Town comparison · Harold's Cross vs Rathfarnham

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Harold's Cross 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.

Harold's Cross, Co. Dublin City · D6W · 1,406 people | Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin City · D14 · 2,265 people

Rathfarnham is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions to Harold's Cross’s 1, with 4 level.

Harold's Cross leads on
education levels
Rathfarnham leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transport
241711

Harold's Cross aheadlevel or not comparableRathfarnham ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
Harold's CrossRathfarnham
iHarold's Cross sits in D6W, 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.
!Harold's Cross & 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.

Harold's Cross
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.

1,406
Population
2,265

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€580k
Median sale pricelower is better
€705k
Harold's Cross leads
€444k – €911k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€570k – €883k
59
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.

2 prim · 0 sec
Schools
4 prim · 2 sec
Rathfarnham leads
Harold's Cross · 3 schools (largest first)
Griffith College Third-level
enrolment n/a · private_college
Kildare Place N S Primary
191 pupils · Church Of Ireland
St Clares Convent N S Primary
181 pupils · Catholic
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
14
Creches
12
Harold's Cross leads
5
GP practices
1
Harold's Cross leads
8
Pharmacies
3
Harold's Cross leads
0
Hospitals
0
36
Bus stops
41
Rathfarnham leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
4
Gyms & leisure
7
Rathfarnham leads
5
Parks & playgrounds
6
Rathfarnham leads
10
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.

23
Restaurants
1
Harold's Cross leads
14
Cafés
5
Harold's Cross leads
13
Pubs & bars
6
Harold's Cross leads
14
Takeaways
3
Harold's Cross leads
0
Nightclubs
0
3
Cinema & theatre
1
Harold's Cross leads
21
Residents per venuelower is better
142
Harold's Cross 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.

5
Supermarkets
0
Harold's Cross leads
9
Convenience shops
7
Harold's Cross leads
3
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Harold's Cross leads
2
Banks
3
Rathfarnham leads
4
Post offices
2
Harold's Cross leads
22
Hairdressers
3
Harold's Cross leads
7
Dentists
0
Harold's Cross leads
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
3
Rathfarnham leads
2
EV charging
2
1
Library & community centre
2
Rathfarnham leads
25
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
98
Harold's Cross 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.

9m · ~20 rush
Dublinlower is better
17m · ~35 rush
Harold's Cross leads
114m · ~130 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Harold's Cross leads
136m · ~155 rush
Limericklower is better
139m · ~155 rush
Harold's Cross leads
147m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Harold's Cross leads
175m · ~195 rush
Corklower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Harold's Cross leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
7.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.1
Harold's Cross leads
Harold's Cross · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Walkinstown CBelow average
-1Walkinstown CBelow average
+4Kimmage CAffluent
+7Kimmage CAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+10Rathmines West AAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+10Rathmines West AAffluent
+12Rathmines West CAffluent
+13Rathmines West CVery affluent
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
64.1%
Third-level educated
59.2%
Harold's Cross leads
49.6%
Professional class
61.6%
Rathfarnham leads
7.3%
Unemploymentlower is better
5.7%
Rathfarnham leads
47.5%
Owner-occupier
84.6%
Rathfarnham leads
44.0%
Private rental
12.9%
4.2%
Social housing (LA)
2.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · D6W / D14

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Harold's CrossD6W, RathfarnhamD14); safety & crime are the DMR South Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

71/100
Quality of Life
71/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (D6W / 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.

Harold's CrossRathfarnhamOverall (avg)
Safety71607160
Affordability1010
Infrastructure100100
Family8475
Education8286
Environment6774
Economic9490
020406080100020406080100
#10
National rank
#10
#2
County rank
#2
60/100
Safety
60/100
60.2
Crime / 1,000
60.2

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.

Harold's Cross Affluent+7.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Walkinstown C -8 (least affluent) → Rathmines West C +13 (most affluent). It straddles 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 South), 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 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.