Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0Ballybunion is older than 98% of Irish towns: a median age of 44.4
In Ballybunion, 5.7% of households live in a flat or apartment, beside 12% across Ireland’s towns. More residents who said they are Catholic than in 94% of Irish towns: 82%. Its 702 households held 1,618 residents at the 2022 Census. 36% of households are one person living alone.
What stands out about the people of Ballybunion
One home in 3 is a holiday home
About 390 of 1,220 homes were empty holiday homes on Census night (32%), more than in 99% of Irish towns; 7.9% were vacant. Homes & cars ↓
Older than most towns
Half of Ballybunion’s residents are under 44.4 and half over; the typical median across Irish towns is 37.6. 24% are 65 or over, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. Ages ↓
Many carers
About 120 residents (7.4%) give regular unpaid care, more than in 99% of Irish towns. Relationships & caring ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Faster growth than 65% of Irish towns: Ballybunion changed by +10% since 2016
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. Kerry’s towns, by more than +2%.
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 97% of Irish towns, at 24%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The figure for residents aged 15 to 24 is 8.7% in Ballybunion and 12% across Ireland’s towns. No age band is larger than 35–39: 8.2% of residents. As a reference point, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Kerry 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Students among residents 15 and over make up 7.4% in Ballybunion, less than in 98% of Irish towns
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
33% of Ballybunion’s residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 18% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year: 4.9% of the total.
2.2 people per household, fewer than in 95% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Kerry’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
The figure for households of parents with children is 36% in Ballybunion and 43% across Ireland’s towns. For Ballybunion, the census puts shared households of unrelated adults at 2.4%.
Ballybunion: 32% of homes are holiday homes, above 99% 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
Most homes are connected: 83% have broadband, and 13% have no internet (typical: 7.6%). Few places have so few households without a car or van: 17% here, fewer than in 54% of Irish towns. The wider picture: 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns.
Household income at the median: €35,370 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Gross household income has a median of €35,370 a year here, 41% below Ireland (€60,120). In Co. Kerry overall, the median comes to €48,320.
In Ballybunion, 5.3% of residents are citizens of another country, fewer than in 98% 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 30%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 30%
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, 5.5% use another language, chiefly Polish (1.9%), and 0.4% speak English not well or not at all. 16% of residents were born outside Ireland, a lower share than in 82% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents with another country’s citizenship is 15%.
Ballybunion sits below 82% of Irish towns for daily speakers of Irish outside education (0.7%)
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
Tralee leads Co. Kerry with 1.3%. By way of comparison, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Above 98% of Irish towns: 93% of residents describe themselves as White Irish
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: 93% of Ballybunion · Co. Kerry’s towns 73% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (4.9%), Other, including mixed (1%) and Asian or Asian Irish (0.9%). Few places have so few residents with no religion: 13% here, fewer than in 77% of Irish towns. The comparison figure for residents who describe themselves as White Irish is 78% across Ireland’s towns.
A larger share of unpaid carers than 99% of Irish towns: 7.4%
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.
Compared with other places, married residents 15 and over are common here: 35%, more than in 52% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of unpaid carers is 5.4%.
In Ballybunion, 28% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, fewer than in 69% 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 Ballybunion’s adults, 8.6% went on to postgraduate study and 12% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Adults with a degree or higher: 36% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
Ballybunion is younger than 1 of its 3 nearest neighbours
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Kerry’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Kerry’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 Ballybunion’s residents
What is the population of Ballybunion?
Ballybunion had 1,618 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballybunion?
The median age is 44.4. 20% are under 18 and 24% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballybunion?
41% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (602 people), and 0.7% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballybunion?
93% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 5.3% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballybunion?
82% are Catholic, 13% have no religion and 5.2% another religion; 5.3% didn’t say.
Is Ballybunion good for families?
36% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 20% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballybunion are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballybunion?
Median gross household income in Ballybunion was €35,370 in 2022, against €48,320 across Co. Kerry 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).