Photo: Greatal386 at English Wikipedia · CC BY 2.5Dalkey is older than 99% of Irish towns: a median age of 50.3
0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns, against 2.8% in Dalkey. The neighbourhood is home to 8,275 residents in 3,182 households, by the 2022 Census. Residents who describe themselves as White Irish account for 88%. Shared households of unrelated adults are rarer here than in 90% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Dalkey
Older than most towns
Half of Dalkey’s residents are under 50.3 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 29% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
About 630 residents (7.6%) give regular unpaid care, more than in 99% of Irish towns. Relationships & caring ↓
More with no religion than most
26% answered “no religion”, against 17% across Ireland’s towns; 62% are Catholic (71%). Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
A +1% change since 2016: slower than 88% 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.
Across Ireland’s towns, the typical town changed +8%; across Co. Dublin’s towns, +6%.
More residents aged 65 and over than 99% of Irish towns: 29%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Young people aged 15 to 24 make up just over one in ten residents, against 12% across Ireland’s towns. Measured more widely, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Dalkey, 50.3. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 87 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Dublin 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
In Dalkey, 11% of residents 15 and over are students, more than in 67% 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
Where 21% is typical, professional occupations take in 36% of workers. Compared with other places, residents who moved in within the year are common here: 7.5%, more than in just over half of Irish towns. The usual figure: 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
37% of households are parents with children, fewer than in 74% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Dublin’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
A household here has 2.5 people on average; across Ireland’s towns, 2.7. At the same time, more one-person households than in nearly three fifths of Irish towns: 26%. For households of parents with children, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 43%.
Fewer car-free households than 73% 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
3.9% of households have no internet access (typical: 7.6%); 95% have broadband. Typically, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns. Across Dalkey, 12% of households live in a flat or apartment.
The median household brings in €77,370 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 €77,370 a year, 29% more than the Ireland median (€60,120). That compares with €71,120 across Co. Dublin.
Dalkey sits below 85% of Irish towns for residents with another country’s citizenship (8.5%)
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.
Compared with 22% across Ireland’s towns, a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland here. On average, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. The most common home language after English is French (1.7%); in all 9.2% speak another language, and 0.6% speak English not well or not at all.
A larger share of daily speakers of Irish outside education than 77% of Irish towns: 1.5%
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
3,706 residents, 47% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. Against that, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Above 87% of Irish towns: 26% 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: 88% of Dalkey · Co. Dublin’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The figure for residents who said they are Catholic is 62% in Dalkey and 71% across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, residents with no religion come to 17%. The groups that follow White Irish are Other White (8.5%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.5%) and Other, including mixed (1.3%).
In Dalkey, 45% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 99% 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.
7.6% of residents give unpaid care (Ireland’s towns: 5.4%). Measured more widely, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Dalkey ranks above 93% of Irish towns on adults with a degree or higher: 61%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
A postgraduate qualification is the highest level for 29% of adults; primary level or less for 3.5% (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). Set beside that, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Ranked by age, 1st oldest of 41 towns this size
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Temple Bar is the youngest (31.4); Dalkey the oldest (50.3). Nearest to Dalkey in age: Perrystown (45.1) and Howth (47.7).
Dalkey is older than every town around it
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census neighbourhood.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalkey | 8,275 | — | 50.3 | 29% | 37% |
| Sallynoggin | 13,245 | 2.0 km | 36.6 | 13% | 43% |
| Dún Laoghaire | 17,994 | 2.1 km | 42.1 | 20% | 36% |
| Ballybrack | 2,872 | 2.4 km | 45.5 | 26% | 47% |
| Killiney | 9,776 | 2.9 km | 42.5 | 19% | 48% |
| Cabinteely | 15,864 | 3.4 km | 38.9 | 16% | 45% |
| Foxrock | 12,163 | 3.9 km | 44.7 | 22% | 47% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Dublin’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Dublin’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 Dalkey’s residents
What is the population of Dalkey?
Dalkey had 8,275 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its neighbourhood, 1% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Dalkey?
The median age is 50.3, older than 99% of Irish towns. 19% are under 18 and 29% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Dalkey?
47% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (3,706 people), and 1.5% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Dalkey?
88% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 20% were born abroad and 8.5% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Dalkey?
62% are Catholic, 26% have no religion and 12% another religion; 2.2% didn’t say.
Is Dalkey good for families?
37% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 19% of residents are under 18. Schools near Dalkey are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Dalkey?
Median gross household income in Dalkey was €77,370 in 2022, against €71,120 across Co. Dublin 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).