Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Half of Cluain Bú is over 45.3, older than 98% of Irish towns
80% of residents said they are Catholic, against 71% across Ireland’s towns. The 2022 Census put Cluain Bú’s population at 484, in 175 households. Households without a car or van: 4.7% of the total. Few places have so few one-person households: 17% here, fewer than in just over four fifths of Irish towns.
In Cluain Bú, 2% of residents speak Irish daily outside education, more than in 91% 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
Speakers of Irish: 249 residents, 55% of those aged 3 and over. By way of comparison, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Cluain Bú changed by +5% from 2016 to 2022, slower than 65% 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, half of towns changed by more than +8%; across Co. Galway’s towns, by more than +7%.
Cluain Bú ranks above 88% of Irish towns on residents aged 65 and over: 20%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 60–64, with nearly one in ten residents, 1.9 times the share across Ireland’s towns. As a yardstick, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. In Cluain Bú, 13% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Galway 51.6%, Ireland 51.2%.
Cluain Bú sits below 96% of Irish towns for residents who moved in within the year (3.6%)
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
Compared with a typical 7.8%, process, plant and machine operatives account for 15% of workers. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 7.5%.
2.3% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, below 92% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Galway’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Households in Cluain Bú hold 2.8 people on average (Ireland’s towns: 2.7). For comparison, 4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Ireland’s towns. Across Cluain Bú, 43% of households are parents with children.
Fewer flats than 85% of Irish towns: 5.7% of households
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
At 0.5%, the share of holiday homes is in line with the figure across Ireland’s towns. Typically, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns.
€67,160 a year: where the middle household sits
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
The median household earns €67,160 gross, 12% more than the Ireland median (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Galway, the median is €59,640.
7.3% of residents are citizens of another country, below 93% 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 35%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
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 its share of residents born outside Ireland (14%), Cluain Bú is below 87% of Irish towns. The comparison figure for residents with another country’s citizenship is 15% across Ireland’s towns. The largest groups were born in the UK (6.5%) and elsewhere in the EU (3.2%).
Cluain Bú: 90% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, above 97% 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: 90% of Cluain Bú · Co. Galway’s towns 72% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the most common groups are Other White (6.9%), Black or Black Irish (1.3%) and Asian or Asian Irish (0.9%). Residents with no religion are rarer here than in 74% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, residents who describe themselves as White Irish come to 78%.
Cluain Bú ranks above 99% of Irish towns on married residents 15 and over: 47%
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 make up 4.5%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. 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
Of Cluain Bú’s adults, 14% went on to postgraduate study and 6.1% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns).
Cluain Bú is older than every town around it
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cluain Bú | 484 | — | 45.3 | 20% | 43% |
| Baile Chláir | 1,632 | 6.5 km | 34.6 | 5.6% | 54% |
| Castlegar | 4,315 | 9.0 km | 33.1 | 10% | 31% |
| Ballinfoile and Terryland | 5,851 | 9.3 km | 30.4 | 12% | 30% |
| Mervue | 4,126 | 10.4 km | 37.4 | 16% | 29% |
| Ballybane | 15,082 | 10.5 km | 34.1 | 7.1% | 41% |
| Dangan | 4,621 | 10.8 km | 27.5 | 13% | 27% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Galway’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Galway’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).
- Speaking Irish. CSO asks everyone aged 3 and over whether they can speak Irish and how often; “daily outside education” leaves out speaking it only at school.
- 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 Cluain Bú’s residents
What is the population of Cluain Bú?
Cluain Bú had 484 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 5% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Cluain Bú?
The median age is 45.3. 19% are under 18 and 20% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Cluain Bú?
55% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (249 people), and 2% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns. Cluain Bú is in the Gaeltacht, the districts where Irish is the community language.
How diverse is Cluain Bú?
90% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 14% were born abroad and 7.3% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Cluain Bú?
80% are Catholic, 14% have no religion and 6.8% another religion; 2.7% didn’t say.
Is Cluain Bú good for families?
43% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 19% of residents are under 18. Schools near Cluain Bú are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Cluain Bú?
Median gross household income in Cluain Bú was €67,160 in 2022, against €59,640 across Co. Galway 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).