Town comparison · Monkstown vs Rathfarnham

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Monkstown or Rathfarnham?

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.

Monkstown, Co. Dublin City · A94 · 2,388 people | Rathfarnham, Co. Dublin City · D14 · 2,265 people

Monkstown and Rathfarnham are closely matched. Each leads on 2 of the 7 dimensions, with 3 level.

Monkstown leads on
education levelssafety
Rathfarnham leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transport
161422

Monkstown aheadlevel or not comparableRathfarnham ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
MonkstownRathfarnham
iMonkstown sits in A94, Rathfarnham in D14. 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.
!Monkstown & Rathfarnham are city suburbs — its boundary follows the postal area (the Small Areas whose addresses carry the name), not an official settlement line, so it can run broader than the local core and the figures cover that wider postal patch.

Outlines are each town’s CSO Small Areas — the exact footprint every figure is measured over.

Monkstown
Rathfarnham

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.

2,388
Population
2,265

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€730k
Median sale pricelower is better
€705k
Rathfarnham leads
€499k – €1238k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€570k – €890k
207
Sales (24m)
738
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+8.7%
5.8%
New-build share
11.9%

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.

2 prim · 1 sec
Schools
4 prim · 2 sec
Rathfarnham leads
Monkstown · 3 schools (largest first)
Christian Brothers College Secondary
564 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
Dun Laoghaire Etns Primary
177 pupils · Multi Denominational
Holy Family School Primary
153 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Rathfarnham · 6 schools (largest first)
Loreto High School Secondary
645 pupils · 90% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICFee-paying
St Columba's College Secondary
351 pupils · 85% to 3rd-level · CHURCH OF IRELANDFee-paying
Scoil Mhuire Boys Primary
388 pupils · Catholic
Na Maighdine Muire Girl Primary
224 pupils · Catholic
Scoil An Maighdine Mhuire Boys Primary
201 pupils · Catholic
Whitechurch Nat School Primary
199 pupils · Church Of Ireland
6
Creches
12
Rathfarnham leads
2
GP practices
1
Monkstown leads
2
Pharmacies
3
Rathfarnham leads
0
Hospitals
0
27
Bus stops
41
Rathfarnham leads
1
Rail / Luas stops
0
Monkstown leads
5
Gyms & leisure
7
Rathfarnham leads
7
Parks & playgrounds
6
Monkstown leads
21
Sports pitches
41
Rathfarnham 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.

9
Restaurants
1
Monkstown leads
6
Cafés
5
Monkstown leads
2
Pubs & bars
6
Rathfarnham leads
3
Takeaways
3
1
Nightclubs
0
Monkstown leads
1
Cinema & theatre
1
109
Residents per venuelower is better
142
Monkstown 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
0
Monkstown leads
3
Convenience shops
7
Rathfarnham leads
1
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
1
Banks
3
Rathfarnham leads
0
Post offices
2
Rathfarnham leads
2
Hairdressers
3
Rathfarnham leads
1
Dentists
0
Monkstown leads
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
3
Rathfarnham leads
0
EV charging
2
Rathfarnham leads
2
Library & community centre
2
184
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
98
Rathfarnham 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.

17m · ~35 rush
Dublin
17m · ~35 rush
122m · ~135 rush
Waterfordlower is better
118m · ~130 rush
Rathfarnham leads
144m · ~160 rush
Limericklower is better
139m · ~155 rush
Rathfarnham leads
156m · ~180 rush
Galwaylower is better
151m · ~175 rush
Rathfarnham leads
183m · ~205 rush
Corklower is better
178m · ~200 rush
Rathfarnham leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
8.3
Affluence (Pobal HP)
7.1
Monkstown leads
Monkstown · 12 EDs, poorest → richest
-2Dun Laoghaire-monkstown FarmBelow average
+1Dun Laoghaire-monkstown FarmAbove average
+5Dun Laoghaire-glasthuleAffluent
+5Dun Laoghaire-glasthuleAffluent
+9Dun Laoghaire-salthillAffluent
+9Dun Laoghaire-salthillAffluent
+9Blackrock-carysfortAffluent
+10Blackrock-carysfortAffluent
+10Mansion House BAffluent
+10Blackrock-monkstownAffluent
+11Blackrock-monkstownAffluent
+17Mansion House BVery affluent
Rathfarnham · 16 EDs, poorest → richest
-7EdmondstownBelow average
-1EdmondstownBelow average
+4Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+5Rathfarnham-st. Enda'sAffluent
+7Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+7Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+8Rathfarnham-butterfieldAffluent
+9Ballinteer-woodparkAffluent
+9Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Foxrock-carrickminesAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+10Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Rathfarnham VillageAffluent
+10Templeogue-kimmage ManorAffluent
+11Churchtown-landscapeAffluent
68.5%
Third-level educated
59.2%
Monkstown leads
59.7%
Professional class
61.6%
Rathfarnham leads
6.4%
Unemploymentlower is better
5.7%
Rathfarnham leads
59.5%
Owner-occupier
84.6%
Rathfarnham leads
33.6%
Private rental
12.9%
3.7%
Social housing (LA)
2.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A94 / D14

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (MonkstownA94, RathfarnhamD14); safety & crime are the DMR East Garda division.

72/100
Quality of Life
71/100
Monkstown leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A94 / D14) 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.

MonkstownRathfarnhamOverall (avg)
Safety72717160
Affordability1010
Infrastructure88100
Family7675
Education8586
Environment8074
Economic9490
020406080100020406080100
#4
National ranklower is better
#10
Monkstown leads
#1
County ranklower is better
#2
Monkstown leads
71/100
Safety
60/100
Monkstown leads
41.6
Crime / 1,000lower is better
60.2
Monkstown 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.

Monkstown Affluent+8.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Dun Laoghaire-monkstown Farm -2 (least affluent) → Mansion House B +17 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Rathfarnham Affluent+7.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Edmondstown -7 (least affluent) → Churchtown-landscape +12 (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 East), 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 16 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Monkstown

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.