Photo: BaronNethercross · CC BY-SA 4.0A smaller share of one-person households than 90% of Irish towns: 15%
Across Ireland’s towns, 14% of residents are 65 or over; in Swords, 9.7%. Locally, 50% of households are parents with children. Just over one in ten households have no car or van, a lower share than in 74% of Irish towns. In 2022, the Census found 40,776 residents locally, living in 13,648 households.
A change of +7% since 2016 leaves Swords behind 55% 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 Ireland’s towns, the typical town changed +8%; across Co. Dublin’s towns, +6%.
Swords is younger than 60% of Irish towns: a median age of 36.9
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. Swords has more residents aged 15 to 24 than 50% of Irish towns, at 12%. In Dalkey, the oldest of Co. Dublin’s towns by this measure, it is 29%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Swords, 36.9. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Dublin 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Residents who moved in within the year: 5.7%, a lower share than 77% of Irish towns
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 Swords, 41% and 13%. Residents who moved in within the year make up 7.5% across Ireland’s towns.
3 people per household, more than in 86% of Irish towns
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.
Across Swords, 5.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
In Swords, 16% of households live in a flat or apartment, more than in 64% of Irish towns
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 96% of households, while 3.2% go without the internet (typical: 7.6%). Households in flats: 12% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison. Census figures put holiday homes at 0.1% in Swords.
Median household income: €77,140 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Gross household income has a median of €77,140 a year here, 28% above Ireland (€60,120). That compares with €71,120 across Co. Dublin.
Above 65% of Irish towns: 25% of residents were born outside Ireland
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.
Residents born abroad were most often born elsewhere in the EU (8.3%), then outside the EU and UK (8.1%). Higher than in 66% of Irish towns: 18% of residents are citizens of another country. Measured more widely, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
36% of Swords can speak Irish
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%). Swords has more daily speakers of Irish outside education than two thirds of Irish towns, at 1.3%.
73% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, fewer than in 69% 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: 73% of Swords · Co. Dublin’s towns 78% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Nearly a fifth of residents said they have no religion; across Ireland’s towns the figure is 17%. Elsewhere, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Residents who said they are Catholic account for 67%.
In Swords, 38% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 78% of Irish towns
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.
Census figures put unpaid carers at 5.3% in Swords. Against that, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
36% of adults hold a degree or higher
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate qualifications are held by just over one in ten adults here, while 6.4% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Fewer adults with a degree or higher than in 50% of Irish towns: 36%.
Among 41 towns of 18,608 to 44,135 people, the 20th youngest
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Jobstown (32.4) and the oldest Beaumont (42.9). Nearest to Swords in age: Mullingar (36.7), Naas (36.9), Clondalkin (37.1) and Blanchardstown (37.3).
Swords and its 6 nearest towns: 2 of them are older
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 Swords’s residents
What is the population of Swords?
Swords had 40,776 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Swords?
The median age is 36.9, younger than 60% of Irish towns. 25% are under 18 and 9.7% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Swords?
36% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (13,366 people), and 1.3% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Swords?
73% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 25% were born abroad and 18% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Swords?
67% are Catholic, 19% have no religion and 14% another religion; 5.5% didn’t say.
Is Swords good for families?
50% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 25% of residents are under 18. Schools near Swords are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Swords?
Median gross household income in Swords was €77,140 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).