Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 296 people, this town lies in Co. Carlow.
The median home here went for €272,400, 3.4 times the median household income. Public transport, bikes and feet take 5% of commuters to work. Nearly one in ten residents were born outside Ireland. A quarter of residents are 15 to 24.
There are no grades for Rathtoe: Irish towns need 1,000 residents for them.
The 3 things Rathtoe does most differently from other towns.
1 archaeological site are on the record here too.
3% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3% in the median of Irish towns.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rathtoe.
100% of its homes sit in high-radon areas, close to Co. Carlow’s towns (100%) and above Irish towns (0%). Landslides: none of Rathtoe lies in a high-susceptibility zone. Low ground by water holds almost none of its homes.
| Share of homes | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In high-radon areas | 100% | 100% | 0% |
| On high landslide susceptibility | 0% | under 0.1% | 0% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
Here July highs average 20.2°C, near Co. Carlow’s towns (20.3°C) and higher than Irish towns (19.9°C). The mean temperature over a year in Rathtoe is 10.0°C. Winter lows in Rathtoe average 2.2°C in January.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 2.2°C | 2.3°C | 2.9°C |
| Average temperature over the year | 10.0°C | 10.1°C | 10.3°C |
| July high | 20.2°C | 20.3°C | 19.9°C |
| Rain a year | 890 mm | 892 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
92% of people in Rathtoe rate their own health good or very good. Allowing for its ages, Rathtoe has 79 residents in bad health per 100 expected, below both Co. Carlow’s towns (153) and Irish towns (113). At the census, 1% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2022 | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 92% | 85% | 88% |
| Unpaid carers | 3.7% | 5.3% | 5.4% |
| Bad or very bad health | 1% | 2.5% | 2% |
| With a disability | 18% | 24% | 22% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
Social housing holds 3% of households, lower than both Co. Carlow’s towns (24%) and Irish towns (13%).
| Housing | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households owning their home | 95% | 54% | 61% |
| Households in social housing | 3% | 24% | 13% |
| Households renting privately | 3% | 22% | 22% |
| Median sale price | €272K | €250K | €350K |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure · The price is for the postcode area R93, not the town alone: too few sales inside the town carry a full address.
Woodland covers 0.2% of the land within 1 km, below Co. Carlow’s towns (1.3%) and Irish towns (2.7%) alike. Within 5 km, 1.1% of the land is protected nature, below both Co. Carlow’s towns (2%) and Irish towns (1.8%).
| Outdoors | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near a park | 0% | 72% | 92% |
| Woodland within 1 km | 0.2% | 1.3% | 2.7% |
| Paths per km² of town | 0.0 km per km² | 0.5 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Green space per 1,000 residents | 0.0 ha | 1.9 ha | 4.1 ha |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
Workers spend 33.1 min getting to work, on average. 85% of commuters drove, above Co. Carlow’s towns (73%) and Irish towns (66%) alike. Household income averages €81,030 a year before tax.
| Census 2022 | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | €81,030 | €46,763 | €57,760 |
| Average trip | 33.1 min | 25.1 min | 27.6 min |
| Unemployment rate | 6.4% | 12% | 9.2% |
| In work, 15 to 64 | 64% | 62% | 68% |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
Degrees are held by 32% of adults, higher than Co. Carlow’s towns (19%) yet lower than Irish towns (36%). People 65 and over make up 5.4% of the town.
55.7% of Rathtoe’s residents are women
165 women and 131 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 24% | 20% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 25% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 15% | 30% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 23% | 24% |
| 65+ | 5.4% | 12% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 4.2% | 12% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 12% | 19% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 42% | 38% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 9.7% | 6.5% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 32% | 19% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Carlow and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
With 6 of 18 seats, Fine Gael are the largest group on Carlow County Council, short of the 10 a majority needs. Carlow County Council runs Rathtoe: Ireland has one tier of local government, with no town council below it. In the Dáil, Rathtoe is part of Carlow-Kilkenny, which elects 5 TDs.
| Turnout | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 49% | 49% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 58% | 58% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
Its archaeology runs to 1 recorded sites. 2.6% of homes were built before 1919. 2 of Rathtoe’s buildings made the national inventory of architectural heritage, all at regional importance. The national record lists one archaeological site in and around the town.
| Heritage | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 68 | 37 | 48 |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 1 | 19 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
One school lies within 3 km of Rathtoe. 175 pupils attend the one school within 3 km of the town.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rathoe N.S. Special classesLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 175 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | Rathtoe | Co. Carlow | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the DEIS scheme | 0% | 50% | 35% |
| Pupils since 2019/20 | −1% | +4% | +4% |
| Teach through Irish | 0% | 0% | 8% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · No school here carries a letter or a result: Ireland publishes neither for individual schools.
2 places to visit are mapped within 5 km of Rathtoe; with them, the best known within 40 km.
CastleBallyloughan Castle5.8 km north
CastleCarlow Castle11 km northwest
CastleBallymoon Castle12 km southwest
CathedralCathedral of the Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary10 km northwest
National parkWicklow Mountains National Park37 km northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
2 of Rathtoe’s buildings made the national inventory of architectural heritage, all at regional importance. The national record lists one archaeological site in and around the town.
No notable person born in Rathtoe is on our list; these were born in the towns around it.
Pat Walker: Jarvin, CC BY 3.0 · Charles K. Gerrard: Selznick Pictures Corporation / Select Pictures Corporation, Public domain · Jennie Wyse Power: Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathtoe | 296 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Tullow | 5,138 | 4.5 | C− | B | C+ | D |
| Carlow | 27,351 | 9.9 | C− | B | C+ | D |
| Rathvilly | 1,074 | 12 | — | B− | A+ | B |
| Castledermot Kildare | 1,685 | 14 | — | A− | B | C+ |
| Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) | 2,945 | 15 | B+ | B+ | A− | C |
| Baltinglass Wicklow | 2,611 | 18 | C+ | B | A− | C |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
The median age in Rathtoe is 27, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns. 24% of residents are under 15 and 5% are 65 or over.
Rathtoe had 296 people at the 2022 census, up from 288 in 2016: 2.8% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
Urban area in Co. Carlow
296 people live in Rathtoe, in the area of Carlow County Council. TownRatings uses the CSO’s 2022 Urban Areas as Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a county or a council area, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0). 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).