Town comparison · Newtown vs Portarlington

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Newtown or Portarlington?

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.

Newtown, Co. Laois · R93 · 269 people | Portarlington, Co. Laois · R32 · 8,560 people

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

Newtown leads on
safety
Portarlington leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiespublic transportaffordability
91330

Newtown aheadlevel or not comparablePortarlington ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
NewtownPortarlington
iNewtown sits in R93, Portarlington in R32. 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.

Newtown
Portarlington

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.

269
Population
8,560

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€330k
Median sale pricelower is better
€286k
Portarlington leads
€275k – €348k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€230k – €330k
28
Sales (24m)
354
N/A
Price momentum (YoY)
+43.7%
N/A
New-build share
39.3%

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
3 prim · 1 sec
Portarlington leads
Newtown · 1 schools (largest first)
Scoil Naomh Abban Primary
65 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Portarlington · 4 schools (largest first)
Coláiste Íosagáin Secondary
1,135 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Scoil Phadraig Primary
563 pupils · Catholic
Presentation Primary School Primary
509 pupils · Catholic
Scoil Náisiúnta Cúil An Tsúdaire 2 Primary
79 pupils · Church Of Ireland
1
Creches
12
Portarlington leads
N/A
GP practices
1
0
Pharmacies
4
Portarlington leads
0
Hospitals
0
4
Bus stops
23
Portarlington leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
1
Portarlington leads
1
Gyms & leisure
5
Portarlington leads
0
Parks & playgrounds
5
Portarlington leads
2
Sports pitches
21
Portarlington 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.

0
Restaurants
6
Portarlington leads
0
Cafés
4
Portarlington leads
1
Pubs & bars
9
Portarlington leads
0
Takeaways
6
Portarlington leads
0
Nightclubs
0
0
Cinema & theatre
0
269
Residents per venuelower is better
342
Newtown 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
5
Portarlington leads
0
Convenience shops
4
Portarlington leads
0
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
1
Portarlington leads
1
Banks
2
Portarlington leads
0
Post offices
1
Portarlington leads
0
Hairdressers
5
Portarlington leads
0
Dentists
0
0
Vets
1
Portarlington leads
0
Filling stations
4
Portarlington leads
0
EV charging
4
Portarlington leads
0
Library & community centre
4
Portarlington leads
269
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
276
Newtown 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.

78m · ~115 rush
Dublinlower is better
66m · ~100 rush
Portarlington leads
66m · ~80 rush
Waterfordlower is better
99m · ~115 rush
Newtown leads
102m · ~120 rush
Limericklower is better
95m · ~115 rush
Portarlington leads
148m · ~170 rush
Galwaylower is better
115m · ~140 rush
Portarlington leads
129m · ~150 rush
Corklower is better
134m · ~155 rush
Newtown leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
-12.1
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-6.8
Portarlington leads
Newtown · 2 EDs, poorest → richest
-15DoonaneDisadvantaged
-9DoonaneDisadvantaged
Portarlington · 4 EDs, poorest → richest
-11Portarlington NorthDisadvantaged
-8Portarlington NorthBelow average
-7Portarlington SouthBelow average
-4Portarlington SouthBelow average
24.1%
Third-level educated
29.5%
Portarlington leads
27.1%
Professional class
29.6%
Portarlington leads
18.5%
Unemploymentlower is better
13.9%
Portarlington leads
77.8%
Owner-occupier
67.4%
Newtown leads
7.4%
Private rental
18.4%
15.0%
Social housing (LA)
10.8%

Liveability & safety

AREA · R93 / R32

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (NewtownR93, PortarlingtonR32); safety & crime are the Kilkenny/Carlow Garda division.

62/100
Quality of Life
59/100
Newtown leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (R93 / R32) 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.

NewtownPortarlingtonOverall (avg)
Safety62625940
Affordability9699
Infrastructure6461
Family7078
Education4244
Environment6958
Economic3236
020406080100020406080100
#66
National ranklower is better
#85
Newtown leads
#1
County rank
#1
62/100
Safety
40/100
Newtown leads
57.6
Crime / 1,000lower is better
90.8
Newtown 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.

Newtown Disadvantaged-12.1
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Doonane -15 (least affluent) → Doonane -9 (most affluent). Every neighbourhood is below the national average.
Portarlington Below average-6.8
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Portarlington North -11 (least affluent) → Portarlington South -4 (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 (Kilkenny/Carlow), 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 29 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Portarlington

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.