Photo: BaronNethercross · CC BY-SA 4.0Swords has a larger share of its working-age people in jobs than 89% of Irish towns
The bus or train carries 18% of its commuters. At the 2022 census, 7% of the labour force in Swords had no job, next to 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Swords grades A− for jobs and income, #35 of 116 in County Dublin.
Jobs and income in Swords: what the figures say
More people in work than most towns
74% of people aged 15 to 64 in Swords had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
The median household in Swords had €77,142 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 31.1 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 12% 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.
Jobs & income in Swords: graded A−
Better than 81% of Irish towns on four measures taken together, #35 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.
The share of 15-to-64s in work in Swords: 74%
Of the 115 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Dublin, 84 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 2.5% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 52% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 64% 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.
Before tax, the median household in Swords has €77,142
Before tax, 2022: higher than in 84% of Irish towns.
That puts Swords 8% above the median for County Dublin as a whole, €71,123. 42 of the county’s 115 other towns of 2,500 people or more have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €63,634. The State median is €60,123, 22% below Swords’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
A longer trip than the middle of Irish towns: 31.1 minutes from Swords
Against 23% in the middle of County Dublin, 27% of trips take under 15 minutes. Trips of an hour or longer make up 12%, where the middle of County Dublin has 9.6%. 53% of trips take 15 to 44 minutes, where the middle of County Dublin has 59%. Among County Dublin’s 116 towns counted, 56 have shorter trips on average.
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.
In Swords, 28% of residents in work are in commerce and trade
The second-largest is Professional services, health and education, at 23% (against 25% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 0.3%.
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.
Across Swords, household incomes range from €63K to €86K
Median gross household income in each of the 5 electoral divisions where 50 or more of Swords’s households live: the highest is 1.4 times the lowest.
| Electoral division | Households here | Median income (whole division) | Aged 15–64 in work (here) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Swords-Forrest | 5,137 | €81,647 | 75% |
| Swords-Lissenhall | 3,680 | €78,039 | 72% |
| Swords-Glasmore | 2,362 | €76,842 | 71% |
| Swords-Seatown | 1,448 | €86,246 | 74% |
| Swords Village | 1,021 | €63,005 | 74% |
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 (GPIIA01): each division’s median covers all its households, including any outside Swords; households and the share in work are Swords’s own part (Census 2022, CSO SAPS).
Car-free commutes: 26% of workers in Swords
By car or van: 62% of commuters, next to 52% in the middle of County Dublin. Mainly from home: 11% of residents in work, much as in the middle of Irish towns. The bus takes 17% of commuters, against 6% in the middle of Irish towns. Walking takes 6.8% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 10%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
County Dublin on the Live Register since 2019
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. Swords office: signing on peaked in November 2020 at 3,271, 45% 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.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Work, study, retirement: 64% of adults in Swords are in work
Compared with Irish towns, 12% are retired (against 15%).
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Everyday places on foot in Swords: B+
Better than 72% of Irish towns on two measures together, #80 of 116 in County Dublin.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a post office: 37%.
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.
Ranked on jobs and income, Swords is 2nd among 17 Irish towns of 22,800 to 68,800
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naas County Kildare | 26,180 | 73% | 6.2% | €82K | A− |
| 2 | Swords County Dublin | 40,776 | 74% | 7% | €77K | A− |
| 3 | Lucan County Dublin | 23,033 | 73% | 6.7% | €85K | A− |
| 4 | Ennis County Clare | 27,923 | 68% | 9.6% | €53K | B |
| … | ||||||
| 8 | Blanchardstown County Dublin | 24,613 | 69% | 11% | €69K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 12 | Balbriggan County Dublin | 24,322 | 64% | 11% | €61K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 17 | Jobstown County Dublin | 23,437 | 62% | 15% | €59K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Swords, and others in County Dublin.
How Swords compares with the places nearby
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swords | 74% | 7% | €77K | 31.1 min | A− | B+ |
| Kinsealy-Drinan 2.5 km | 76% | 7% | €76K | 29.6 min | A | B |
| Malahide 4.7 km | 72% | 4.8% | €97K | 34.6 min | A− | C+ |
| Santry 6.1 km | 74% | 8.6% | €75K | 34.6 min | B | B |
| Donabate 6.5 km | 71% | 6.1% | €96K | 34 min | A− | A− |
| Darndale 6.7 km | 63% | 14% | €55K | 30.2 min | D | A− |
| Kilmore 7.1 km | 65% | 12% | €58K | 30.1 min | C | 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 Swords, 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 Swords
What is the unemployment rate in Swords?
7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.5% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Swords a good place to find work?
Swords earns an A− for jobs and income, better than 81% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #35 of 116 in County Dublin.
How do people in Swords get to work?
62% of commuters go by car or van, 6.8% walk, 1.9% cycle and 18% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 11% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Swords?
Trips to work, school or college take 31.1 minutes on average; 12% take an hour or more and 27% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Swords?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Swords’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Swords 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 Swords 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).