Town comparison · Drimnagh vs Rathfarnham

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Drimnagh or Rathfarnham?

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.

Drimnagh, Co. Dublin City · D12 · 1,276 people | Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin City · D14 · 2,265 people

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

Drimnagh leads on
affordability
Rathfarnham leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportsafety
141523

Drimnagh aheadlevel or not comparableRathfarnham ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
DrimnaghRathfarnham
iDrimnagh sits in D12, Rathfarnham in D14. 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.
!Drimnagh & Rathfarnham are city suburbs — its boundary follows the postal area (the Small Areas whose addresses carry the name), not an official settlement line, so it can run broader than the local core and the figures cover that wider postal patch.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Drimnagh
Rathfarnham

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.

1,276
Population
2,265

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€429k
Median sale pricelower is better
€705k
Drimnagh leads
€383k – €471k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€570k – €883k
237
Sales (24m)
740
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+15.6%
0.0%
New-build share
12.3%

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.

3 prim · 1 sec
Schools
4 prim · 2 sec
Rathfarnham leads
Drimnagh · 4 schools (largest first)
Our Lady Of Mercy Secondary School Secondary
280 pupils · 35% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Our Lady Of Good Counsel Girls Senior School Primary
145 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Lady Of Good Counsel Boys Senior Ns Primary
128 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Our Lady Of Good Counsel School Primary
121 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Rathfarnham · 6 schools (largest first)
Loreto High School Secondary
645 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
St Columba's College Secondary
351 pupils · 85% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
Scoil Mhuire Boys Primary
388 pupils · Catholic
Na Maighdine Muire Girl Primary
224 pupils · Catholic
Scoil An Maighdine Mhuire Boys Primary
201 pupils · Catholic
Whitechurch Nat School Primary
199 pupils · Church Of Ireland
7
Creches
12
Rathfarnham leads
3
GP practices
1
Drimnagh leads
3
Pharmacies
3
1
Hospitals
0
Drimnagh leads
20
Bus stops
41
Rathfarnham leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
1
Gyms & leisure
7
Rathfarnham leads
6
Parks & playgrounds
6
8
Sports pitches
41
Rathfarnham 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.

1
Restaurants
1
3
Cafés
5
Rathfarnham leads
4
Pubs & bars
6
Rathfarnham leads
7
Takeaways
3
Drimnagh leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Rathfarnham leads
85
Residents per venuelower is better
142
Drimnagh 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.

0
Supermarkets
0
6
Convenience shops
7
Rathfarnham leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Drimnagh leads
1
Banks
3
Rathfarnham leads
1
Post offices
2
Rathfarnham leads
3
Hairdressers
3
1
Dentists
0
Drimnagh leads
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
3
Rathfarnham leads
0
EV charging
2
Rathfarnham leads
5
Library & community centre
2
Drimnagh leads
64
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
98
Drimnagh 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.

13m · ~25 rush
Dublinlower is better
17m · ~35 rush
Drimnagh leads
110m · ~125 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Drimnagh leads
131m · ~150 rush
Limericklower is better
139m · ~155 rush
Drimnagh leads
144m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Drimnagh leads
171m · ~195 rush
Corklower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Drimnagh leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-7
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.1
Rathfarnham leads
Drimnagh · 8 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Crumlin EDisadvantaged
-11Crumlin ADisadvantaged
-9Crumlin EDisadvantaged
-8Walkinstown CBelow average
-8Crumlin ABelow average
-6Crumlin FBelow average
-1Walkinstown CBelow average
-1Crumlin FBelow average
Rathfarnham · 16 EDs, poorest → richest
-7EdmondstownBelow average
-1EdmondstownBelow average
+4Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+5Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+7Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+7Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+8Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+9Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+9Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+10Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+11Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
29.4%
Third-level educated
59.2%
Rathfarnham leads
27.2%
Professional class
61.6%
Rathfarnham leads
11.4%
Unemploymentlower is better
5.7%
Rathfarnham leads
70.2%
Owner-occupier
84.6%
Rathfarnham leads
14.2%
Private rental
12.9%
12.0%
Social housing (LA)
2.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D12 / D14

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (DrimnaghD12, RathfarnhamD14); safety & crime are the DMR West Garda division.

56/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Rathfarnham leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D12 / D14) 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.

DrimnaghRathfarnhamOverall (avg)
Safety56487160
Affordability5710
Infrastructure100100
Family5275
Education2486
Environment7474
Economic3890
020406080100020406080100
#99
National ranklower is better
#10
Rathfarnham leads
#22
County ranklower is better
#2
Rathfarnham leads
48/100
Safety
60/100
Rathfarnham leads
79.6
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.2
Rathfarnham 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.

Drimnagh Below average-7.0
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Crumlin E -13 (least affluent) → Crumlin F 0 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Rathfarnham Affluent+7.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Edmondstown -7 (least affluent) → Churchtown-landscape +12 (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 West), 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 12 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Rathfarnham

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.