Town comparison · Donabate vs Swords

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Donabate or Swords?

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.

Donabate, Co. Fingal · K36 · 9,092 people | Swords, Co. Fingal · K67 · 38,308 people

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

Donabate leads on
affluenceeducation levels
Swords leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
101032

Donabate aheadlevel or not comparableSwords ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
DonabateSwords
iDonabate sits in K36, Swords in K67. 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.

Donabate
Swords

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.

9,092
Population
38,308

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€432k
Median sale pricelower is better
€436k
Donabate leads
€388k – €510k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€361k – €495k
456
Sales (24m)
1,100
+7.2%
Price momentum (YoY)
+6.8%
56.1%
New-build share
19.6%

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.

4 prim · 1 sec
Schools
12 prim · 5 sec
Swords leads
Donabate · 5 schools (largest first)
Donabate Community College Secondary
813 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Donabate/portrane Educate Together Ns Primary
419 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N C Naomh Padraig Primary
384 pupils · Catholic
St Patricks Boys National School Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Na Mara Primary
105 pupils · Multi Denominational
Swords · 17 schools (largest first)
Swords Community College Secondary
930 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Fingal Community College Secondary
866 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
St Finians Community College Secondary
661 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Loreto College Secondary
632 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Coláiste Choilm Secondary
425 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Holy Family Senior N S Primary
627 pupils · Catholic
Holy Family Junior N S Primary
581 pupils · Catholic
Brackenstown Senior N S Primary
569 pupils · Catholic
St Cronans Junior National School Primary
499 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe Primary
444 pupils · Inter Denominational
Swords Educate Together Ns Primary
405 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N Cholmcille C Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
S N Cholmille B Primary
335 pupils · Catholic
Thornleigh Educate Together National School Primary
299 pupils · Multi DenominationalDEIS
River Valley Cns Primary
140 pupils · Multi Denominational
Swords Borough N S Primary
90 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Broadmeadow Community National School Primary
71 pupils · Multi Denominational
16
Creches
40
Swords leads
2
GP practices
5
Swords leads
3
Pharmacies
12
Swords leads
0
Hospitals
1
Swords leads
21
Bus stops
125
Swords leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Donabate leads
7
Gyms & leisure
17
Swords leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
28
Swords leads
33
Sports pitches
77
Swords 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.

2
Restaurants
21
Swords leads
4
Cafés
17
Swords leads
1
Pubs & bars
18
Swords leads
4
Takeaways
28
Swords leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Swords leads
827
Residents per venuelower is better
451
Swords leads

Donabate is a small town and Swords is a large town, so their national rankings aren’t like-for-like — each is ranked only against places of its own size. Compare them on the residents-per-venue row instead.

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

2
Supermarkets
15
Swords leads
2
Convenience shops
14
Swords leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
6
Swords leads
1
Banks
7
Swords leads
1
Post offices
2
Swords leads
5
Hairdressers
22
Swords leads
1
Dentists
5
Swords leads
0
Vets
3
Swords leads
1
Filling stations
5
Swords leads
0
EV charging
8
Swords leads
2
Library & community centre
7
Swords leads
535
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
408
Swords 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.

26m · ~50 rush
Dublinlower is better
21m · ~40 rush
Swords leads
132m · ~145 rush
Waterfordlower is better
127m · ~140 rush
Swords leads
153m · ~170 rush
Limericklower is better
148m · ~165 rush
Swords leads
158m · ~180 rush
Galwaylower is better
153m · ~175 rush
Swords leads
192m · ~215 rush
Corklower is better
187m · ~210 rush
Swords leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
5.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
1.6
Donabate leads
Donabate · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+5DonabateAffluent
+6DonabateAffluent
Swords · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
-4Swords-glasmoreBelow average
-2Swords-glasmoreBelow average
-1Swords VillageBelow average
-1Swords VillageBelow average
+1Swords-lissenhallAbove average
+2Swords-lissenhallAbove average
+4Swords-forrestAbove average
+4Swords-forrestAbove average
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
51.2%
Third-level educated
40.5%
Donabate leads
53.6%
Professional class
39.9%
Donabate leads
7.3%
Unemploymentlower is better
7.7%
Donabate leads
78.9%
Owner-occupier
72.2%
Donabate leads
13.5%
Private rental
21.2%
4.9%
Social housing (LA)
5.4%

Liveability & safety

AREA · K36 / K67

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (DonabateK36, SwordsK67); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

70/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Donabate leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (K36 / K67) 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.

DonabateSwordsOverall (avg)
Safety70596659
Affordability2966
Infrastructure7975
Family7167
Education8256
Environment8274
Economic8562
020406080100020406080100
#18
National ranklower is better
#35
Donabate leads
#6
County ranklower is better
#10
Donabate leads
59/100
Safety
59/100
61.8
Crime / 1,000
61.8

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.

Donabate Affluent+5.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donabate +5 (least affluent) → Donabate +7 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above the national average.
Swords Above average+1.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Swords-glasmore -4 (least affluent) → Swords-seatown +6 (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 (DMR North), 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 153 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Swords

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.