Oughterard, Co. Galway scores 68/100 for quality of life, #22 of the 108 Irish areas BuyerIQ ranks, and its fundamentals are rated “stagnating”. The median home sells for €345,000 (most €217,500–€440,000), it scores 61/100 for safety (60.1 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents), 1,542 people live here. It's strongest on environment and transport & services.
Updated August 2026 · Property Price Register + 20+ official sources, refreshed daily
Above average today — improving in absolute terms, but falling behind the national trend.
These seven scores and the 68/100 are measured across the H91 Eircode area, not Oughterard alone — an area that takes in much of GALWAY. 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 Oughterard is #26 of 108 for value for money (most quality of life per euro).
The score is for the H91 Eircode area; the crime rate is recorded per Garda division (Galway). Neither is measured for Oughterard on its own.
1,542 people.
Population is for Oughterard 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 Oughterard, which is why this unemployment rate can differ from the one behind the quality-of-life scores above (those are Eircode-area wide).
Oughterard, Co. Galway, scores 68/100 on BuyerIQ's Quality of Life composite (cost of living excluded) — #22 of the 108 areas we rank. It's strongest on environment and transport & services.
Oughterard scores 61/100 on safety, ~60.1 recorded crimes per 1,000 residents.
The median sale price in Oughterard over the last 24 months was €345,000, most between €217,500 and €440,000 (Property Price Register).
Oughterard is rated "Stagnating" — unemployment rose 4% → 8% — lagging the national fall, third-level education up 10 points — faster than nationally, recorded crime rising faster than the town is growing.
About 2% of homes sold in Oughterard in the last 24 months were new builds (Property Price Register).
22 planning applications were lodged within Oughterard in the last 12 months, covering 17 residential units (137 on record) — measured per town, not just at county level.
Oughterard scores 75/100 for families and community.
Oughterard scores 50/100 for schools and education, with 2 schools in the area.
Oughterard is about 27 minutes by road from Galway.
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.