Cork, Co. Cork City scores 65/100 for quality of life, #38 of the 108 Irish areas BuyerIQ ranks, and its fundamentals are rated “on the up — emerging”. The median home sells for €400,800 (most €325,000–€470,200), it scores 61/100 for safety (58.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents), 218,982 people live here. It's strongest on transport & services and affordability.
Updated August 2026 · Property Price Register + 20+ official sources, refreshed daily
About average today — but the fundamentals are turning, faster than 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 Cork is #35 of 108 for value for money (most quality of life per euro).
218,982 people.
2nd most vibrant large town in Ireland, of 66 ranked.
Vibrancy is the plain count of places to eat, drink and go out — restaurants, cafés, pubs, takeaways, nightclubs and cinemas inside the town boundary. Per head is the different question of whether a town is well served for its size.
Ranked against large towns only. Tourist towns read high — the venues are real, but not all of them are there for the people who live here.
Cork, Co. Cork City, scores 65/100 on BuyerIQ's Quality of Life composite (cost of living excluded) — #38 of the 108 areas we rank. It's strongest on transport & services and affordability.
Cork scores 61/100 on safety, ~58.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.
The median sale price in Cork over the last 24 months was €400,800, most between €325,000 and €470,200 (Property Price Register).
Cork is rated "On the up — emerging" — unemployment fell 14% → 8% — faster than nationally, prices up 50.5%.
About 41% of homes sold in Cork in the last 24 months were new builds (Property Price Register).
317 planning applications were lodged within Cork in the last 12 months, covering 1,662 residential units (5,325 on record) — measured per town, not just at county level.
Cork scores 64/100 for families and community.
Cork scores 55/100 for schools and education, with 104 schools in the area.
Cork is about 2 minutes by road from Cork, with 3 rail stops nearby.
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.