Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
It is a town of 774 residents in Co. Galway.
Buying the median home, at €208,500, takes 3.2 times the town’s median household income. 13% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. It skews older: 20% of residents are 65 or over.
There are no grades for Mountbellew: Irish towns need 1,000 residents for them.
The 3 things Mountbellew does most differently from other towns.
The record adds 7 archaeological sites.
Homes built before 1919: 3%, against 3% across Irish towns.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Mountbellew.
5 schools lie within 3 km of Mountbellew: 2 primary schools and 3 secondary schools. Holy Rosary College is the nearest secondary school, 1 km away.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoil Naomh MhuireLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 180 | Catholic |
| Holy Rosary CollegeLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary · Voluntary secondary | Post-primary · Voluntary secondary | 720 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teach through Irish | 0% | 15% | 8% |
| Single-sex secondaries | 0% | 31% | 39% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 0% | 27% | 35% |
| Pupils since 2019/20 | +15% | +2% | +4% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
The ground under Mountbellew carries no high landslide susceptibility. Its homes mostly stand clear of low ground by water.
| Share of homes | Mountbellew | 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.
The warmest afternoons come in July, at around 19.3°C in Mountbellew. The year’s mean temperature is 9.8°C, below both Co. Galway’s towns (10.3°C) and Irish towns (10.3°C). The town gets 1,161 mm of rain a year.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 2.1°C | 3.0°C | 2.9°C |
| Average temperature over the year | 9.8°C | 10.3°C | 10.3°C |
| July high | 19.3°C | 19.3°C | 19.9°C |
| Rain a year | 1,161 mm | 1,261 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
34% of people in the HSE West and North West health region hold a medical card. Unpaid caring falls to 7.9% of Mountbellew’s residents. At the census, just over a quarter of people here had a disability, above both Co. Galway’s towns (22%) and Irish towns (22%). Ages taken into account, Mountbellew counts 152 people in poor health for every 100 predicted.
| Census 2022 | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unpaid carers | 7.9% | 5% | 5.4% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.5% | 1.9% | 2% |
| With a disability | 26% | 22% | 22% |
| Good or very good health | 87% | 88% | 88% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
Social renters account for 5% of households. 18% rent privately, below both Co. Galway’s towns (36%) and Irish towns (22%).
| Housing | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households owning their home | 76% | 52% | 61% |
| Median sale price | €209K | €373K | €350K |
| Households renting privately | 18% | 36% | 22% |
| Households in social housing | 5% | 10% | 13% |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure · The price is for the postcode area H53, not the town alone: too few sales inside the town carry a full address.
100% of homes are within 400 m of green space, above both Co. Galway’s towns (80%) and Irish towns (92%). Per 1,000 residents, Mountbellew has 6.9 ha of green space.
| Outdoors | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodland within 1 km | 19% | 1.8% | 2.7% |
| Protected nature within 5 km | 4.1% | 14% | 1.8% |
| Near a park | 100% | 80% | 92% |
| Paths per km² of town | 0.2 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
No rain is due today, though a breeze picks up to 23 km/h; the low is 5°C. The warmest afternoon ahead comes on Thursday, at 10°C; the coolest tops out at 7°C. Set beside Mountbellew’s forecast, a normal November runs from 4°C at night to 11°C by day.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 8°C | 2°C | 346 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 5°C | 235 mm |
| Summer | 19°C | 11°C | 262 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 7°C | 318 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
Working from home was the norm for 7.3% of workers at the census. 6.1% of the labour force were unemployed, below Co. Galway’s towns (9.6%) and Irish towns (9.2%) alike. On average, the journey to work lasts 29.1 min.
| Census 2022 | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trips under 15 minutes | 46% | 37% | 31% |
| Unemployment rate | 6.1% | 9.6% | 9.2% |
| Average trip | 29.1 min | 23.8 min | 27.6 min |
| Median household income | €65,220 | €54,305 | €57,760 |
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.
Among adults, 40% have a degree. People 65 and over make up 20% of the town, higher than both Co. Galway’s towns (12%) and Irish towns (14%). Young adults of 15 to 24 account for a tenth of the town.
Women make up 51.3% of Mountbellew
397 women and 377 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 17% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 31% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 22% | 24% |
| 65+ | 20% | 12% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 11% | 7.4% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 9.6% | 10% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 34% | 29% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 5.3% | 5.5% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 40% | 47% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Galway and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
Galway County Council runs Mountbellew: Ireland has one tier of local government, with no town council below it. Turnout at the last local elections was 51%, above both Co. Galway’s towns (45%) and Irish towns (46%). No party holds a majority on Galway County Council: Fine Gael lead with 13 of 39 seats, short of the 20 needed.
| Turnout | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| General election, November 2024 | 62% | 58% | 59% |
| Local elections, June 2024 | 51% | 45% | 46% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
Its archaeology runs to 7 recorded sites. Before 1919: that is when 3.3% of homes were built. Surveyors for the national inventory recorded 6 buildings in Mountbellew, each of regional importance.
| Heritage | Mountbellew | Co. Galway | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 78 | 33 | 48 |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 7 | 19 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
One place to visit is mapped within 5 km of Mountbellew; with it, the best known within 40 km.
Historic house · Office of Public WorksClonmacnoise39 km southeast
CathedralCathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary23 km west
CastleAthenry Castle24 km southwest
CathedralSt Brendan's Cathedral31 km south
CastleGlinsk Castle21 km northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Surveyors for the national inventory recorded 6 buildings in Mountbellew, each of regional importance. Archaeologists have recorded 7 sites here.
7 notable people were born in Mountbellew.
The median age in Mountbellew is 43, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns.
Mountbellew had 774 people at the 2022 census, up from 751 in 2016: 3.1% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
Urban area in Co. Galway
774 people live in Mountbellew, 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).