Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
254 people call this town in Co. Galway home.
Outside school, 36% of residents speak Irish every day. 43% of households are private tenants. It grew by 28% between the 2016 and 2022 censuses.
An Spidéal isn’t graded: grades for Irish towns begin at 1,000 residents.
The 3 things An Spidéal does most differently from other towns.
6 archaeological sites are on the record here too.
8% of its homes were built before 1919, against 3% in the median of Irish towns.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in An Spidéal.
The nearest secondary, Colaiste Chroi Mhuire, is 0.3 km away. 2 schools lie within 3 km of An Spidéal: 1 primary school and 1 secondary school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Einne Gaeltacht schoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 171 | Catholic |
| Colaiste Chroi Mhuire Gaeltacht schoolLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Post-primary · Voluntary secondary | 270 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teach through Irish | 100% | 15% | 8% |
| Single-sex secondaries | 0% | 31% | 39% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 0% | 27% | 35% |
| Pupils since 2019/20 | +1% | +2% | +4% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · Results by school aren’t published in Ireland, so the cards carry none.
The closest place to swim from An Spidéal is Céibh an Spidéil, 0.7 km away, rated excellent in 2025. The ground under An Spidéal carries no high landslide susceptibility. Under 1% of homes here are estimated to have radon above the reference level.
| Share of homes | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In high-radon areas | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| On high landslide susceptibility | 0% | 0% | 0% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
An Spidéal sees January nights of 3.5°C on average. Across the year it averages 10.5°C, close to both Co. Galway’s towns (10.3°C) and Irish towns (10.3°C). A year brings 1,422 mm of rain to An Spidéal.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 18.7°C | 19.3°C | 19.9°C |
| Rain a year | 1,422 mm | 1,261 mm | 937 mm |
| January low | 3.5°C | 3.0°C | 2.9°C |
| Average temperature over the year | 10.5°C | 10.3°C | 10.3°C |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
Self-reported good health: 91% of An Spidéal’s residents. 7.9% of residents give unpaid care to a relative or friend, higher than both Co. Galway’s towns (5%) and Irish towns (5.4%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 0.8% of the town. In the HSE West and North West health region, just over a third of people hold a medical card.
| Census 2022 | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unpaid carers | 7.9% | 5% | 5.4% |
| Bad or very bad health | 0.8% | 1.9% | 2% |
| Good or very good health | 91% | 88% | 88% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
Owners make up 52% of households, close to Co. Galway’s towns (52%) and below Irish towns (61%).
| Housing | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households in social housing | 0% | 10% | 13% |
| Households renting privately | 43% | 36% | 22% |
| Households owning their home | 52% | 52% | 61% |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure · The price is for the postcode area H91, not the town alone: too few sales inside the town carry a full address.
Within 5 km, 45% is sea, above Co. Galway’s towns (21%) and Irish towns (0%) alike. 100% of homes have green space within 400 m. Every 1,000 residents of An Spidéal share 2.5 ha of green space.
| Outdoors | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protected nature within 5 km | 52% | 14% | 1.8% |
| Sea within 5 km | 45% | 21% | 0% |
| Near a park | 100% | 80% | 92% |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
The warmest afternoon ahead comes on Wednesday, at 11°C; the coolest tops out at 6°C. Any rain today should be slight, though the wind picks up to 23 km/h; the low is 6°C. By December, a normal day reaches 9°C and a normal night 4°C.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 9°C | 4°C | 419 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 6°C | 269 mm |
| Summer | 18°C | 12°C | 324 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 8°C | 410 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
Getting to work takes 29.4 min on average. Working mainly from home: 16% of workers, above Co. Galway’s towns (11%) and Irish towns (11%) alike. At the census, 68% of commuters went by car.
| Census 2022 | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In work, 15 to 64 | 74% | 68% | 68% |
| Average trip | 29.4 min | 23.8 min | 27.6 min |
| Median household income | €63,320 | €54,305 | €57,760 |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 35% | 37% | 31% |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
Degrees are held by 57% of adults. 18% were born abroad, below Co. Galway’s towns (26%) and Irish towns (22%) alike. Young adults of 15 to 24 account for just over a tenth of the town.
52.4% of An Spidéal’s residents are women
133 women and 121 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 32% | 31% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 22% | 24% |
| 65+ | 13% | 12% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 4% | 7.4% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 5.2% | 10% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 25% | 29% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 8.7% | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 57% | 47% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Galway and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
An Spidéal is run by Galway County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government. Galway County Council has no ruling majority: Fine Gael hold 13 of its 39 seats, short of the 20 needed. In the Dáil, An Spidéal is part of Galway West, which elects 5 TDs.
| Turnout | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 68% | 45% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 58% | 58% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
Homes from before 1919 make up 8.4% of the total, above Co. Galway’s towns (1.7%) and Irish towns (3.4%) alike. The ground here holds 6 recorded archaeological sites. An Spidéal’s built heritage counts 8 inventory entries, each of regional standing.
| Heritage | An Spidéal | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 315 | 33 | 48 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 8.4% | 1.7% | 3.4% |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 6 | 19 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
2 places to visit are mapped within 5 km of An Spidéal; with them, the best known within 40 km.
CathedralGalway Cathedral17 km east
MuseumGalway City Museum17 km east · 162K visitors a year (2011)
National parkBurren National Park33 km southeast
CastleAughnanure Castle19 km north
AttractionAillwee Cave21 km southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
An Spidéal’s built heritage counts 8 inventory entries, each of regional standing. 6 recorded monuments and archaeological sites lie here.
5 notable people were born in An Spidéal.
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| An Spidéal | 254 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Bearna | 2,336 | 10 | — | D | A | A+ |
| Maigh Cuilinn | 2,279 | 13 | — | C | A+ | A− |
| Knocknacarra | 18,398 | 13 | B+ | D | A | A− |
| Rahoon | 3,486 | 15 | C+ | D | B | B− |
| Salthill | 5,445 | 15 | A | D | A | A |
| Taylor's Hill | 3,141 | 15 | C− | D | B | C |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
An Spidéal had 254 people at the 2022 census, up from 199 in 2016: 27.6% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
The median age in An Spidéal is 39.5, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns. 17% of residents are under 15 and 13% are 65 or over.
Urban area in Co. Galway
254 people live in An Spidéal, in the area of Galway County Council. TownRatings uses the CSO’s 2022 Urban Areas as Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a county or a council area, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0). 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).