Town comparison · Headford vs Knocknacarra

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Headford or Knocknacarra?

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.

Headford, Co. Galway · H91 · 1,418 people | Knocknacarra, Co. Galway · H91 · 1,481 people

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

Headford leads on
affordability
Knocknacarra leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaccess to its nearest city
92221

Headford aheadlevel or not comparableKnocknacarra ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
HeadfordKnocknacarra
iBoth towns sit in the same Eircode area H91 — on the routing-key area page they would read as one number. At town level they diverge. 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.

Headford
Knocknacarra

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.

1,418
Population
1,481

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€370k
Median sale pricelower is better
€435k
Headford leads
€315k – €415k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€346k – €529k
191
Sales (24m)
168
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
16.2%
New-build share
13.7%

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 · 1 sec
Schools
0 prim · 2 sec
Headford leads
Headford · 3 schools (largest first)
Presentation College Secondary
845 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Headford Primary School Primary
138 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naomh Padraig Primary
64 pupils · Catholic
Knocknacarra · 2 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Einde Secondary
806 pupils · 50% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Jesus & Mary Secondary School Secondary
666 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
2
Creches
2
N/A
GP practices
1
0
Pharmacies
2
Knocknacarra leads
0
Hospitals
0
13
Bus stops
23
Knocknacarra leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
1
Gyms & leisure
10
Knocknacarra leads
0
Parks & playgrounds
2
Knocknacarra leads
11
Sports pitches
15
Knocknacarra 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.

0
Restaurants
3
Knocknacarra leads
1
Cafés
3
Knocknacarra leads
1
Pubs & bars
0
Headford leads
1
Takeaways
0
Headford leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
473
Residents per venuelower is better
247
Knocknacarra 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.

2
Supermarkets
1
Headford leads
1
Convenience shops
4
Knocknacarra leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
1
Banks
0
Headford leads
1
Post offices
0
Headford leads
0
Hairdressers
3
Knocknacarra leads
0
Dentists
2
Knocknacarra leads
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
2
1
EV charging
0
Headford leads
0
Library & community centre
0
177
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
123
Knocknacarra 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.

28m · ~50 rush
Galwaylower is better
7m · ~15 rush
Knocknacarra leads
94m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
82m · ~100 rush
Knocknacarra leads
164m · ~200 rush
Dublinlower is better
152m · ~185 rush
Knocknacarra leads
174m · ~195 rush
Corklower is better
162m · ~185 rush
Knocknacarra leads
207m · ~220 rush
Waterfordlower is better
195m · ~210 rush
Knocknacarra leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-1.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.6
Knocknacarra leads
Headford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-4HeadfordBelow average
+1HeadfordAbove average
Knocknacarra · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
+6KnocknacarraghAffluent
+9KnocknacarraghAffluent
39.7%
Third-level educated
67.9%
Knocknacarra leads
39.6%
Professional class
63.0%
Knocknacarra leads
10.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.8%
Knocknacarra leads
75.5%
Owner-occupier
63.1%
Headford leads
17.4%
Private rental
35.0%
4.9%
Social housing (LA)
0.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · H91 / H91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (HeadfordH91, KnocknacarraH91); safety & crime are the Galway Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

69/100
Quality of Life
69/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (H91 / H91) 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.

HeadfordKnocknacarraOverall (avg)
Safety69616961
Affordability7575
Infrastructure8181
Family7575
Education5050
Environment8888
Economic5555
020406080100020406080100
#26
National rank
#26
#1
County rank
#1
61/100
Safety
61/100
60.1
Crime / 1,000
60.1

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.

Headford Below average-1.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Headford -4 (least affluent) → Headford +1 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Knocknacarra Affluent+7.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Knocknacarragh +6 (least affluent) → Knocknacarragh +9 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above 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 (Galway), 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 11 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Knocknacarra

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.