Clonakilty, Co. Cork scores 68/100 for quality of life, #23 of the 108 Irish areas BuyerIQ ranks, and its fundamentals are rated “stagnating”. The median home sells for €348,017 (most €295,154–€471,250), it scores 89/100 for safety (17.3 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents), 4,933 people live here. It's strongest on safety and family & community, weakest on transport & services.
Updated August 2026 · Property Price Register + 20+ official sources, refreshed daily
About average today — improving in absolute terms, but falling behind the national trend.
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 Clonakilty is #18 of 108 for value for money (most quality of life per euro).
4,933 people.
22nd most vibrant small town in Ireland, of 131 ranked.
Vibrancy is the plain count of places to eat, drink and go out — restaurants, cafés, pubs, takeaways, nightclubs and cinemas in and around the town. Per head is the different question of whether a town is well served for its size.
Ranked against small towns only. Tourist towns read high — the venues are real, but not all of them are there for the people who live here.
Clonakilty, Co. Cork, scores 68/100 on BuyerIQ's Quality of Life composite (cost of living excluded) — #23 of the 108 areas we rank. It's strongest on safety and family & community.
Clonakilty scores 89/100 on safety, ~17.3 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.
The median sale price in Clonakilty over the last 24 months was €348,017, most between €295,154 and €471,250 (Property Price Register).
Clonakilty is rated "Stagnating" — unemployment fell 12% → 8%, in line with nationally, recorded crime rising faster than the town is growing.
About 36% of homes sold in Clonakilty in the last 24 months were new builds (Property Price Register).
60 planning applications were lodged within Clonakilty in the last 12 months, covering 280 residential units (251 on record) — measured per town, not just at county level.
Clonakilty scores 84/100 for families and community.
Clonakilty scores 58/100 for schools and education, with 6 schools in the area.
Clonakilty is about 51 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.