Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0Older than 95% of Irish towns: half of Bantry is over 43.5
The share of one-person households tops 99% of Irish towns: 40%. Bantry had 2,929 residents in 1,241 households at the 2022 Census. The census found that nearly a third of households are parents with children in the town. 4.1% of homes are holiday homes, a higher share than in 94% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Bantry
Older than most towns
Half of Bantry’s residents are under 43.5 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 22% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
From 2016 to 2022, 72% of Irish towns grew faster than Bantry: +4%
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 +7% across Co. Cork’s towns.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 22% in Bantry, more than in 94% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Across Ireland’s towns, just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24; in Bantry, 10%. The wider picture: 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. No age band is larger than 40–44: 7.1% of residents.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Bantry, 43.5. 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.
Fewer students among residents 15 and over than 99% of Irish towns: 7%
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 Bantry, 31% and 21%. Residents who moved in within the year are more common here than in 57% of Irish towns.
Bantry households average 2.2 people, smaller than in 95% 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.
4.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Bantry sits above 79% of Irish towns for households without a car or van (27%)
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
Internet at home: broadband for 76%, nothing for 18% (typical: 7.6%). Households without a car or van: 17% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison. On the census count, 13% of households live in a flat or apartment.
Half of households earn more than €37,670 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Gross household income has a median of €37,670 a year here, 37% below Ireland (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Cork, the median is €60,670.
26% of residents were born outside Ireland, a share 66% of Irish towns don’t reach
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.
Among residents born abroad, the largest groups were born in the UK (8.1%) and elsewhere in the EU (7%). The comparison figure for residents born outside Ireland is 22% across Ireland’s towns. 18% of residents are citizens of another country, more than in 63% of Irish towns.
Of Bantry’s residents, 41% can speak Irish
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
1.2% of residents speak Irish daily outside education, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. No town in Co. Cork beats Ballincollig (2.1%).
In Bantry, 76% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, fewer than in 59% 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: 76% of Bantry · Co. Cork’s towns 81% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Behind White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (16%), Asian or Asian Irish (4.3%) and Other, including mixed (2.3%). The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as White Irish is 78% across Ireland’s towns. At 18%, the share of residents with no religion is higher than in 55% of Irish towns. Bantry sits close to the norm on residents who said they are Catholic: 71%, about the same as across Ireland’s towns.
32% of residents 15 and over are married, below 69% of Irish towns
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.
Nothing unusual on unpaid carers: 6%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. For comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Below 76% of Irish towns: 26% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Across Ireland’s towns, 9.7% of adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Bantry, 12%, and 8% hold a postgraduate qualification. Set beside that, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
The 5th oldest of 41 towns of 2,566 to 3,300 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Kilbarry (30.4) and the oldest Ballybrack (45.5). Nearest to Bantry in age: Decies (41.2), Togher (41.7), Boyle (43.8) and Edenmore (44.1).
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.
Questions about Bantry’s residents
What is the population of Bantry?
Bantry had 2,929 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 4% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Bantry?
The median age is 43.5, older than 95% of Irish towns. 21% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Bantry?
41% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (1,077 people), and 1.2% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Bantry?
76% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 26% were born abroad and 18% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Bantry?
71% are Catholic, 18% have no religion and 11% another religion; 7.8% didn’t say.
Is Bantry good for families?
32% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 21% of residents are under 18. Schools near Bantry are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Bantry?
Median gross household income in Bantry was €37,670 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. 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).