Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Only 64% of residents describe themselves as White Irish in Gort
In Gort, 7.1% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, beside 4.7% across Ireland’s towns. Census figures put holiday homes at 1% in the town. Lower than in 63% of Irish towns: 12% of residents are 65 or over. This Co. Galway town is home to 2,870 residents in 1,060 households, by the 2022 Census.
What stands out about the people of Gort
More born abroad than anywhere else in Co. Galway
35% of residents were born abroad, against 26% across Co. Galway’s towns and 22% across Ireland’s towns. The largest groups were born outside the EU and UK (22%) and in the UK (5.8%); 28% are citizens of another country. Where people were born ↓
A mix of backgrounds
36% of residents describe a background other than White Irish, more than in 86% of Irish towns. The largest groups after White Irish are Other White (18%), Other, including mixed (11%) and Asian or Asian Irish (3.1%). Ethnicity & religion ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Slower than most: +5% since 2016, behind 66% 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.
Elsewhere, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +7% across Co. Galway’s towns.
A smaller share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 75% of Irish towns: 11%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
With a median age of 38, Gort is older than 54% of Irish towns. Across the comparison, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. The largest age band is 40–44: one in ten residents. In Newcastle, the oldest of Co. Galway’s towns by this measure, it is 28%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Gort, 38. 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. Galway 51.6%, Ireland 51.2%.
27% of residents belong to the professional, managerial and technical classes
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
By occupation, skilled trades are over-represented: 19%, against a typical 11%. Census figures put students among residents 15 and over at 9.3% in Gort.
28% of households are one person living alone, a share 69% of Irish towns don’t reach
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.
In Gort the average household is 2.7 people, beside 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. The comparison figure for one-person households is 24% across Ireland’s towns. The share of households of parents with children stands at 42%.
Households in flats: 14%, a higher share than 57% 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
At home, 88% have broadband, while 11% have no internet access (typical: 7.6%). Every 6th household or so has no car or van. Typically, 12% of households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns.
€45,190 a year: the median household income
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Gort’s households have a gross income below €45,190 a year, 25% under the median for Ireland (€60,120). Countywide in Co. Galway, the median is €59,640.
Gort ranks above 90% of Irish towns on residents born outside Ireland: 35%
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 45%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 45%
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.
At home, 30% use another language, chiefly Polish (2.7%), and 7% speak English not well or not at all. Set beside that, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. Compared with other places, residents with another country’s citizenship are common here: 28%, more than in 89% of Irish towns.
Daily speakers of Irish outside education make up 1.6% in Gort, more than in 81% 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: 808 residents, just over a third of those aged 3 and over. Set beside that, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
67% of residents said they are Catholic, fewer than in 66% 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: 64% of Gort · Co. Galway’s towns 72% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (18%), Other, including mixed (11%) and Asian or Asian Irish (3.1%). As a reference point, 71% of residents said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of residents said they have no religion; in Gort, 16%.
Half of adults have never married
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 are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns: 4.8%. 34% of residents 15 and over are married.
Adults with a degree or higher: 27%, a lower share than 71% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Of Gort’s adults, 8.2% went on to postgraduate study and 13% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Across the comparison, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Youngest by rank: 18th of 41 towns of 2,536 to 3,263 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 30.4 in Kilbarry to 45.5 in Ballybrack. Nearest to Gort in age: Ballinrobe (37.6), Kanturk (37.9), Bailieborough (38.2) and Baltinglass (38.2).
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).
- 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 Gort’s residents
What is the population of Gort?
Gort had 2,870 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 5% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Gort?
The median age is 38, older than 54% of Irish towns. 25% are under 18 and 12% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Gort?
35% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (808 people), and 1.6% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Gort?
64% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 35% were born abroad and 28% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Gort?
67% are Catholic, 16% have no religion and 17% another religion; 17% didn’t say.
Is Gort good for families?
42% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 25% of residents are under 18. Schools near Gort are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Gort?
Median gross household income in Gort was €45,190 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).