Photo: Stephen Elwyn RODDICK · CC BY-SA 2.0Skerries ranks below 98% of Irish towns on shared households of unrelated adults: 1.7%
Against a figure of 78% across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish in Skerries comes in at 89%. Half of the town’s 10,743 residents are older than 40.7 (older than 83% of Irish towns), in 3,772 households at the 2022 Census. Census figures put households of parents with children at 52% in the town. The town has fewer households without a car or van than 76% of Irish towns, at 9.8%.
Slower than most: +7% since 2016, behind 54% 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 Co. Dublin’s towns the median is +6%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
Older than 83% of Irish towns: half of Skerries is over 40.7
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 10–14, with 8.2% of residents. 16% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 63% of Irish towns. In Dalkey, the oldest of Co. Dublin’s towns by this measure, it is 29%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Skerries, 40.7. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Dublin 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Below 78% of Irish towns: 5.6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier
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
One in ten residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns, against 11% in Skerries. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 7.5%.
Skerries ranks below 76% of Irish towns on one-person households: 18%
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.
The typical household size is 2.9 people, against 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. One-person households: 24% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
Skerries ranks above 91% of Irish towns on holiday homes: 1.9%
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
Where just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns, Skerries has 9.6%. As a reference point, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns.
Households here have a median income of €76,520 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 €76,520 a year before tax: 27% over the Ireland median (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Dublin, the median is €71,120.
Only 7.1% of residents are citizens of another country in Skerries
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.
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the UK (6.3%) and outside the EU and UK (4.3%). Compared with other places, residents born outside Ireland are scarce here: 15%, fewer than in 85% of Irish towns.
Able to speak Irish: 47% in Skerries
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
No town in Co. Dublin beats Monkstown (2.5%). Fewer daily speakers of Irish outside education than in nearly two thirds of Irish towns: 0.9%.
A larger share of residents with no religion than 84% of Irish towns: 25%
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: 89% of Skerries · Co. Dublin’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The figure for residents who said they are Catholic is 68% in Skerries and 71% across Ireland’s towns. Next after White Irish come Other White (7.8%), Other, including mixed (1.5%) and Asian or Asian Irish (1.3%). Residents with no religion: 17% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
More married residents 15 and over than 94% of Irish towns: 42%
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.
Unpaid carers: 6.1%, near enough the figure across Ireland’s towns. Set beside that, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
More adults with a degree or higher than 75% of Irish towns: 48%
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 18% of adults; primary level or less for 6% (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). Measured more widely, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
In its size band (9,288 to 12,310), the 11th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 30.5 in Summerhill to 44.7 in Foxrock. Nearest to Skerries in age: Churchtown (40.5), Tramore (40.7), Cabra West (40.8) and Portmarnock (41.2).
Median age: 1 of the 6 towns around Skerries are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skerries | 10,743 | — | 40.7 | 16% | 52% |
| Balrothery | 2,282 | 4.5 km | 38.4 | 10% | 59% |
| Rush | 10,875 | 6.0 km | 37.1 | 11% | 56% |
| Balbriggan | 24,322 | 6.1 km | 34.9 | 7.8% | 55% |
| Lusk | 8,806 | 6.8 km | 35.3 | 6.6% | 59% |
| Portrane | 1,262 | 8.9 km | 46 | 21% | 41% |
| Donabate | 9,669 | 10.0 km | 35.6 | 5.6% | 59% |
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 Skerries’s residents
What is the population of Skerries?
Skerries had 10,743 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Skerries?
The median age is 40.7, older than 83% of Irish towns. 26% are under 18 and 16% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Skerries?
47% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (4,745 people), and 0.9% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Skerries?
89% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 15% were born abroad and 7.1% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Skerries?
68% are Catholic, 25% have no religion and 7% another religion; 2.5% didn’t say.
Is Skerries good for families?
52% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 26% of residents are under 18. Schools near Skerries are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Skerries?
Median gross household income in Skerries was €76,520 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).