Photo: N Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Leap is older than 99% of Irish towns: a median age of 55.2
Nearly a quarter of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns: 43%). At the 2022 Census, 167 people lived in Leap, in 83 households. The share of households in flats stands at 2.4%. Higher than in 98% of Irish towns: 37% of households are one person living alone.
+2% since 2016: slower than 84% 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.
The median across Ireland’s towns is +8%, and across Co. Cork’s towns +7%.
Above 99% of Irish towns: 32% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Where just over one in ten residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns, Leap has 7.8%. Across the comparison, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Cork 50.9%, Ireland 51.2%.
In Leap, 5.1% of residents 15 and over are students, fewer than in 99% of Irish towns
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
41% of Leap’s residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 12% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 3.6% of the total.
Leap households average 2 people, smaller than in 99% 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: 7.2% here and 4.7% across Ireland’s towns.
A higher share of holiday homes than 99% of Irish towns, at 23%
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
83% of households are on broadband; 14% have no internet connection (typical: 7.6%). Elsewhere, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns. Here, 5.1% of households have no car or van.
€54,180 a year: where the middle household sits
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
At €54,180 a year before tax, the median household income is 10% under that of Ireland (€60,120). Co. Cork comes in at €60,670 at the median.
Fewer residents with another country’s citizenship than 79% of Irish towns: 9.6%
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 22% across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents born outside Ireland in Leap comes in at 19%. Typically, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. Most residents from abroad were born in the UK (13%) or outside the EU and UK (3%).
51% of Leap’s residents 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
Top of Co. Cork: Ballincollig, at 2.1%. Daily speakers of Irish outside education are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns.
A larger share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish than 83% of Irish towns: 86%
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: 86% of Leap · Co. Cork’s towns 81% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of residents said they have no religion; in Leap, 19%. Few places have as many residents who said they are Catholic: 74% here, more than in two thirds of Irish towns. Set beside that, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Next after White Irish come Other White (13%), Black or Black Irish (0.7%) and Other, including mixed (0.7%).
Leap: 39% of residents 15 and over are married, above 84% 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.
5.4% of residents give unpaid care across Ireland’s towns, against 3.6% in Leap. Elsewhere, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Below 57% of Irish towns: 33% 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
Postgraduate qualifications are held by 7% of adults here, while 8.5% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Across the comparison, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
No nearby town is as old as Leap
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leap | 167 | — | 55.2 | 32% | 24% |
| Skibbereen | 2,903 | 9.1 km | 39.2 | 17% | 37% |
| Dunmanway | 1,964 | 15.6 km | 40.8 | 17% | 42% |
| Clonakilty | 5,112 | 18.0 km | 40.5 | 18% | 43% |
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 Leap’s residents
What is the population of Leap?
Leap had 167 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 2% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Leap?
The median age is 55.2. 6.6% are under 18 and 32% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Leap?
51% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (77 people), and 0% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Leap?
86% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 19% were born abroad and 9.6% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Leap?
74% are Catholic, 19% have no religion and 7.1% another religion; 7.8% didn’t say.
Is Leap good for families?
24% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 6.6% of residents are under 18. Schools near Leap are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Leap?
Median gross household income in Leap was €54,180 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).