Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 8% in Rathcoole, less than in 99% of Irish towns
The share of one-person households trails 86% of Irish towns: 16%. On the census count, 7.9% of households have no car or van. Households of parents with children are more common here than in 83% of Irish towns. At the 2022 Census Rathcoole was home to 5,792 people in 1,924 households.
What stands out about the people of Rathcoole
Growing faster than most
Rathcoole went from about 4,400 people in 2016 to 5,792 in 2022, +32%: faster growth than in 97% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Rathcoole’s population changed by +32% since 2016, more than in 97% 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.
Set beside +8% across Ireland’s towns and +6% across Co. Dublin’s towns.
Half of Rathcoole is under 37, younger than 58% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 40–44, with just over one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over account for 13%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Rathcoole, 37. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Dublin 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Only 7.1% of residents 15 and over are students in Rathcoole
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, 34% of residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes; in Rathcoole, 45% and 11%. Residents who moved in within the year are rarer here than in 79% of Irish towns.
Larger households than 83% of Irish towns: 3 people on average
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.
Shared households of unrelated adults: 4.7% of the total.
Above 65% of Irish towns: 16% of households live in a flat or apartment
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
Home broadband covers 94% of households, while 4.4% go without the internet (typical: 7.6%). 0.1% of homes are holiday homes. The share of households in flats across Ireland’s towns is 12%.
The middle household earns €77,740 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of households are above €77,740 a year before tax: 29% over the Ireland median (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Dublin, the median is €71,120.
19% of residents were born outside Ireland, fewer than in 62% 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.
Most residents from abroad were born outside the EU and UK (7%) or elsewhere in the EU (4.4%). To put it in context, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. The share of residents with another country’s citizenship is 14%, against 15% across Ireland’s towns.
Rathcoole: 1.8% of residents speak Irish daily outside education, above 88% of Irish towns
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
Monkstown leads Co. Dublin with 2.5%. The share of daily speakers of Irish outside education across Ireland’s towns is 1.1%.
Residents with no religion: 18%, a higher share than 52% 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: 78% of Rathcoole · Co. Dublin’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the most common groups are Other White (12%), Asian or Asian Irish (6.5%) and Other, including mixed (1.9%). Measured more widely, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns. On residents who said they are Catholic, 71% here is much the same as across Ireland’s towns.
More married residents 15 and over than 84% of Irish towns: 39%
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.
Against a figure of 5.4% across Ireland’s towns, the share of unpaid carers in Rathcoole comes in at 4.4%. The wider picture: 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
In Rathcoole, 40% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, more than in 60% of Irish towns
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, one in ten adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Rathcoole, 7.5%, and 14% hold a postgraduate qualification. The wider picture: 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
41 towns of 5,226 to 6,355 people: this is the 18th youngest
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Gillabbey is the youngest (25.6); Sutton the oldest (45.4). Nearest to Rathcoole in age: Inchicore (36.8), Carrickmacross (36.9), Knockrea (37.4) and Blessington (37.6).
Every neighbour of Rathcoole has a younger population
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
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.
Questions about Rathcoole’s residents
What is the population of Rathcoole?
Rathcoole had 5,792 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 32% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Rathcoole?
The median age is 37, younger than 58% of Irish towns. 30% are under 18 and 13% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Rathcoole?
40% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (1,968 people), and 1.8% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Rathcoole?
78% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 19% were born abroad and 14% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Rathcoole?
71% are Catholic, 18% have no religion and 11% another religion; 9% didn’t say.
Is Rathcoole good for families?
52% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 30% of residents are under 18. Schools near Rathcoole are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Rathcoole?
Median gross household income in Rathcoole was €77,740 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. 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).