Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The population grew 18% between 2016 and 2022. The neighbourhood, home to 4,126 people, lies in Galway.
A town of contrasts. At C overall, Mervue is better than just over a quarter of Irish towns and ranks #238 of 320 Irish towns. Its weakest subject is safety (C−) — burglary and criminal damage run at 7.2 per 1,000 residents a year, violent crime at 11.1. It also trails on health: 122 residents in bad health and 120 with a disability for every 100 its ages predict. Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 37% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train, against 23% in the typical Irish town. Set against the median household income, the median home, at €256,000, costs 5.1 times as much.
Figures: commuting and health, CSO Census 2022 · crime, CSO recorded crime, 2023 to 2025 · prices, Property Price Register, 2023 to 2025 · incomes, CSO.
Crime here is counted against the people who live here, but much of it involves people who come in to work, shop or go out, so the rate per resident runs higher than residents' own risk.
The 3 things Mervue does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Mervue with Irish towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far it is from the middle. Towns in other countries are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades Irish towns →
The record adds 6 archaeological sites.
Homes built before 1919: 0%, against 3% across Irish towns.
Castles, abbeys, gardens, museums and days out in and near Mervue. Best known first.
CathedralGalway Cathedral1.5 km outside town, to the west
MuseumGalway City Museum1.7 km outside town, to the southwest · 162K visitors a year (2011)
GardenEyre Square1.1 km outside town, to the west
CastleMerlinpark Castle700 m outside town, to the east
CastleOranmore Castle5 km outside town, to the east
CastleLynch's Castle1.4 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Mervue.
Mervue’s nearest bathing water is Ballyloughane Beach, 1.6 km away, rated good in 2025. Radon: 100% of homes are in high-radon areas, near Co. Galway’s towns (100%) and higher than Irish towns (0%). The ground under Mervue carries no high landslide susceptibility.
| Share of homes | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In high-radon areas | 100% | 100% | 0% |
| Low-lying near a river | 0.1% | 5% | 0.5% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
Thefts came to 28.3 per 1,000 a year (not part of the grade), above both Co. Galway’s towns (11.7) and Irish towns (15.3). Among the 201 Irish towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people, Mervue has more crime per resident than 78% of them. The commonest graded crime here was assaults and harassment (2023–2025).
Not in the gradeTheft, public order and offences found by Garda checks (drugs, road traffic, dangerous acts) are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence, burglary and damage.
| Per 1,000 a year | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 11.1 | 7.9 | 5.7 |
| All recorded crime | 97.3 | 67.8 | 54.3 |
| Theft | 28.3 | 11.7 | 15.3 |
| Burglary & damage | 7.2 | 5.8 | 6.4 |
CSO recorded crime by Garda station, 2023–2025, shared to towns by where residents live · Census 2022 populations
27% of residents have a disability, higher than both Co. Galway’s towns (22%) and Irish towns (22%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 2.4% of the town. In the HSE West and North West health region, 34% of people hold a medical card. Self-reported good health: 85% of Mervue’s residents.
| Census 2022 | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| With a disability | 27% | 22% | 22% |
| Good or very good health | 85% | 88% | 88% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2.4% | 1.8% | 2% |
| Unpaid carers | 5.4% | 4.9% | 5.4% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
Irish-medium schools make up 13%, between Co. Galway’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (8%). For secondary school, the closest is Galway Community College, 0.9 km from the town. Families in Mervue have 30 schools within 3 km to choose from: 19 primary schools, 6 secondary schools and 5 special schools.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Iognaid GaelscoilLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 480 | Catholic |
| St Joseph's College BoysLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Post-primary · Voluntary secondary | 791 | Catholic |
| Gaelscoil Dara GaelscoilTeaches through IrishPrimary | Primary | 419 | Catholic |
| Coláiste Mhuirlinne/Merlin College DEISIn the DEIS schemePost-primary · ETB | Post-primary · ETB | 710 | Multi-denominational |
| Schools within 3 km | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single-sex secondaries | 17% | 33% | 39% |
| Teach through Irish | 13% | 15% | 8% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 37% | 25% | 35% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · Letters and results are missing here for a reason: Ireland publishes neither school by school.
The car took 53% of commuters, below Co. Galway’s towns (62%) and Irish towns (66%) alike. Households take home €50,060 a year before tax, on average. Unemployment stands at 10%.
| Census 2022 | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip | 22.3 min | 24 min | 27.6 min |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 39% | 37% | 31% |
| Median household income | €50,060 | €55,250 | €57,760 |
| Unemployment rate | 10% | 9.4% | 9.2% |
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.
Mervue sees July afternoons of 19.1°C on average. A year brings 1,257 mm of rain, close to Co. Galway’s towns (1,265 mm) and above Irish towns (937 mm). On a January night, the temperature in Mervue falls to about 3.1°C.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 19.1°C | 19.3°C | 19.9°C |
| Rain a year | 1,257 mm | 1,265 mm | 937 mm |
| January low | 3.1°C | 3.0°C | 2.9°C |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
Woodland covers 3.6% of the land within 1 km, above Co. Galway’s towns (1.7%) and Irish towns (2.7%) alike. Protected nature near Mervue includes Galway Bay Complex SAC. This Co. Galway town offers 17.4 ha of green space per 1,000 residents. It counts 2 parks, adding up to 72 ha of green space.
| Outdoors | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sea within 5 km | 25% | 20% | 0% |
| Paths per km² of town | 4.3 km per km² | 1.8 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Protected nature within 5 km | 11% | 15% | 1.8% |
| Green space per 1,000 residents | 17.4 ha | 5.4 ha | 4.1 ha |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
Among adults, 37% have a degree. 16% of residents are 65 or over, higher than both Co. Galway’s towns (12%) and Irish towns (14%). People aged 15 to 24 make up 15% of the town.
Women make up 50.3% of Mervue
2,074 women and 2,052 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 17% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 15% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 33% | 31% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 23% | 21% | 24% |
| 65+ | 16% | 12% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 11% | 7.3% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 14% | 10% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 33% | 28% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 4.6% | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 37% | 49% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Galway and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
There is just one council for Mervue, Galway City Council: Ireland has only one tier of local government. In the Dáil, Mervue is part of Galway West, which elects 5 TDs. 45% of voters turned out at the last local elections.
| Turnout | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 45% | 45% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 58% | 58% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
Per 10,000 residents, Mervue counts 7 inventory buildings. Homes from before 1919 make up 0.3% of the total, lower than both Co. Galway’s towns (2.5%) and Irish towns (3.4%). Also worth knowing: the ground here holds 6 recorded archaeological sites.
| Heritage | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 7 | 51 | 48 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 0.3% | 2.5% | 3.4% |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 6 | 21 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
Home ownership stands at 52% of households. Private renters make up 29% of households, below Co. Galway’s towns (36%) but above Irish towns (22%).
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Second-hand homes | €256,000 | 47 |
| Housing | Mervue | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median sale price | €256K | €373K | €350K |
| Households in social housing | 18% | 10% | 13% |
| Households renting privately | 29% | 36% | 22% |
| Households owning their home | 52% | 52% | 61% |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure
Surveyors for the national inventory recorded 3 buildings in Mervue, each of regional importance. Archaeologists have recorded 6 sites here.
No notable person born in Mervue is on our list; these were born in the towns around it.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mervue | 4,126 | — | C | C+ | C− | C− |
| Murrough | 2,909 | 1.5 | C+ | C+ | C− | B+ |
| Eyre Square | 6,801 | 1.5 | C | D | C− | B+ |
| Castlegar | 4,315 | 1.7 | D− | C− | C− | D |
| Ballybane | 15,082 | 2.1 | C+ | B | C+ | C+ |
| Ballinfoile and Terryland | 5,851 | 2.3 | D | D | C− | B− |
| Woodquay and Nuns Island | 4,948 | 2.3 | C− | D | C− | B− |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
Mervue had 4,126 people at the 2022 census, up from 3,499 in 2016: 17.9% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
10% mostly work from home, and 39% of journeys take under 15 minutes.
The median age in Mervue is 37.4, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns.
Neighbourhood in Galway
Mervue has 4,126 people, in the area of Galway City Council. TownRatings splits Galway into neighbourhoods made from the CSO’s Electoral Divisions, named from Tailte Éireann’s gazetteer, so each has figures of its own.
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) · TownRatings grades, run #544 (Irish towns only). 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).