Town comparison · Donegal vs Wicklow

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Donegal or Wicklow?

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 | Wicklow, Co. Wicklow · A67 · 12,150 people

Wicklow is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Donegal’s 1, with 3 level.

Donegal leads on
affordability
Wicklow leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
181222

Donegal aheadlevel or not comparableWicklow ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
DonegalWicklow
iDonegal sits in F94, Wicklow in A67. 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
Wicklow

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
12,150

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€190k
Median sale pricelower is better
€417k
Donegal leads
€125k – €270k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€325k – €524k
1,543
Sales (24m)
1,902
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+11.8%
5.2%
New-build share
17.8%

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
4 prim · 4 sec
Wicklow 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
Wicklow · 8 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Chill Mhantáin Secondary
933 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Dominican College Secondary
473 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Wicklow Educate Together Secondary School Secondary
375 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
East Glendalough School Secondary
366 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELAND
Scoil An Choroin Mhuire Primary
425 pupils · Catholic
Wicklow Educate Together Ns Primary
382 pupils · Multi Denominational
Padraig Naofa N S Primary
369 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Glebe Ns Primary
207 pupils · Church Of Ireland
11
Creches
18
Wicklow leads
2
GP practices
1
Donegal leads
3
Pharmacies
4
Wicklow leads
1
Hospitals
0
Donegal leads
3
Bus stops
21
Wicklow leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Wicklow leads
2
Gyms & leisure
12
Wicklow leads
2
Parks & playgrounds
7
Wicklow leads
12
Sports pitches
26
Wicklow 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
5
Donegal leads
4
Cafés
7
Wicklow leads
14
Pubs & bars
8
Donegal leads
6
Takeaways
5
Donegal leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
81
Residents per venuelower is better
486
Donegal leads

Donegal is a small town and Wicklow 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.

3
Supermarkets
4
Wicklow leads
4
Convenience shops
5
Wicklow leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
5
Banks
4
Donegal leads
1
Post offices
1
4
Hairdressers
4
1
Dentists
2
Wicklow leads
2
Vets
1
Donegal leads
4
Filling stations
2
Donegal leads
4
EV charging
7
Wicklow leads
4
Library & community centre
0
Donegal leads
88
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
380
Donegal 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.

186m · ~220 rush
Dublinlower is better
50m · ~85 rush
Wicklow leads
283m · ~295 rush
Waterfordlower is better
98m · ~110 rush
Wicklow leads
223m · ~240 rush
Limericklower is better
167m · ~185 rush
Wicklow leads
177m · ~200 rush
Galwaylower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Donegal leads
303m · ~325 rush
Corklower is better
194m · ~215 rush
Wicklow leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-4.2
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.6
Donegal leads
Donegal · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-6DonegalBelow average
-3DonegalBelow average
Wicklow · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Wicklow UrbanDisadvantaged
-5Wicklow UrbanBelow average
-2Wicklow RuralBelow average
+1Wicklow RuralAbove average
36.1%
Third-level educated
36.7%
Wicklow leads
36.0%
Professional class
38.6%
Wicklow leads
10.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
14.5%
Donegal leads
70.6%
Owner-occupier
68.0%
Donegal leads
18.6%
Private rental
14.7%
9.0%
Social housing (LA)
14.3%

Liveability & safety

AREA · F94 / A67

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Donegal → F94, Wicklow → A67); safety & crime are the Donegal Garda division.

57/100
Quality of Life
61/100
Wicklow leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (F94 / A67) 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.

DonegalWicklowOverall (avg)
Safety57716170
Affordability10068
Infrastructure2246
Family8377
Education2035
Environment7482
Economic2847
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#77
Wicklow leads
#2
County ranklower is better
#4
Donegal leads
71/100
Safety
70/100
Donegal leads
44.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
43.8
Wicklow 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.
Wicklow Below average-4.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Wicklow Urban -8 (least affluent) → Wicklow Rural +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 (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 50 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Wicklow

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.