Town comparison · Swords vs Walkinstown

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Swords or Walkinstown?

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.

Swords, Co. Fingal · K67 · 38,308 people | Walkinstown, Co. Dublin · D12 · 7,442 people

Swords is the stronger town on the data. It leads on 5 of the 7 dimensions to Walkinstown’s 0, with 2 level.

Swords leads on
affluenceeducation levelsschools & amenitiessafetyaffordability
3598

Swords aheadlevel or not comparableWalkinstown ahead

AffluenceEducationAmenitiesTransportSafetyAffordabilityCity access
SwordsWalkinstown
iSwords sits in K67, Walkinstown in D12. 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.

Swords
Walkinstown

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.

38,308
Population
7,442

Prices & market

TOWN · exact
€436k
Median sale pricelower is better
€500k
Swords leads
€361k – €495k
Typical range (P25–P75)
€450k – €555k
1,098
Sales (24m)
218
+6.9%
Price momentum (YoY)
+8.8%
20.2%
New-build share
0.0%

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.

12 prim · 5 sec
Schools
4 prim · 2 sec
Swords leads
Swords · 17 schools (largest first)
Swords Community College Secondary
930 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONAL
Fingal Community College Secondary
866 pupils · 75% to 3rd-level · INTER DENOMINATIONAL
St Finians Community College Secondary
661 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · MULTI DENOMINATIONALDEIS
Loreto College Secondary
632 pupils · 70% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Coláiste Choilm Secondary
425 pupils · 65% to 3rd-level · CATHOLIC
Holy Family Senior N S Primary
627 pupils · Catholic
Holy Family Junior N S Primary
581 pupils · Catholic
Brackenstown Senior N S Primary
569 pupils · Catholic
St Cronans Junior National School Primary
499 pupils · Catholic
Gaelscoil Bhrian Bóroimhe Primary
444 pupils · Inter Denominational
Swords Educate Together Ns Primary
405 pupils · Multi Denominational
S N Cholmcille C Primary
371 pupils · Catholic
S N Cholmille B Primary
335 pupils · Catholic
Thornleigh Educate Together National School Primary
299 pupils · Multi DenominationalDEIS
River Valley Cns Primary
140 pupils · Multi Denominational
Swords Borough N S Primary
90 pupils · Church Of Ireland
Broadmeadow Community National School Primary
71 pupils · Multi Denominational
Walkinstown · 6 schools (largest first)
Meanscoil Iognáid Rís Secondary
506 pupils · 45% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Assumption Secondary School Secondary
286 pupils · 35% to 3rd-level · CATHOLICDEIS
Assumption Junior School Primary
449 pupils · CatholicDEIS
Drimnagh Castle Cbs N S Primary
343 pupils · CatholicDEIS
S N Muire Na Freastogala Girls Senior School Primary
229 pupils · Catholic
S N Naomh Cillin Primary
32 pupils · CatholicDEIS
40
Creches
7
Swords leads
5
GP practices
3
Swords leads
12
Pharmacies
7
Swords leads
1
Hospitals
1
125
Bus stops
69
Swords leads
0
Rail / Luas stops
4
Walkinstown leads
17
Gyms & leisure
7
Swords leads
28
Parks & playgrounds
4
Swords leads
77
Sports pitches
24
Swords 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.

21
Restaurants
4
Swords leads
17
Cafés
9
Swords leads
18
Pubs & bars
7
Swords leads
28
Takeaways
17
Swords leads
0
Nightclubs
0
1
Cinema & theatre
0
Swords leads
451
Residents per venuelower is better
201
Walkinstown leads

Swords is a large town and Walkinstown 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.

15
Supermarkets
5
Swords leads
14
Convenience shops
13
Swords leads
6
Bakery, butcher & greengrocer
5
Swords leads
7
Banks
4
Swords leads
2
Post offices
1
Swords leads
22
Hairdressers
9
Swords leads
5
Dentists
3
Swords leads
3
Vets
1
Swords leads
5
Filling stations
3
Swords leads
8
EV charging
3
Swords leads
7
Library & community centre
3
Swords leads
408
Residents per shop or servicelower is better
149
Walkinstown 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.

21m · ~40 rush
Dublinlower is better
13m · ~25 rush
Walkinstown leads
127m · ~140 rush
Waterfordlower is better
110m · ~125 rush
Walkinstown leads
148m · ~165 rush
Limericklower is better
131m · ~150 rush
Walkinstown leads
153m · ~175 rush
Galwaylower is better
144m · ~170 rush
Walkinstown leads
187m · ~210 rush
Corklower is better
171m · ~195 rush
Walkinstown leads

Affluence & profile

ELECTORAL DIVISION
1.6
Affluence (Pobal HP)
-4.3
Swords leads
Swords · 10 EDs, poorest → richest
-4Swords-glasmoreBelow average
-2Swords-glasmoreBelow average
-1Swords VillageBelow average
-1Swords VillageBelow average
+1Swords-lissenhallAbove average
+2Swords-lissenhallAbove average
+4Swords-forrestAbove average
+4Swords-forrestAbove average
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
+5Swords-seatownAffluent
Walkinstown · 6 EDs, poorest → richest
-8Walkinstown CBelow average
-7Walkinstown BBelow average
-5Walkinstown ABelow average
-4Walkinstown ABelow average
-1Walkinstown BBelow average
-1Walkinstown CBelow average
40.5%
Third-level educated
33.2%
Swords leads
39.9%
Professional class
31.7%
Swords leads
7.7%
Unemploymentlower is better
10.0%
Swords leads
72.2%
Owner-occupier
69.4%
Swords leads
21.2%
Private rental
18.7%
5.4%
Social housing (LA)
7.1%

Liveability & safety

AREA · K67 / D12

Wider-area figures, not the town. Quality of life & rank are for the whole Eircode area each town sits in (Swords → K67, Walkinstown → D12); safety & crime are the DMR North Garda division.

66/100
Quality of Life
56/100
Swords leads

Quality of Life is the equal-weighted average of these seven 0–100 dimensions, scored for the whole Eircode routing area (K67 / D12) 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.

SwordsWalkinstownOverall (avg)
Safety66595648
Affordability6657
Infrastructure75100
Family6752
Education5624
Environment7474
Economic6238
020406080100020406080100
#35
National ranklower is better
#99
Swords leads
#10
County ranklower is better
#22
Swords leads
59/100
Safety
48/100
Swords leads
61.8
Crime / 1,000lower is better
79.6
Swords 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.

Swords Above average+1.6
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Swords-glasmore -4 (least affluent) → Swords-seatown +6 (most affluent). It straddles the national average.
Walkinstown Below average-4.3
← more deprivednational avg · 0more affluent →
Spread across the town: Walkinstown C -8 (least affluent) → Walkinstown C -1 (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 (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 152 CSO Small Areas.

Homes for sale in Swords

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.