Photo: David Hawgood · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 44.1: Ballinlough is older than 97% of Irish towns
Where 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns, Ballinlough has 90%. Households in flats: 6.9% of the total. 38% of households are parents with children, a lower share than in 72% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census put the neighbourhood’s population at 5,435, in 2,145 households.
What stands out about the people of Ballinlough
Older than most towns
Half of Ballinlough’s residents are under 44.1 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 22% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
About 400 residents (7.3%) give regular unpaid care, more than in 98% of Irish towns. Relationships & caring ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
From 2016 to 2022, 51% of Irish towns grew faster than Ballinlough: +7%
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.
The median across Ireland’s towns is +8%, and across Co. Cork’s towns +7%.
In Ballinlough, 22% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 93% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 35–39, with 7.2% of residents. Residents aged 15 to 24 are rarer here than in 87% of Irish towns. The wider picture: 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. In Montenotte, the oldest of Co. Cork’s towns by this measure, it is 25%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Ballinlough, 44.1. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Cork 50.9%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
60% 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
Across Ireland’s towns, 34% of residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes; in Ballinlough, 60% and 7.1%. Locally, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
2.5 people per household, fewer than in 71% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Cork’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Shared households of unrelated adults are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns, at 4%. For Ballinlough, the census puts one-person households at 26%.
Only 11% of households in Ballinlough have no car or van
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
90% of households are on broadband; 8.2% have no internet connection (typical: 7.6%). Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of households have no car or van. Locally, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes.
The middle household earns €71,790 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 €71,790 sits 19% above Ireland (€60,120). For Co. Cork, the figure is €60,670.
A smaller share of residents born outside Ireland than 90% of Irish towns: 13%
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.
Against a figure of 15% across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents with another country’s citizenship in Ballinlough comes in at 7.2%. Residents born abroad were most often born in the UK (4.5%), then outside the EU and UK (4.5%). By way of comparison, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
Irish speakers make up 54% of Ballinlough
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
In all, 2,756 residents aged 3 and over (54%) can speak Irish. Few places have as many daily speakers of Irish outside education: 1.4% here, more than in 73% of Irish towns.
23% of residents said they have no religion, a share 74% of Irish towns don’t reach
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: 90% of Ballinlough · Co. Cork’s towns 81% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the most common groups are Other White (6.3%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.7%) and Other, including mixed (1.6%). On average, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns. 72% of residents said they are Catholic (Ireland’s towns: 71%).
Ballinlough sits above 96% of Irish towns for married residents 15 and over (43%)
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.
Set against 5.4% across Ireland’s towns, 7.3% of residents give unpaid care in Ballinlough. The usual figure: 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Ballinlough: 53% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, above 82% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Of Ballinlough’s adults, 24% went on to postgraduate study and 3.6% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Across Ireland’s towns, adults with a degree or higher come to 36%.
3rd highest median age among 41 towns of 4,899 to 6,051
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
At the ends of the range sit Gillabbey (25.6), the youngest, and Sutton (45.4), the oldest. Nearest to Ballinlough in age: Kinsale (41.8), Carrick-on-Suir (42.1), Fair Hill (44.9) and Sutton (45.4).
Ballinlough is younger than 1 of its 6 nearest neighbours
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census neighbourhood.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballinlough | 5,435 | — | 44.1 | 22% | 38% |
| Knockrea | 5,228 | 0.9 km | 37.4 | 13% | 29% |
| Tramore | 4,803 | 0.9 km | 41.1 | 19% | 39% |
| South Gate | 7,185 | 1.9 km | 33.7 | 9.4% | 18% |
| Turner's Cross | 7,208 | 2.0 km | 43 | 20% | 34% |
| St Luke's | 4,278 | 2.0 km | 35 | 8.5% | 15% |
| Montenotte | 4,113 | 2.2 km | 46.5 | 25% | 33% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Cork’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Cork’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.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. Neighbourhood figures are TownRatings sums of CSO Small Areas
Questions about Ballinlough’s residents
What is the population of Ballinlough?
Ballinlough had 5,435 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its neighbourhood, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballinlough?
The median age is 44.1, older than 97% of Irish towns. 20% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballinlough?
54% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (2,756 people), and 1.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballinlough?
90% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 13% were born abroad and 7.2% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballinlough?
72% are Catholic, 23% have no religion and 5.4% another religion; 2.6% didn’t say.
Is Ballinlough good for families?
38% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 20% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballinlough are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballinlough?
Median gross household income in Ballinlough was €71,790 in 2022, against €60,670 across Co. Cork 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 · Neighbourhood figures are TownRatings sums of CSO Small Areas. 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).