Photo: Den Donovan · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 46.5: Fenit is older than 99% of Irish towns
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is 4.7%; Fenit has 1.2%. Lower than in 94% of Irish towns: 5.6% of households have no car or van. The 2022 Census put the town’s population at 619, in 246 households. Residents who said they are Catholic account for 77%.
Fenit changed by +3% from 2016 to 2022, slower than 78% 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.
Set beside +8% across Ireland’s towns and +2% across Co. Kerry’s towns.
Above 87% of Irish towns: 19% of residents are 65 or over
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
50–54 is the most common age band: 10% of residents, 1.7 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Lower than in 61% of Irish towns: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24. As a yardstick, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Kerry 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
Above 81% of Irish towns: 13% of residents 15 and over are students
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
In Fenit, the professional, managerial and technical classes take in 46% of residents and the semi-skilled and unskilled classes 15%, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. The census found that 6.6% of residents lived at another address a year earlier here.
Fenit sits above 69% of Irish towns for households of parents with children (47%)
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.
One-person households: 28% here and 24% across Ireland’s towns. There are 2.5 people in the average household. As a reference point, 43% of households are parents with children across Ireland’s towns.
Fenit ranks above 99% of Irish towns on holiday homes: 17%
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
Internet at home: broadband for 84%, nothing for 10% (typical: 7.6%). The wider picture: 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns.
Half of households earn more than €59,940 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
At €59,940 a year before tax, the median household income is near that of Ireland (€60,120). Across Co. Kerry the median is €48,320.
Fewer residents with another country’s citizenship than 98% of Irish towns: 4.8%
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.
6.7% speak another language at home, most often French (1.1%); 0.5% speak English not well or not at all. Residents born outside Ireland are rarer here than in 92% of Irish towns. Typically, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns.
Daily speakers of Irish outside education: 2.7%, a higher share than 98% 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
In all, 284 residents aged 3 and over (49%) can speak Irish. To put it in context, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Residents who describe themselves as White Irish make up 93% in Fenit, more than in 99% 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: 93% of Fenit · Co. Kerry’s towns 73% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White Irish, the biggest groups are Other White (5.1%), Asian or Asian Irish (0.7%) and Other, including mixed (0.7%). The wider picture: 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. At 18%, the share of residents with no religion is higher than in 55% of Irish towns.
A larger share of unpaid carers than 99% of Irish towns: 11%
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.
49% of Fenit’s residents 15 and over are single and 40% married, against 56% and 34% across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, 5.4% of residents give unpaid care.
In Fenit, 41% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, more than in 60% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Primary level or earlier: 9.6%, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns. The comparison figure for adults with a degree or higher is 36% across Ireland’s towns. Postgraduate: 17% of adults.
No nearby town is as old as Fenit
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 Fenit’s residents
What is the population of Fenit?
Fenit had 619 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 3% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Fenit?
The median age is 46.5. 22% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Fenit?
49% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (284 people), and 2.7% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Fenit?
93% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 13% were born abroad and 4.8% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Fenit?
77% are Catholic, 18% have no religion and 4.8% another religion; 2.9% didn’t say.
Is Fenit good for families?
47% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 22% of residents are under 18. Schools near Fenit are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Fenit?
Median gross household income in Fenit was €59,940 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).