Town comparison · Dun Laoghaire vs Sandyford

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Dun Laoghaire or Sandyford?

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.

Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin City · A96 · 3,061 people | Sandyford, Co. Dublin City · D18 · 3,522 people

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

Dun Laoghaire leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiessafety
Sandyford leads on
public transportaffordability
29914

Dun Laoghaire aheadlevel or not comparableSandyford ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
Dun LaoghaireSandyford
iDun Laoghaire sits in A96, Sandyford in D18. 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.
!Dun Laoghaire & Sandyford 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.

Dun Laoghaire
Sandyford

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.

3,061
Population
3,522

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€642k
Median sale pricelower is better
€490k
Sandyford leads
€489k – €855k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€400k – €690k
496
Sales (24m)
453
-10.8%
Price momentum (YoY)
+12.9%
2.4%
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.

3 prim · 1 sec
Schools
3 prim · 0 sec
Dun Laoghaire leads
Dun Laoghaire · 4 schools (largest first)
Rathdown School Secondary
349 pupils · 85% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
Monkstown Eucate Together Ns Primary
427 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Josephs Primary
392 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Clochar San Dominic Primary
194 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Sandyford · 3 schools (largest first)
Stepaside Educate Together National School Primary
514 pupils · Multi Denominational
Gaelscoil Thaobh Na Coille Primary
409 pupils · Catholic
St. Mary's National School Primary
244 pupils · Catholic
13
Creches
12
Dun Laoghaire leads
4
GP practices
2
Dun Laoghaire leads
8
Pharmacies
5
Dun Laoghaire leads
2
Hospitals
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
36
Bus stops
52
Sandyford leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
6
Sandyford leads
11
Gyms & leisure
20
Sandyford leads
17
Parks & playgrounds
8
Dun Laoghaire leads
22
Sports pitches
13
Dun Laoghaire 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.

18
Restaurants
12
Dun Laoghaire leads
30
Cafés
17
Dun Laoghaire leads
7
Pubs & bars
3
Dun Laoghaire leads
14
Takeaways
10
Dun Laoghaire leads
0
Nightclubs
0
2
Cinema & theatre
0
Dun Laoghaire leads
43
Residents per venuelower is better
84
Dun Laoghaire 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.

6
Supermarkets
4
Dun Laoghaire leads
12
Convenience shops
6
Dun Laoghaire leads
5
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
5
Banks
3
Dun Laoghaire leads
3
Post offices
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
14
Hairdressers
4
Dun Laoghaire leads
5
Dentists
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
2
Vets
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
2
Filling stations
1
Dun Laoghaire leads
8
EV charging
6
Dun Laoghaire leads
7
Library & community centre
3
Dun Laoghaire leads
44
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
114
Dun Laoghaire 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.

21m · ~40 rush
Dublin
21m · ~40 rush
125m · ~140 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Sandyford leads
147m · ~165 rush
Limericklower is better
140m · ~160 rush
Sandyford leads
158m · ~180 rush
Galwaylower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Sandyford leads
186m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
179m · ~200 rush
Sandyford leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
7.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.4
Sandyford leads
Dun Laoghaire · 15 EDs, poorest → richest
+3Cabinteely-granitefieldAbove average
+4Dun Laoghaire-west CentralAbove average
+4Dun Laoghaire-west CentralAffluent
+5Dun Laoghaire-glasthuleAffluent
+5Cabinteely-granitefieldAffluent
+5Dun Laoghaire-glasthuleAffluent
+7Dun Laoghaire-glenagearyAffluent
+7Dun Laoghaire-sallynoggin WestAffluent
+8Dun Laoghaire-east CentralAffluent
+9Blackrock-carysfortAffluent
+10Blackrock-carysfortAffluent
+10Dun Laoghaire-east CentralAffluent
+10Mansion House BAffluent
+13Dun Laoghaire-glenagearyVery affluent
+17Mansion House BVery affluent
Sandyford · 12 EDs, poorest → richest
-7EdmondstownBelow average
-1EdmondstownBelow average
+6Dundrum-sandyfordAffluent
+6Dundrum-balallyAffluent
+8Dundrum-sandyfordAffluent
+9Dundrum-balallyAffluent
+9GlencullenAffluent
+9GlencullenAffluent
+9Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Mansion House BAffluent
+17Mansion House BVery affluent
65.3%
Third-level educated
61.5%
Dun Laoghaire leads
56.6%
Professional class
52.9%
Dun Laoghaire leads
7.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.9%
Sandyford leads
51.9%
Owner-occupier
58.0%
Sandyford leads
37.0%
Private rental
32.8%
6.4%
Social housing (LA)
6.7%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A96 / D18

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Dun LaoghaireA96, SandyfordD18); safety & crime are the DMR East Garda division.

66/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Sandyford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A96 / D18) 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.

Dun LaoghaireSandyfordOverall (avg)
Safety66717160
Affordability1034
Infrastructure88100
Family6263
Education7870
Environment8082
Economic7386
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#10
Sandyford leads
#10
County ranklower is better
#2
Sandyford leads
71/100
Safety
60/100
Dun Laoghaire leads
41.6
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.2
Dun Laoghaire 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.

Dun Laoghaire Affluent+7.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Cabinteely-granitefield +3 (least affluent) → Mansion House B +17 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above the national average.
Sandyford Affluent+7.4
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Edmondstown -7 (least affluent) → Mansion House B +17 (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 East), 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 19 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Dun Laoghaire

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.