Photo: Dr Neil Clifton · CC BY-SA 2.0Sneem is older than 99% of Irish towns: a median age of 45.8
Households of parents with children make up 30%, against 43% across Ireland’s towns. Lower than in 90% of Irish towns: 4.6% of households live in a flat or apartment. 386 residents in 152 households: that is Sneem at the 2022 Census. Census figures put one-person households at 38% locally.
A change of +7% since 2016 leaves Sneem behind 56% 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 +2% across Co. Kerry’s towns.
22% of Sneem is 65 or over, a higher share than 94% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 45–49: 10% of residents, 1.5 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Locally, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24. Typically, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
46% women, 54% men
About 117 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Kerry 51.4%, Ireland 51.2%.
7% of residents 15 and over are students, fewer than in 99% 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
Here 14% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 7.5%. For comparison, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
Households here average 2.2 people, below 96% 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.
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults is 4.7%; Sneem has 3.3%.
A higher share of holiday homes than 99% of Irish towns, at 32%
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
By its share of households without a car or van (23%), Sneem is above 73% of Irish towns. Elsewhere, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns.
Half of households earn more than €34,560 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
The median household earns €34,560 gross, 43% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Co. Kerry as a whole has a median of €48,320.
Sneem 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.
30% are citizens of another country (Ireland’s towns 15%). Residents born outside Ireland make up 22% across Ireland’s towns. At home, 25% use another language, chiefly Polish (3.6%), and 5.4% speak English not well or not at all.
1.7% of residents speak Irish every day outside education
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
Some 100 people here, 28% of residents aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. Elsewhere, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
66% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, fewer than in 84% 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: 66% of Sneem · Co. Kerry’s towns 73% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Residents who said they are Catholic make up 64%, against 71% across Ireland’s towns. Next after White Irish come Other White (29%), Other, including mixed (2.9%) and Black or Black Irish (1.4%). Compared with other places, residents with no religion are common here: 17%, more than in 52% of Irish towns. The wider picture: 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns.
In Sneem, 8% of residents give unpaid care, more than in 99% of Irish towns
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.
Few places have as many married residents 15 and over: 35% here, more than in 55% of Irish towns. The usual figure: 5.4% of residents give unpaid care across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher make up 21% in Sneem, less than in 86% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Across Ireland’s towns, 9.7% of adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Sneem, 15%, and 6.5% hold a postgraduate qualification. For adults with a degree or higher, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 36%.
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 Sneem’s residents
What is the population of Sneem?
Sneem had 386 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Sneem?
The median age is 45.8. 18% are under 18 and 22% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Sneem?
28% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (100 people), and 1.7% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Sneem?
66% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 35% were born abroad and 30% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Sneem?
64% are Catholic, 17% have no religion and 18% another religion; 7.5% didn’t say.
Is Sneem good for families?
30% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 18% of residents are under 18. Schools near Sneem are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Sneem?
Median gross household income in Sneem was €34,560 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).