Town comparison · Kildare vs Kilkenny

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Kildare or Kilkenny?

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.

Kildare, Co. Kildare · R51 · 9,057 people | Kilkenny, Co. Kilkenny · R95 · 26,831 people

Kilkenny is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 6 of the 7 dimensions to Kildare’s 0, with 1 level.

Kilkenny leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaffordabilityaccess to its nearest city
61036

Kildare aheadlevel or not comparableKilkenny ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
KildareKilkenny
iKildare sits in R51, Kilkenny in R95. 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.

Kildare
Kilkenny

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.

9,057
Population
26,831

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€400k
Median sale pricelower is better
€310k
Kilkenny leads
€325k – €475k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€233k – €410k
2,397
Sales (24m)
1,262
+14.4%
Price momentum (YoY)
+9.9%
18.1%
New-build share
14.8%

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
10 prim · 7 sec
Kilkenny leads
Kildare · 4 schools (largest first)
Kildare Town Community School Secondary
1,021 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
St Brigid's Kildare Town Primary School Primary
1,012 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Kildare Town Educate Together Ns Primary
420 pupils · Multi Denominational
Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha Primary
215 pupils · Multi Denominational
Kilkenny · 17 schools (largest first)
Loreto Secondary School Secondary
994 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Kilkenny College Secondary
919 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELAND
Presentation Secondary School Secondary
902 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Meánscoil Na Mbráithre Criostaí Secondary
836 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
St Kieran's College Secondary
802 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
City Vocational School Secondary
311 pupils · 40% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Coláiste Pobail Osraí Secondary
222 pupils · 60% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
St Canices Central N S Primary
645 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Osrai Primary
442 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Mhuire Primary
420 pupils · Catholic
S N Padraig Naofa Primary
341 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Naomh Eoin Dea Primary
331 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Iognaid De Ris Primary
255 pupils · Catholic
Kilkenny School Project Primary
240 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Johns Infants N S Primary
223 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Johns Senior Ns Primary
216 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Kilkenny Mixed N S Primary
208 pupils · Church Of Ireland
7
Creches
29
Kilkenny leads
N/A
GP practices
17
5
Pharmacies
19
Kilkenny leads
0
Hospitals
5
Kilkenny leads
13
Bus stops
88
Kilkenny leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
1
5
Gyms & leisure
35
Kilkenny leads
3
Parks & playgrounds
48
Kilkenny leads
15
Sports pitches
150
Kilkenny 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.

10
Restaurants
38
Kilkenny leads
8
Cafés
51
Kilkenny leads
10
Pubs & bars
54
Kilkenny leads
6
Takeaways
34
Kilkenny leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
3
Kilkenny leads
266
Residents per venuelower is better
149
Kilkenny leads

Kildare is a small town and Kilkenny is a large town, so their national rankings aren’t like-for-like — each is ranked only against places of its own size. Compare them on the residents-per-venue row instead.

Day-to-day

TOWN · counts

The errands you run without thinking about them. Same caveat — read the residents-per-service row alongside the counts.

3
Supermarkets
10
Kilkenny leads
4
Convenience shops
24
Kilkenny leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
9
Kilkenny leads
2
Banks
5
Kilkenny leads
1
Post offices
4
Kilkenny leads
6
Hairdressers
42
Kilkenny leads
0
Dentists
14
Kilkenny leads
1
Vets
4
Kilkenny leads
3
Filling stations
12
Kilkenny leads
5
EV charging
36
Kilkenny leads
1
Library & community centre
29
Kilkenny leads
323
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
142
Kilkenny 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.

94m · ~110 rush
Waterfordlower is better
40m · ~55 rush
Kilkenny leads
49m · ~85 rush
Dublinlower is better
93m · ~130 rush
Kildare leads
99m · ~115 rush
Limericklower is better
106m · ~125 rush
Kildare leads
138m · ~160 rush
Corklower is better
117m · ~140 rush
Kilkenny leads
137m · ~160 rush
Galwaylower is better
155m · ~180 rush
Kildare leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-5.9
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-2.7
Kilkenny leads
Kildare · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-7KildareBelow average
-4KildareBelow average
Kilkenny · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Kilkenny No. 1 UrbanBelow average
-5Kilkenny No. 1 UrbanBelow average
-3Kilkenny No. 2 UrbanBelow average
-3Kilkenny No. 2 UrbanBelow average
-2Kilkenny RuralBelow average
-1Kilkenny RuralBelow average
30.0%
Third-level educated
40.6%
Kilkenny leads
29.5%
Professional class
37.2%
Kilkenny leads
13.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
12.3%
Kilkenny leads
64.1%
Owner-occupier
58.1%
Kildare leads
19.0%
Private rental
25.3%
12.7%
Social housing (LA)
13.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R51 / R95

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (KildareR51, KilkennyR95); safety & crime are the Kildare Garda division.

57/100
Quality of Life
66/100
Kilkenny leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R51 / R95) 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.

KildareKilkennyOverall (avg)
Safety57636662
Affordability7689
Infrastructure4465
Family7478
Education3643
Environment6577
Economic3949
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#35
Kilkenny leads
#5
County ranklower is better
#1
Kilkenny leads
63/100
Safety
62/100
Kildare leads
55.1
Crime / 1,000lower is better
57.6
Kildare 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.

Kildare Below average-5.9
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Kildare -7 (least affluent) → Kildare -4 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Kilkenny Below average-2.7
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Kilkenny No. 1 Urban -8 (least affluent) → Kilkenny Rural -1 (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 (Kildare), 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 126 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Kilkenny

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.