Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0Where Swanlinbar earns its living
Unemployment in Swanlinbar stood at 14% at the 2022 census, where the middle of Irish towns has 9.2%. Swanlinbar isn’t graded for jobs and income: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Where Swanlinbar stands out on work
More unemployment than most towns
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 4.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Swanlinbar had €29,930 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. CSO publishes no income figure for this place, so this one is our estimate from its electoral divisions. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
The figures behind jobs and income in Swanlinbar
Swanlinbar has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
In Swanlinbar, 65% of people aged 15 to 64 have a job
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Cavan, 1 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
4.4% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 57% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 47% were at work.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS): people at work of any age, over residents aged 15 to 64. The census doesn’t cross work with age, so the few people working past 65 count in the top only.
What households earn in Swanlinbar: €29,930 a year
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
Swanlinbar’s median is 43% below County Cavan’s (€52,321). Every town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. After tax, the median is €29,700. The State median is €60,123, 101% above Swanlinbar’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
36% of commuters from Swanlinbar go without the car
Mainly from home: 5% of residents in work, next to 11% in the middle of Irish towns. Public transport barely figures, where the middle of Irish towns has 6% by bus and 0.9% by rail. The middle of County Cavan has 11%; here, 35% walk. 55% go by car or van, against 78% in the middle of County Cavan.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
Trips out of Swanlinbar take about as long as most: 27 minutes on average
Trips of under 15 minutes are 45% of the total, against 50% in the middle of County Cavan. Trips of an hour or longer make up 13%, close to the middle of County Cavan. In County Cavan, 3 of 5 towns counted average a shorter trip.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), time taken to travel to work, school or college; the four bands are the shares of trips whose length was stated.
How many sign on in County Cavan: the count since 2019
2,448 people were signing on in County Cavan in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count rose by 1%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 38 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was May 2025, at 2,371. County Cavan: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 3,676, 13% above the 2019 average.
Live Register (CSO LRM07), people signing on at social welfare offices each month. It isn’t an unemployment rate: part-time and seasonal workers sign on too, and offices serve areas that aren’t published. This place has no office of its own name, so the chart is its county’s or city’s.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
The everyday places near home in Swanlinbar
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a pharmacy is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (0%).
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), places within 800 m in a straight line of each Census small area; active commuting from Census 2022. OpenStreetMap misses many GP surgeries and bakeries in Ireland, so those two are shown, not graded.
Next to Swanlinbar: how nearby places compare
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swanlinbar | 65% | 14% | €30K | 27 min | — | — |
| Ballyconnell 12 km | 69% | 12% | €39K | 22.1 min | C+ | B− |
| Ballinamore 17 km | 64% | 14% | €40K | 25.5 min | D | B+ |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and trip times, with both grades.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Swanlinbar, where it comes from, and what Ireland doesn’t publish.
- In work. People at work over residents aged 15 to 64 (Census 2022). Graded in place of the share of everyone 15 and over, so a town of retirees isn’t marked down for them.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people (first-job seekers included) over the labour force, from Census 2022.
- Household income. CSO’s median gross household income for 2022. Where CSO publishes no figure for the town, ours is the household-weighted mean of its electoral divisions’ medians, and the page says so.
- Trip times. Census 2022 groups trips to work, school and college by length; the average uses each group’s middle (7.5 to 105 minutes).
- Signing on. The Live Register counts people signing on at a social welfare office, by office and county. It includes part-time and seasonal workers, so it follows a trend; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- Walkability. Four everyday places within 800 m (pharmacy, food shop, school, post office) and the share who walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work. GP surgeries and bakeries are shown, not graded: OpenStreetMap misses many.
- Which towns we compare. Places of 2,500 people or more that aren’t a whole city: towns and city neighbourhoods. Grades start at 1,000 people; ranks at 2,500.
- What isn’t here. Ireland publishes no count of the jobs based in each town and no open table of where commuters go (CSO releases its place-of-work file, POWSCAR, on application only), so this page has no daily tide, commute map or jobs-based-here block. Claimant rates aren’t published for towns either: the Live Register is by office and county.
Questions about work in Swanlinbar
What is the unemployment rate in Swanlinbar?
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 4.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Swanlinbar get to work?
55% of commuters go by car or van, 35% walk, 1.2% cycle and 0% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 5% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Swanlinbar?
Trips to work, school or college take 27 minutes on average; 13% take an hour or more and 45% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Swanlinbar?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Swanlinbar’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Swanlinbar work?
Ireland has no open table of where commuters go: CSO releases its place-of-work file (POWSCAR) on application only. The census does give how people from Swanlinbar travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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).