Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Fettercairn is younger than 94% of Irish towns: a median age of 32.5
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of one-person households is 24%; Fettercairn has 14%. The neighbourhood had 12,970 residents in 4,051 households at the 2022 Census. Here, two thirds of residents describe themselves as White Irish. Holiday homes are rarer here than in 93% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Fettercairn
Younger than most towns
Half of Fettercairn’s residents are under 32.5 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 15% are 15 to 24 and 8.9% are 65 or over. Ages ↓
Growing faster than most
Fettercairn went from about 10,070 people in 2016 to 12,970 in 2022, +29%: faster growth than in 96% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
A neighbourhood of families
35% of households are couples with children and 19% lone parents with children, more than in 87% of Irish towns; 24% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Fettercairn grew +29% from 2016 to 2022, ahead of 96% 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.
For comparison, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +6% across Co. Dublin’s towns.
15% of residents are aged 15 to 24, a share 88% of Irish towns don’t reach
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
40–44 is the most common age band: 9.3% of residents. Compared with other places, residents aged 65 and over are scarce here: 8.9%, fewer than in 84% of Irish towns. On average, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. In Dalkey, the oldest of Co. Dublin’s towns by this measure, it is 29%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Fettercairn, 32.5. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Dublin 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
More students among residents 15 and over than 65% of Irish towns: 11%
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, just over a third of residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes; in Fettercairn, 30% and 19%. Locally, 7.7% of residents lived at another address a year earlier.
Fettercairn sits above 87% of Irish towns for households of parents with children (54%)
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.
In Fettercairn the average household is 3.2 people, beside 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. Elsewhere, 43% of households are parents with children across Ireland’s towns. Shared households of unrelated adults account for 4.8%.
More households without a car or van than 63% of Irish towns: 20%
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
Broadband reaches 93% of households; 4.9% have no internet at all (typical: 7.6%). Measured more widely, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns. Locally, 13% of households live in a flat or apartment.
Before tax, the median household income is €62,400 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
At €62,400 a year before tax, the median household income is near that of Ireland (€60,120). Countywide, Co. Dublin has a median of €71,120.
Fettercairn: 24% of residents were born outside Ireland, above 57% of Irish towns
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.
27% speak a language other than English at home, Polish most of all (2.7%); 2.8% speak English not well or not at all. Residents born outside Ireland: 22% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison. Little separates the share of residents with another country’s citizenship here, 15%, from the figure across Ireland’s towns.
Fettercairn sits below 90% of Irish towns for daily speakers of Irish outside education (0.6%)
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
Within Co. Dublin, Monkstown has the largest share, 2.5%. The benchmark for daily speakers of Irish outside education across Ireland’s towns: 1.1%.
In Fettercairn, 65% of residents said they are Catholic, fewer than in 73% 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: 67% of Fettercairn · Co. Dublin’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents with no religion is 15%, against 17% across Ireland’s towns. After White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (11%), Asian or Asian Irish (11%) and Black or Black Irish (7.2%). The benchmark for residents who said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns: 71%.
A lower share of married residents 15 and over than 77% of Irish towns, at 30%
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.
Here 4.4% of residents give unpaid care, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 5.4%. Across Ireland’s towns, 34% of residents 15 and over are married.
Fettercairn sits below 73% of Irish towns for adults with a degree or higher (27%)
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 Fettercairn, 14%, and 8.4% hold a postgraduate qualification. As a yardstick, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
The 6th youngest of 41 towns of 11,130 to 15,207 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 29 in Castletroy to 44.7 in Foxrock. Nearest to Fettercairn in age: Hollystown (30.9), Ongar (31.6), Ballyowen (33.6) and Belmayne (33.8).
Of the 6 towns nearest Fettercairn, 4 are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census neighbourhood.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fettercairn | 12,970 | — | 32.5 | 8.9% | 54% |
| Jobstown | 23,437 | 1.2 km | 32.4 | 6.8% | 55% |
| Tallaght | 15,588 | 2.1 km | 36.3 | 16% | 42% |
| Saggart | 4,573 | 2.9 km | 32 | 6.1% | 46% |
| Old Bawn | 18,758 | 3.1 km | 38 | 16% | 47% |
| Clondalkin | 22,788 | 3.4 km | 37.1 | 12% | 47% |
| Kilnamanagh | 11,703 | 3.8 km | 41.2 | 22% | 42% |
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 Fettercairn’s residents
What is the population of Fettercairn?
Fettercairn had 12,970 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its neighbourhood, 29% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Fettercairn?
The median age is 32.5, younger than 94% of Irish towns. 29% are under 18 and 8.9% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Fettercairn?
28% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (3,105 people), and 0.6% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Fettercairn?
67% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 24% were born abroad and 15% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Fettercairn?
65% are Catholic, 15% have no religion and 20% another religion; 9.4% didn’t say.
Is Fettercairn good for families?
54% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 29% of residents are under 18. Schools near Fettercairn are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Fettercairn?
Median gross household income in Fettercairn was €62,400 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).