Photo: Kondephy · CC BY-SA 4.0How Schull works: jobs, income and commuting
The trip to work, school or college averages 22.3 minutes from Schull, and 9.1% take an hour or more. Unemployment in Schull stood at 7.6% at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Jobs and income go ungraded in Schull: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Jobs and income in Schull: what the figures say
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Schull had €37,480 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 ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 22.3 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 9.1% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
No Jobs & income Grade for Schull
Schull has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
Median household income: €37,480 a year
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Schull 38% below the median for County Cork as a whole, €60,671. Of the county’s 54 towns of 2,500 or more, 53 have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €33,230. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 60% above Schull’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Less time on the road to work or school from Schull than in the middle of Irish towns
9 of the 54 towns of County Cork counted have a shorter average trip. The middle of County Cork has 33% of trips under 15 minutes; here it is 61%. For the middle of County Cork, the average trip is 24.8 minutes.
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.
The industries behind Schull’s jobs
Professional services, health and education is the second-largest at 21%, against 25% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is public administration, at 3.4%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), industry of people at work who live here. Ireland doesn’t publish how many jobs are based in each town, so this shows what residents do, not the jobs here.
Work for 66% of 15-to-64s in Schull
Of the 54 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Cork, 15 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 2.2% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 58% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 46% 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.
Walking, cycling, the bus or the train: 22% of Schull’s commuters
20% walk, against 12% in the middle of County Cork. 62% go by car or van, against 71% in the middle of County Cork. Working mainly from home: 15% here, 11% in the middle of Irish towns. The middle of Irish towns has 6% going by bus; here it is 0.8%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The monthly count of people signing on in County Cork
19,928 people were signing on in County Cork in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count rose by 5%. Its lowest month since 2019 was February 2022, at 18,274. County Cork: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 25,292, 14% 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).
28% of Schull’s adults have retired
Compared with Irish towns, 46% are in work (against 57%).
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
The everyday places near home in Schull
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a food shop is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (68%).
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.
Jobs and income in the places around Schull
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schull | 66% | 7.6% | €37K | 22.3 min | — | — |
| Bantry 18.5 km | 67% | 10% | €38K | 20.8 min | B− | 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 Schull, 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 Schull
What is the unemployment rate in Schull?
7.6% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.2% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Schull get to work?
62% of commuters go by car or van, 20% walk, 1.3% cycle and 0.8% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 15% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Schull?
Trips to work, school or college take 22.3 minutes on average; 9.1% take an hour or more and 61% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Schull?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Schull’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Schull 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 Schull 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).