Photo: William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland · CC BY-SA 2.0Work, pay and getting to work in Donaghmede
From Donaghmede, trips to work, school or college average 31.3 minutes; for 9.8%, it takes an hour or more. On jobs and income together, Donaghmede grades C+, #86 of 116 in County Dublin. The bus or train carries 27% of its commuters.
What stands out about work in Donaghmede
Work near the middle
69% of people aged 15 to 64 in Donaghmede had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 31.3 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 9.8% 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.
On jobs and income, Donaghmede grades C+
Better than 45% of Irish towns across four measures, #86 of 116 in County Dublin.
Its strongest measure is the share of 15-to-64s in work; its weakest, trip times.
Graded against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more; a shorter trip and less unemployment count in its favor.
How the grade works
Four measures, weighed equally against every Irish town of 1,000 people or more: median gross household income (CSO, 2022), people at work as a share of residents aged 15 to 64, the unemployment rate and the average trip to work, school or college (all three Census 2022). Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
A slower run to work or school from Donaghmede than in the middle of Irish towns
56% of trips take 15 to 44 minutes, where the middle of County Dublin has 59%. 63 of the 116 towns of County Dublin counted have a shorter average trip. Trips of under 15 minutes make up 24%, close to the middle of County Dublin.
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.
How long trips to work, school or college take, 2022 census (trips whose length wasn’t stated left out).
What Donaghmede does for a living
The second-largest is Professional services, health and education, at 26% (against 25% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 0.1%.
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.
People living here who are in work, by the industry they work in, wherever their job is (2022 census).
Working-age people in Donaghmede: 69% have a job
Of the 115 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Dublin, 32 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Of those in the labour force, 9.6% were out of work, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 2.8% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 53% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 50% 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.
Median household income: €58,260 a year
Before tax, 2022: higher than in 57% of Irish towns.
That puts Donaghmede 18% below the median for County Dublin as a whole, €71,123. Of the county’s 115 other towns of 2,500 or more, 86 have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €51,270. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 3% above Donaghmede’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Inside Donaghmede: household incomes from €56K to €62K
Median gross household income in each of the 3 electoral divisions where 50 or more of Donaghmede’s households live: the highest is 1.1 times the lowest.
| Electoral division | Households here | Median income (whole division) | Aged 15–64 in work (here) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grange D | 1,467 | €61,666 | 69% |
| Grange C | 1,125 | €56,132 | 69% |
| Grange E | 967 | €55,567 | 69% |
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 (GPIIA01): each division’s median covers all its households, including any outside Donaghmede; households and the share in work are Donaghmede’s own part (Census 2022, CSO SAPS).
38% of Donaghmede’s commuters walk, cycle, or take the bus or train
Against 6.8% in the middle of County Dublin, 19% go by train, DART or Luas here. 51% go by car or van, against 52% in the middle of County Dublin. Home is the main workplace for 10%, close to the middle of Irish towns. Against 10% and 2.4% in the middle of Irish towns, 7.2% walk and 4.5% cycle.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
How residents in work get there (2022 census; people working mainly from home included).
Signing on in County Dublin, against the 2019 level
48,940 people were signing on in County Dublin in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 rose by 5%. It has been above its 2019 average for the last 10 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was February 2022, at 40,783. County Dublin saw its highest month in July 2026: 51,932 people signing on, 11% 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).
24% of adults in Donaghmede are retired
Compared with Irish towns, 50% 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.
Everyone aged 15 and over, by what they said they mainly do (2022 census), and the jobs of those in work.
Walkability in Donaghmede: graded A−
Better than 82% of Irish towns on two measures together, #55 of 116 in County Dublin.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a post office: 43%.
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.
How Donaghmede ranks: 56th of 88 Irish towns of 6,700 to 13,000
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballsbridge County Dublin | 12,743 | 80% | 5.2% | €99K | A+ |
| 2 | Grantstown and Ballinakill County Waterford | 9,571 | 72% | 6% | €74K | A+ |
| 3 | Terenure County Dublin | 10,391 | 78% | 4.7% | €87K | A+ |
| 4 | Booterstown County Dublin | 8,505 | 71% | 4.8% | €94K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 54 | Wicklow County Wicklow | 12,957 | 68% | 9.3% | €64K | B− |
| 55 | Monaghan County Monaghan | 7,894 | 68% | 11% | €45K | B− |
| 56 | Donaghmede County Dublin | 9,616 | 69% | 9.6% | €58K | C+ |
| 57 | Christchurch County Dublin | 6,778 | 72% | 11% | €49K | C+ |
| 58 | O'Connell Street County Dublin | 6,749 | 70% | 11% | €58K | C+ |
| … | ||||||
| 88 | Summerhill County Dublin | 11,911 | 60% | 15% | €45K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Donaghmede, and others in County Dublin.
How Donaghmede compares with the places nearby
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donaghmede | 69% | 9.6% | €58K | 31.3 min | C+ | A− |
| Raheny 0.8 km | 71% | 6.8% | €73K | 32.6 min | B+ | A− |
| Ayrfield 1.3 km | 70% | 9.1% | €56K | 31.3 min | B− | A |
| Edenmore 1.3 km | 67% | 12% | €52K | 30.6 min | C− | A |
| Belmayne 1.5 km | 73% | 7.3% | €81K | 34.1 min | B+ | A− |
| Clongriffin 1.6 km | 76% | 7.2% | €74K | 35.4 min | B+ | B+ |
| Sutton 2 km | 74% | 5.5% | €73K | 32.4 min | A− | A |
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 Donaghmede, 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 Donaghmede
What is the unemployment rate in Donaghmede?
9.6% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Donaghmede a good place to find work?
Donaghmede earns a C+ for jobs and income, better than 45% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #86 of 116 in County Dublin.
How do people in Donaghmede get to work?
51% of commuters go by car or van, 7.2% walk, 4.5% cycle and 27% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 10% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Donaghmede?
Trips to work, school or college take 31.3 minutes on average; 9.8% take an hour or more and 24% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Donaghmede?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Donaghmede’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Donaghmede 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 Donaghmede travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL) · grades: TownRatings. 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).