Town comparison · Malahide vs Portmarnock

Compare others

Malahide or Portmarnock?

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.

Malahide, Co. Fingal · K36 · 16,373 people | Portmarnock, Co. Fingal · D13 · 8,856 people

Malahide is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Portmarnock’s 0, with 4 level.

Malahide leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenities
191815

Malahide aheadlevel or not comparablePortmarnock ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
MalahidePortmarnock
iMalahide sits in K36, Portmarnock in D13. 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.

Malahide
Portmarnock

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.

16,373
Population
8,856

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€600k
Median sale pricelower is better
€665k
Malahide leads
€458k – €850k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€529k – €761k
828
Sales (24m)
323
+15.5%
Price momentum (YoY)
-1.5%
21.6%
New-build share
39.6%

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.

4 prim · 1 sec
Schools
5 prim · 1 sec
Portmarnock leads
Malahide · 5 schools (largest first)
Malahide Community School Secondary
1,246 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
St Oliver Plunkett Primary
869 pupils · Catholic
John Paul Ii N S Primary
677 pupils · Catholic
Sn N Sailbheastar Nfa Primary
376 pupils · Catholic
St Andrews N S Primary
207 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Portmarnock · 6 schools (largest first)
Portmarnock Community School Secondary
960 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
Scoil Naomh Mearnog Primary
623 pupils · Catholic
Malahide / Portmarnock Educate Together National School Primary
390 pupils · Multi Denominational
St Helens Senior N S Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
St Helens Junior N S Primary
330 pupils · Catholic
San Nioclas Myra Primary
190 pupils · Catholic
19
Creches
16
Malahide leads
N/A
GP practices
2
3
Pharmacies
4
Portmarnock leads
0
Hospitals
0
49
Bus stops
50
Portmarnock leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
1
10
Gyms & leisure
11
Portmarnock leads
13
Parks & playgrounds
14
Portmarnock leads
69
Sports pitches
44
Malahide 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.

13
Restaurants
6
Malahide leads
11
Cafés
3
Malahide leads
7
Pubs & bars
2
Malahide leads
1
Takeaways
6
Portmarnock leads
0
Nightclubs
1
Portmarnock leads
0
Cinema & theatre
0
512
Residents per venuelower is better
492
Portmarnock leads

Malahide is a large town and Portmarnock is a small 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.

5
Supermarkets
2
Malahide leads
5
Convenience shops
4
Malahide leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
3
Portmarnock leads
4
Banks
0
Malahide leads
0
Post offices
1
Portmarnock leads
10
Hairdressers
3
Malahide leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
2
Portmarnock leads
4
EV charging
0
Malahide leads
1
Library & community centre
2
Portmarnock leads
528
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
521
Portmarnock 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.

24m · ~50 rush
Dublin
24m · ~50 rush
131m · ~145 rush
Waterfordlower is better
132m · ~145 rush
Malahide leads
152m · ~170 rush
Limericklower is better
153m · ~170 rush
Malahide leads
157m · ~180 rush
Galwaylower is better
158m · ~180 rush
Malahide leads
191m · ~215 rush
Corklower is better
192m · ~215 rush
Malahide leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
7.8
Affluence (Pobal HP)
4.5
Malahide leads
Malahide · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
+8Malahide WestAffluent
+8Malahide WestAffluent
+8Malahide EastAffluent
+9Malahide EastAffluent
Portmarnock · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
0BalgriffinBelow average
+3Portmarnock NorthAbove average
+3Portmarnock NorthAbove average
+4Portmarnock SouthAffluent
+5KinsaleyAffluent
+5KinsaleyAffluent
+7Portmarnock SouthAffluent
+8Malahide EastAffluent
+9Malahide EastAffluent
+10BalgriffinAffluent
57.4%
Third-level educated
51.8%
Malahide leads
61.0%
Professional class
55.3%
Malahide leads
5.4%
Unemploymentlower is better
6.1%
Malahide leads
78.2%
Owner-occupier
83.7%
Portmarnock leads
17.6%
Private rental
12.5%
2.1%
Social housing (LA)
1.9%

Liveability & safety

AREA · K36 / D13

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (MalahideK36, PortmarnockD13); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

70/100
Quality of Life
70/100

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (K36 / D13) 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.

MalahidePortmarnockOverall (avg)
Safety70597059
Affordability2949
Infrastructure7999
Family7170
Education8258
Environment8288
Economic8565
020406080100020406080100
#18
National rank
#18
#6
County rank
#6
59/100
Safety
59/100
61.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
61.5
Portmarnock 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.

Malahide Affluent+7.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Swords-seatown +5 (least affluent) → Malahide East +9 (most affluent). Even its least-affluent neighbourhood is above the national average.
Portmarnock Affluent+4.5
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Balgriffin 0 (least affluent) → Balgriffin +10 (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 (DMR North), 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 89 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Malahide

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.