Town comparison · Donegal vs Louth

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Donegal or Louth?

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.

Donegal, Co. Donegal · F94 · 3,000 people | Louth, Co. Louth · A91 · 717 people

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

Donegal leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiessafetyaffordability
Louth leads on
access to its nearest city
281311

Donegal aheadlevel or not comparableLouth ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
DonegalLouth
iDonegal sits in F94, Louth in A91. 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.

Donegal
Louth

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.

3,000
Population
717

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€190k
Median sale pricelower is better
€275k
Donegal leads
€125k – €270k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€214k – €340k
1,543
Sales (24m)
1,080
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
5.2%
New-build share
5.1%

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
1 prim · 0 sec
Donegal leads
Donegal · 5 schools (largest first)
Abbey Vocational School Secondary
999 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil An Linbh Íosa Primary
266 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Aodh Rua&nuala Primary
235 pupils · Catholic
Glebe Ns Primary
121 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Gaelscoil Na Gceithre Maistri Primary
54 pupils · Inter Denominational
Louth · 1 schools (largest first)
St. Mochta's National School Primary
154 pupils · Catholic
11
Creches
2
Donegal leads
2
GP practices
N/A
3
Pharmacies
0
Donegal leads
1
Hospitals
0
Donegal leads
3
Bus stops
4
Louth leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
2
Gyms & leisure
0
Donegal leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
0
Donegal leads
12
Sports pitches
1
Donegal 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.

13
Restaurants
0
Donegal leads
4
Cafés
0
Donegal leads
14
Pubs & bars
1
Donegal leads
6
Takeaways
1
Donegal leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
81
Residents per venuelower is better
359
Donegal 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
0
Donegal leads
4
Convenience shops
0
Donegal leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
Donegal leads
5
Banks
0
Donegal leads
1
Post offices
0
Donegal leads
4
Hairdressers
0
Donegal leads
1
Dentists
0
Donegal leads
2
Vets
0
Donegal leads
4
Filling stations
0
Donegal leads
4
EV charging
0
Donegal leads
4
Library & community centre
0
Donegal leads
88
Residents per shop or service
N/A

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.

186m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
66m · ~100 rush
Louth leads
283m · ~295 rush
Waterfordlower is better
171m · ~185 rush
Louth leads
177m · ~200 rush
Galwaylower is better
179m · ~205 rush
Donegal leads
223m · ~240 rush
Limericklower is better
193m · ~210 rush
Louth leads
303m · ~325 rush
Corklower is better
232m · ~255 rush
Louth leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-4.2
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-3.9
Louth leads
Donegal · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6DonegalBelow average
-3DonegalBelow average
Louth · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-5LouthBelow average
-2LouthBelow average
36.1%
Third-level educated
33.1%
Donegal leads
36.0%
Professional class
36.0%
10.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.0%
Louth leads
70.6%
Owner-occupier
78.9%
Louth leads
18.6%
Private rental
9.1%
9.0%
Social housing (LA)
9.0%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F94 / A91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Donegal → F94, Louth → A91); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division.

57/100
Quality of Life
67/100
Louth leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F94 / A91) 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.

DonegalLouthOverall (avg)
Safety57716754
Affordability10094
Infrastructure2293
Family8373
Education2038
Environment7482
Economic2832
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#31
Louth leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#1
Louth leads
71/100
Safety
54/100
Donegal leads
44.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
68
Donegal 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.

Donegal Below average-4.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Donegal -6 (least affluent) → Donegal -3 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Louth Below average-3.9
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Louth -5 (least affluent) → Louth -2 (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 (Donegal), 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 14 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Donegal

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.