Town comparison · Kildare vs Sligo

Compare others

Kildare or Sligo?

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 | Sligo, Co. Sligo · F91 · 19,522 people

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

Kildare leads on
access to its nearest city
Sligo leads on
education levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportsafetyaffordability
7936

Kildare aheadlevel or not comparableSligo ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
KildareSligo
iKildare sits in R51, Sligo in F91. 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
Sligo

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
19,522

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€405k
Median sale pricelower is better
€250k
Sligo leads
€326k – €480k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€178k – €336k
2,398
Sales (24m)
1,216
+2.8%
Price momentum (YoY)
+19.9%
18.1%
New-build share
13.9%

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
9 prim · 5 sec
Sligo 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
Sligo · 14 schools (largest first)
Summerhill College Secondary
1,108 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Mercy College Secondary
676 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Ursuline College Secondary
632 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Sligo Grammar School Secondary
495 pupils · 85% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
Ballinode College Secondary
246 pupils · 35% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
S N Ursula Primary
444 pupils · Catholic
Our Lady Of Mercy N S Primary
437 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Carraroe N S Primary
403 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Eoin Naofa Primary
263 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Chnoc Na Re Primary
211 pupils · Catholic
Carbury National School Primary
211 pupils · Church Of Ireland
St Edwards N S Primary
204 pupils · CatholicDEIS
St Brendans Ns Primary
185 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Sligo Project School Primary
47 pupils · Multi DenominationalDEIS
7
Creches
31
Sligo leads
N/A
GP practices
3
5
Pharmacies
15
Sligo leads
0
Hospitals
5
Sligo leads
13
Bus stops
102
Sligo leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
1
5
Gyms & leisure
21
Sligo leads
3
Parks & playgrounds
15
Sligo leads
15
Sports pitches
63
Sligo 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
22
Sligo leads
8
Cafés
21
Sligo leads
10
Pubs & bars
39
Sligo leads
6
Takeaways
15
Sligo leads
0
Nightclubs
3
Sligo leads
0
Cinema & theatre
4
Sligo leads
266
Residents per venuelower is better
188
Sligo leads

Kildare is a small town and Sligo 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
8
Sligo leads
4
Convenience shops
21
Sligo leads
2
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
10
Sligo leads
2
Banks
6
Sligo leads
1
Post offices
3
Sligo leads
6
Hairdressers
9
Sligo leads
0
Dentists
3
Sligo leads
1
Vets
3
Sligo leads
3
Filling stations
11
Sligo leads
5
EV charging
7
Sligo leads
1
Library & community centre
7
Sligo leads
323
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
222
Sligo 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.

49m · ~85 rush
Dublinlower is better
164m · ~200 rush
Kildare leads
94m · ~110 rush
Waterfordlower is better
239m · ~255 rush
Kildare leads
99m · ~115 rush
Limericklower is better
168m · ~185 rush
Kildare leads
137m · ~160 rush
Galwaylower is better
122m · ~145 rush
Sligo leads
138m · ~160 rush
Corklower is better
247m · ~270 rush
Kildare leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-5.9
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-6.2
Kildare leads
Kildare · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-7KildareBelow average
-4KildareBelow average
Sligo · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
-13Sligo NorthDisadvantaged
-11Sligo EastDisadvantaged
-8Sligo EastBelow average
-6Sligo WestBelow average
-6Sligo NorthBelow average
-2Sligo WestBelow average
0KilmacowenBelow average
+4KnockareeAbove average
+4KilmacowenAffluent
+6KnockareeAffluent
30.0%
Third-level educated
37.4%
Sligo leads
29.5%
Professional class
29.8%
Sligo leads
13.1%
Unemploymentlower is better
15.5%
Kildare leads
64.1%
Owner-occupier
50.4%
Kildare leads
19.0%
Private rental
29.5%
12.7%
Social housing (LA)
16.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R51 / F91

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (KildareR51, SligoF91); safety & crime are the Kildare Garda division.

57/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Sligo leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R51 / F91) 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.

KildareSligoOverall (avg)
Safety57637175
Affordability76100
Infrastructure4469
Family7475
Education3652
Environment6582
Economic3945
020406080100020406080100
#93
National ranklower is better
#10
Sligo leads
#5
County ranklower is better
#1
Sligo leads
63/100
Safety
75/100
Sligo leads
55.1
Crime / 1,000lower is better
37.3
Sligo 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.
Sligo Below average-6.2
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Sligo North -13 (least affluent) → Knockaree +6 (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 (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 111 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Sligo

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.