Castletownbere, Co. Cork scores 54/100 for quality of life, #87 of the 108 Irish areas BuyerIQ ranks, and its fundamentals are rated “steady — moves with the market”. The median home sells for €205,000 (most €166,500–€259,675), it scores 61/100 for safety (58.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents), 466 people live here. It's strongest on affordability and family & community, weakest on transport & services.
Updated August 2026 · Property Price Register + 20+ official sources, refreshed daily
Below average today — tracking the national trend — no strong local tailwind or headwind.
These seven scores and the 54/100 are measured across the P75 Eircode area, not Castletownbere alone — an area that takes in much of CORK. A strong or weak pocket inside it can read very differently from the area average.
Ranked on quality of life alone — cost of living excluded, so the genuinely best areas rank top even though they cost more. Factor in price and Castletownbere is #81 of 108 for value for money (most quality of life per euro).
The score is for the P75 Eircode area; the crime rate is recorded per Garda division (Cork City). Neither is measured for Castletownbere on its own.
466 people.
Population is for Castletownbere itself (Census 2022, Small-Area boundary).
Not ranked: under 2,000 residents, one pub swings the per-head figure too far.
Census profile and the affluence rating are Electoral Division figures — the CSO/Pobal area around Castletownbere, which is why this unemployment rate can differ from the one behind the quality-of-life scores above (those are Eircode-area wide).
Castletownbere, Co. Cork, scores 54/100 on BuyerIQ's Quality of Life composite (cost of living excluded) — #87 of the 108 areas we rank. It's strongest on affordability and family & community.
Castletownbere scores 61/100 on safety, ~58.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.
The median sale price in Castletownbere over the last 24 months was €205,000, most between €166,500 and €259,675 (Property Price Register).
Castletownbere is rated "Steady — moves with the market" — unemployment fell just 0 points — lagging the national fall, third-level education up 8 points — faster than nationally.
New builds are rare in Castletownbere — under 1% of recent sales (Property Price Register).
13 planning applications were lodged within Castletownbere in the last 12 months (40 on record) — measured per town, not just at county level.
Castletownbere scores 86/100 for families and community.
Castletownbere scores 44/100 for schools and education, with 2 schools in the area.
Castletownbere is about 113 minutes by road from Cork.
Sale prices from the Property Price Register (rolling 24 months). Quality of Life averages seven equal-weighted dimensions from 40+ metrics across 13 public datasets (CSO census + SAPS, Garda crime, SEAI, EPA, DES schools, GTFS). Population is CSO Census 2022; the “on the up” trajectory compares 2016→2022. Figures refresh daily · an area assessment, not advice on a specific property. Updated August 2026.