Town comparison · Headford vs Tuam

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Headford or Tuam?

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 | Tuam, Co. Galway · H54 · 9,698 people

Headford and Tuam are closely matched. Each leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions, with 1 level.

Headford leads on
affluenceeducation levelsaccess to its nearest city
Tuam leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
111625

Headford aheadlevel or not comparableTuam ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
HeadfordTuam
iHeadford sits in H91, Tuam in H54. 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
Tuam

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
9,698

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€366k
Median sale pricelower is better
€275k
Tuam leads
€308k – €415k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€200k – €352k
176
Sales (24m)
354
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+22.9%
15.9%
New-build share
2.5%

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
5 prim · 3 sec
Tuam 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
Tuam · 8 schools (largest first)
High Cross College Secondary
827 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St. Jarlaths College Secondary
706 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Archbishop Mchale College Secondary
471 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Trinity Primary School Primary
760 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Iarfhlatha Primary
224 pupils · Catholic
Tuam Educate Together National School Primary
209 pupils · Multi Denominational
Ceathru Na Ngarrdhanta Primary
205 pupils · Catholic
S N Bheanain Primary
34 pupils · Catholic
2
Creches
14
Tuam leads
N/A
GP practices
2
0
Pharmacies
9
Tuam leads
0
Hospitals
0
13
Bus stops
28
Tuam leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
1
Gyms & leisure
9
Tuam leads
0
Parks & playgrounds
2
Tuam leads
11
Sports pitches
31
Tuam 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
Tuam leads
1
Cafés
6
Tuam leads
1
Pubs & bars
4
Tuam leads
1
Takeaways
5
Tuam leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
1
Tuam leads
473
Residents per venuelower is better
510
Headford 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
3
Tuam leads
1
Convenience shops
10
Tuam leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
0
1
Banks
3
Tuam leads
1
Post offices
1
0
Hairdressers
1
Tuam leads
0
Dentists
1
Tuam leads
0
Vets
0
2
Filling stations
9
Tuam leads
1
EV charging
3
Tuam leads
0
Library & community centre
1
Tuam leads
177
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
303
Headford 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
34m · ~60 rush
Headford leads
94m · ~110 rush
Limericklower is better
81m · ~100 rush
Tuam leads
164m · ~200 rush
Dublinlower is better
149m · ~185 rush
Tuam leads
174m · ~195 rush
Corklower is better
160m · ~180 rush
Tuam leads
207m · ~220 rush
Waterfordlower is better
192m · ~205 rush
Tuam leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-1.5
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-7.1
Headford leads
Headford · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-4HeadfordBelow average
+1HeadfordAbove average
Tuam · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-12Tuam UrbanDisadvantaged
-9Tuam UrbanDisadvantaged
-6Tuam RuralBelow average
-3Tuam RuralBelow average
39.7%
Third-level educated
33.7%
Headford leads
39.6%
Professional class
28.9%
Headford leads
10.8%
Unemploymentlower is better
16.8%
Headford leads
75.5%
Owner-occupier
57.6%
Headford leads
17.4%
Private rental
27.8%
4.9%
Social housing (LA)
10.6%

Liveability & safety

AREA · H91 / H54

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (HeadfordH91, TuamH54); safety & crime are the Galway Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

69/100
Quality of Life
58/100
Headford leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (H91 / H54) 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.

HeadfordTuamOverall (avg)
Safety69615861
Affordability7595
Infrastructure8122
Family7584
Education5040
Environment8863
Economic5540
020406080100020406080100
#26
National ranklower is better
#89
Headford leads
#1
County ranklower is better
#4
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.
Tuam Below average-7.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Tuam Urban -12 (least affluent) → Tuam Rural -3 (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 45 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Headford

The towns are level, so these are from the first.

Compare somewhere else

Put any two Irish towns head to head, or step up to the wider Eircode areas.