Photo: Joseph Mischyshyn · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 69% of Irish towns: half of Ennis is over 39.3
Compared with 24% across Ireland’s towns, 28% of households are one person living alone here. At 13%, the share of households without a car or van is lower than in 68% of Irish towns. Ennis had 27,923 residents in 10,591 households at the 2022 Census. In Ennis, nearly three quarters of residents said they are Catholic.
Ennis grew +10% from 2016 to 2022, ahead of 62% 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.
Set beside +8% across Ireland’s towns and +8% across Co. Clare’s towns.
11% of residents are aged 15 to 24, below 66% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 40–44: nearly one in ten residents. To put it in context, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over are more common here than in 57% of Irish towns.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Ennis, 39.3. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Clare 51.5%, Ireland 51.2%.
38% of residents belong to the professional, managerial and technical classes
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
24% of workers are in professional occupations, against a typical 21%. Across Ennis, 7% of residents lived at another address a year earlier. Fewer students among residents 15 and over than in 54% of Irish towns: 10%.
Ennis households average 2.6 people, smaller than in 67% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Clare’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Fewer households of parents with children than in 56% of Irish towns: 42%. On the census count, 4.5% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
A smaller share of households in flats than 62% of Irish towns: 11%
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
At home, 89% have broadband, while 9.6% have no internet access (typical: 7.6%). 0.5% of homes are holiday homes, a higher share than in 71% of Irish towns. The benchmark for households in flats across Ireland’s towns: 12%.
Household income at the median: €53,420 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Before tax, the middle household here has €53,420 a year, 11% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Co. Clare as a whole has a median of €54,650.
More residents born abroad than 53% of Irish towns: 23% in Ennis
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.
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born outside the EU and UK (8.8%) and in the UK (5.2%). The wider picture: just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. Ennis has more residents with another country’s citizenship than 51% of Irish towns, at 15%.
More daily speakers of Irish outside education than 81% of Irish towns: 1.6%
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
11,212 residents, 45% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Clare’s 5 towns of 2,500+. To put it in context, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Below 69% of Irish towns: 14% of residents said they have no religion
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: 76% of Ennis · Co. Clare’s towns 82% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (13%), Other, including mixed (3.4%) and Black or Black Irish (3.1%). At 76%, the share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish is lower than in 58% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of residents said they have no religion.
Ennis ranks above 55% of Irish towns on married residents 15 and over: 35%
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.
There is little gap on unpaid carers: 5.8%, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. As a reference point, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
37% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, a share 52% of Irish towns don’t reach
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
13% of Ennis’s adults hold a postgraduate qualification, and 8.7% finished their education at primary level or earlier (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). The share of adults with a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns is 36%.
7th highest median age among 41 towns of 18,460 to 40,776
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Jobstown is the youngest (32.4); Beaumont the oldest (42.9). Nearest to Ennis in age: Crumlin (39), Tralee (39.3), Greystones-Delgany (39.4) and Wexford (40.6).
Every nearby town is younger than Ennis
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ennis | 27,923 | — | 39.3 | 15% | 42% |
| Newmarket-On-Fergus | 1,887 | 11.1 km | 38.8 | 15% | 45% |
| Shannon | 10,256 | 16.9 km | 38.5 | 15% | 44% |
| Sixmilebridge | 2,832 | 18.0 km | 35.6 | 8.6% | 55% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Clare’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Clare’s towns of 2,500 or more and over 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 Ennis’s residents
What is the population of Ennis?
Ennis had 27,923 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ennis?
The median age is 39.3, older than 69% of Irish towns. 24% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ennis?
45% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (11,212 people), and 1.6% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ennis?
76% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 23% were born abroad and 15% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ennis?
74% are Catholic, 14% have no religion and 11% another religion; 8.1% didn’t say.
Is Ennis good for families?
42% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 24% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ennis are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ennis?
Median gross household income in Ennis was €53,420 in 2022, against €54,650 across Co. Clare 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).