Town comparison · Headford vs Portumna

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Headford or Portumna?

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 | Portumna, Co. Galway · H53 · 1,399 people

Headford is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 4 of the 7 dimensions to Portumna’s 2, with 1 level.

Headford leads on
affluenceeducation levelspublic transportaccess to its nearest city
Portumna leads on
schools & amenitiesaffordability
112021

Headford aheadlevel or not comparablePortumna ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
HeadfordPortumna
iHeadford sits in H91, Portumna in H53. 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
Portumna

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
1,399

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€370k
Median sale pricelower is better
€165k
Portumna leads
€315k – €415k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€122k – €240k
191
Sales (24m)
48
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
16.2%
New-build share
4.2%

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
1 prim · 1 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
Portumna · 2 schools (largest first)
Portumna Community School Secondary
493 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
St Brendans Ns Primary
241 pupils · CatholicDEIS
2
Creches
4
Portumna leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
0
Pharmacies
1
Portumna leads
0
Hospitals
0
13
Bus stops
4
Headford leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
1
Gyms & leisure
3
Portumna leads
0
Parks & playgrounds
1
Portumna leads
11
Sports pitches
12
Portumna 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
Portumna leads
1
Cafés
2
Portumna leads
1
Pubs & bars
7
Portumna leads
1
Takeaways
2
Portumna leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
473
Residents per venuelower is better
100
Portumna 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
2
1
Convenience shops
1
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
2
Portumna leads
1
Banks
1
1
Post offices
1
0
Hairdressers
1
Portumna leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
4
Portumna leads
1
EV charging
2
Portumna leads
0
Library & community centre
2
Portumna leads
177
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
87
Portumna 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
58m · ~80 rush
Headford leads
94m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
60m · ~80 rush
Portumna leads
164m · ~200 rush
Dublinlower is better
132m · ~165 rush
Portumna leads
207m · ~220 rush
Waterfordlower is better
133m · ~145 rush
Portumna leads
174m · ~195 rush
Corklower is better
136m · ~160 rush
Portumna leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-1.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-6.7
Headford leads
Headford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-4HeadfordBelow average
+1HeadfordAbove average
Portumna · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-9PortumnaDisadvantaged
-5PortumnaBelow average
39.7%
Third-level educated
31.7%
Headford leads
39.6%
Professional class
31.9%
Headford leads
10.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
13.1%
Headford leads
75.5%
Owner-occupier
63.6%
Headford leads
17.4%
Private rental
23.5%
4.9%
Social housing (LA)
9.5%

Liveability & safety

AREA · H91 / H53

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (HeadfordH91, PortumnaH53); safety & crime are the Galway Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

69/100
Quality of Life
61/100
Headford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (H91 / H53) 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.

HeadfordPortumnaOverall (avg)
Safety69616161
Affordability75100
Infrastructure8122
Family7587
Education5038
Environment8880
Economic5540
020406080100020406080100
#26
National ranklower is better
#77
Headford leads
#1
County ranklower is better
#3
Headford leads
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.
Portumna Below average-6.7
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Portumna -9 (least affluent) → Portumna -5 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below 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 Headford

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.