Photo: Smirkybec · CC BY-SA 4.0Ballon sits above 93% of Irish towns for holiday homes (3.3%)
Here 14% of households are one person living alone, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 24%. By contrast, more households of parents with children than in 88% of Irish towns: 54%. In 2022, the Census found 801 residents in Ballon, living in 244 households. For Ballon, the census puts residents who said they are Catholic at 81%.
A +8% change since 2016: faster than 52% of Irish towns
Residents at the 2016 and 2022 censuses, on 2022 boundaries, and the change beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Change, 2016 to 2022
CSO publishes yearly population estimates for counties and regions, not towns, so the trend is two censuses rather than a line; 2016 ages aren’t on 2022 boundaries, so there is no change by age.
Across Co. Carlow’s towns the median is +9%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
Half of Ballon is over 38.9, older than 66% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The share of residents aged 65 and over is 12%, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Residents aged 15 to 24 are more common here than in 79% of Irish towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Carlow 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
More students among residents 15 and over than 87% of Irish towns: 14%
CSO’s social classes (everyone, by their own or their family’s occupation), the occupations of those at work, and where residents lived a year before the Census.
Residents by social class · all residents
Where residents lived a year earlier
Residents who lived somewhere else a year earlier. The bar runs to 25%.
Workers by occupation · residents at work
7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns, against 5.4% in Ballon. For comparison, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
Larger households than 96% of Irish towns: 3.2 people on average
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Carlow’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Where 4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Ireland’s towns, Ballon has 6.1%.
Below 95% of Irish towns: 3.3% of households live in a flat or apartment
Home types, cars and the internet, by household. Owning and renting are on Cost of living.
Type of home
Cars or vans · share of households
Internet at home · share of households
Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of households have no car or van; in Ballon, 6%. For comparison, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns.
Household income at the median: €61,440 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
A median gross household income of €61,440 sits close to Ireland (€60,120). Co. Carlow’s median household income is €53,120.
Residents born outside Ireland make up 13% in Ballon, less than in 92% of Irish towns
Place of birth and citizenship as CSO asks them: born abroad includes Irish citizens born abroad.
Born abroad, by birthplace · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
Citizens of another country, by citizenship; CSO counts dual Irish citizens as Irish.
Other languages · share of all residents
CSO’s small-area tables don’t give the year people arrived.
7.7% speak another language at home, most often Polish (1.4%); 0.9% speak English not well or not at all. Few places have so few residents with another country’s citizenship: 8.9% here, fewer than in 83% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents born outside Ireland is 22%.
Ballon sits below 90% of Irish towns for daily speakers of Irish outside education (0.6%)
Residents aged 3 and over who can speak Irish, and how often they speak it outside education (CSO).
Irish speakers · residents aged 3 and over
309 residents, 45% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. The highest share in Co. Carlow belongs to Carlow (1.2%). As a reference point, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Residents who describe themselves as White Irish: 88%, a higher share than 89% of Irish towns
Ethnic or cultural background and religion, in CSO’s categories, as people described themselves.
Ethnic groups other than White Irish · all residents
White Irish, not charted: 88% of Ballon · Co. Carlow’s towns 79% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The groups that follow White Irish are Other White (6.2%), Asian or Asian Irish (2.7%) and Other, including mixed (2.1%). Residents with no religion are rarer here than in 86% of Irish towns. To put it in context, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns.
A larger share of married residents 15 and over than 93% of Irish towns: 41%
Marital status of residents 15 and over, and unpaid carers.
Partnership status · residents 15 and over
The small-area tables count carers, not their hours of care.
Little separates the share of unpaid carers here, 4.5%, from the figure across Ireland’s towns. The wider picture: 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Fewer adults with a degree or higher than 56% of Irish towns: 33%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
17% of residents 15 and over are still in education. As a reference point, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Older than Ballon: 2 of the 6 towns nearby
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Carlow’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Carlow has fewer than five towns of 2,500 or more, so its figure is the median of its towns of 1,000 or more; the national figure is the median of the Irish towns of 2,500 or more (city totals left out). Percentiles are within Ireland only.
- The earlier population is an estimate. Towns had no official 2016 count on today’s boundaries, so the 2016 figure is CSO’s electoral-division count shared out by where people lived in 2022: read a small town in a large rural division loosely.
- What these tables don’t give. The small-area tables give no year of arrival and no hours of care, and a town’s electoral divisions run past its edge, so the page doesn’t split a town into named areas (a city lists its neighbourhoods).
- The census’s own words. Born abroad, citizenship, ethnic or cultural background and religion are CSO’s questions and categories; the page compares them with other towns and never labels a town by them.
Questions about Ballon’s residents
What is the population of Ballon?
Ballon had 801 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 8% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballon?
The median age is 38.9. 29% are under 18 and 12% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballon?
45% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (309 people), and 0.6% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballon?
88% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 13% were born abroad and 8.9% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballon?
81% are Catholic, 12% have no religion and 7.2% another religion; 9.6% didn’t say.
Is Ballon good for families?
54% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 29% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballon are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballon?
Median gross household income in Ballon was €61,440 in 2022, against €53,120 across Co. Carlow and €60,120 for Ireland.
Sources: CSO, Census of Population 2022, Small Area Population Statistics · CSO PxStat FP009 (2016 by electoral division) · CSO GPIIA, household income 2022. Under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
Contains Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, Census 2022, and Tailte Éireann boundaries (CSO Urban Areas, Small Areas, local electoral areas, constituencies), under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).