Town comparison · Newcastle vs Rathnew

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Newcastle or Rathnew?

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.

Newcastle, Co. Wicklow · A63 · 1,010 people | Rathnew, Co. Wicklow · A67 · 3,237 people

Rathnew is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 3 of the 7 dimensions to Newcastle’s 1, with 3 level.

Newcastle leads on
access to its nearest city
Rathnew leads on
schools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
142117

Newcastle aheadlevel or not comparableRathnew ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
NewcastleRathnew
iNewcastle sits in A63, Rathnew in A67. 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.

Newcastle
Rathnew

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.

1,010
Population
3,237

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€573k
Median sale pricelower is better
€366k
Rathnew leads
€433k – €760k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€322k – €405k
29
Sales (24m)
350
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
N/A
N/A
New-build share
77.1%

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.

1 prim · 0 sec
Schools
2 prim · 0 sec
Rathnew leads
Newcastle · 1 schools (largest first)
St Francis N S Primary
95 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Rathnew · 2 schools (largest first)
St Coen's National School Primary
319 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Gaelscoil Chill Mhantáin Primary
251 pupils · Inter Denominational
2
Creches
6
Rathnew leads
N/A
GP practices
N/A
0
Pharmacies
0
0
Hospitals
0
10
Bus stops
18
Rathnew leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
0
1
Gyms & leisure
5
Rathnew leads
1
Parks & playgrounds
1
12
Sports pitches
9
Newcastle 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.

1
Restaurants
0
Newcastle leads
0
Cafés
1
Rathnew leads
1
Pubs & bars
3
Rathnew leads
0
Takeaways
1
Rathnew leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
505
Residents per venuelower is better
647
Newcastle 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.

0
Supermarkets
1
Rathnew leads
1
Convenience shops
1
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Rathnew leads
0
Banks
0
0
Post offices
0
0
Hairdressers
1
Rathnew leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
0
1
Filling stations
2
Rathnew leads
0
EV charging
1
Rathnew leads
1
Library & community centre
0
Newcastle leads
337
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
462
Newcastle 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.

44m · ~80 rush
Dublinlower is better
47m · ~80 rush
Newcastle leads
105m · ~120 rush
Waterfordlower is better
97m · ~110 rush
Rathnew leads
160m · ~180 rush
Limericklower is better
164m · ~180 rush
Newcastle leads
172m · ~195 rush
Galwaylower is better
175m · ~200 rush
Newcastle leads
199m · ~220 rush
Corklower is better
194m · ~215 rush
Rathnew leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
0.7
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-0.3
Newcastle leads
Newcastle · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
0Newcastle LowerBelow average
+2Newcastle LowerAbove average
Rathnew · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-2Wicklow RuralBelow average
+1Wicklow RuralAbove average
41.4%
Third-level educated
42.2%
Rathnew leads
43.9%
Professional class
45.6%
Rathnew leads
8.6%
Unemploymentlower is better
11.1%
Newcastle leads
77.2%
Owner-occupier
73.3%
Newcastle leads
12.6%
Private rental
12.3%
9.5%
Social housing (LA)
10.2%

Liveability & safety

AREA · A63 / A67

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (NewcastleA63, RathnewA67); safety & crime are the Wicklow Garda division — so they read identically for both towns.

71/100
Quality of Life
61/100
Newcastle leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (A63 / A67) 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.

NewcastleRathnewOverall (avg)
Safety71706170
Affordability4168
Infrastructure6946
Family8077
Education7635
Environment8082
Economic8147
020406080100020406080100
#10
National ranklower is better
#77
Newcastle leads
#1
County ranklower is better
#4
Newcastle leads
70/100
Safety
70/100
43.8
Crime / 1,000
43.8

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.

Newcastle Above average+0.7
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Newcastle Lower 0 (least affluent) → Newcastle Lower +2 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Rathnew Below average-0.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Wicklow Rural -2 (least affluent) → Wicklow Rural +1 (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 (Wicklow), 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 13 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Rathnew

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.