughrea leads
1
Post offices
1
2
Hairdressers
6
Loughrea leads
1
Dentists
2
Loughrea leads
0
Vets
3
Loughrea leads
2
Filling stations
3
Loughrea leads
2
EV charging
4
Loughrea leads
1
Library & community centre
1
48
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
156
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
33m · ~55 rush
Loughrea leads
140m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
72m · ~90 rush
Loughrea leads
209m · ~245 rush
Dublinlower is better
130m · ~165 rush
Loughrea leads
219m · ~240 rush
Corklower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Loughrea leads
252m · ~265 rush
Waterfordlower is better
160m · ~175 rush
Loughrea leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-6.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-3.5
Loughrea leads
Clifden · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-8ClifdenBelow average
-5ClifdenBelow average
Loughrea · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6Loughrea UrbanBelow average
-1Loughrea UrbanBelow average
34.9%
Third-level educated
37.1%
Loughrea leads
31.2%
Professional class
33.0%
Loughrea leads
11.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
13.1%
Clifden leads
60.4%
Owner-occupier
52.7%
Clifden leads
24.2%
Private rental
31.1%
9.6%
Social housing (LA)
13.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · H71 / H62

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (ClifdenH71, LoughreaH62); safety & crime are the Galway Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

62/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Loughrea leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (H71 / H62) 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.

ClifdenLoughreaOverall (avg)
Safety62616661
Affordability9488
Infrastructure8935
Family8180
Education2151
Environment6488
Economic2657
020406080100020406080100
#24
National ranklower is better
#35
Clifden leads
#2
County rank
#2
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.
Loughrea Below average-3.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Loughrea Urban -6 (least affluent) → Loughrea Urban -1 (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 (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 27 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Loughrea

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.