Malahide, Co. Fingal scores 76/100 for quality of life, #8 of the 108 Irish areas BuyerIQ ranks, and its fundamentals are rated “established, plateauing”. The median home sells for €600,000 (most €455,000–€850,000), it scores 59/100 for safety (61.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents), 16,373 people live here. It's strongest on local economy and environment, weakest on affordability.
Updated August 2026 · Property Price Register + 20+ official sources, refreshed daily
Above average today — affluent and stable, but growth has plateaued — don't overpay.
These seven scores and the 76/100 are measured across the K36 Eircode area, not Malahide alone — an area that takes in much of FINGAL. 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 Malahide is #18 of 108 for value for money (most quality of life per euro).
The score is for the K36 Eircode area; the crime rate is recorded per Garda division (DMR North). Neither is measured for Malahide on its own.
16,373 people.
Population is for Malahide itself (Census 2022, Small-Area boundary).
49th most vibrant large town in Ireland, of 65 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 large towns only. Tourist towns read high — the venues are real, but not all of them are there for the people who live here.
Census profile and the affluence rating are Electoral Division figures — the CSO/Pobal area around Malahide, which is why this unemployment rate can differ from the one behind the quality-of-life scores above (those are Eircode-area wide).
Malahide, Co. Fingal, scores 76/100 on BuyerIQ's Quality of Life composite (cost of living excluded) — #8 of the 108 areas we rank. It's strongest on local economy and environment.
Malahide scores 59/100 on safety, ~61.8 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.
The median sale price in Malahide over the last 24 months was €600,000, most between €455,000 and €850,000 (Property Price Register).
Malahide is rated "Established, plateauing" — unemployment fell just 0 points — lagging the national fall, prices up 12.1%, recorded crime falling.
About 22% of homes sold in Malahide in the last 24 months were new builds (Property Price Register).
106 planning applications were lodged within Malahide in the last 12 months (727 on record) — measured per town, not just at county level.
Malahide scores 71/100 for families and community.
Malahide scores 82/100 for schools and education, with 5 schools in the area.
Malahide is about 24 minutes by road from Dublin, with 1 rail stop 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.