Photo: Robert Ashby · CC BY-SA 2.0How Spa works: jobs, income and commuting
People heading out of Spa for work or study spend 19.1 minutes travelling on average; 5.4% spend 60 minutes or longer. At the 2022 census, 3.3% of the labour force in Spa had no job, next to 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Spa isn’t graded for jobs and income: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
The short version on work in Spa
Less unemployment than most towns
3.3% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 0.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 19.1 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 5.4% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
No Jobs & income Grade for Spa
Spa has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
73% of Spa’s 15-to-64s are in work
All 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Kerry have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 0.4% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 22% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 53% were at work.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS): people at work of any age, over residents aged 15 to 64. The census doesn’t cross work with age, so the few people working past 65 count in the top only.
Getting to work or school is quicker from Spa than in the middle of Irish towns
For the middle of County Kerry, the average trip is 21.7 minutes. No town of the 5 counted in County Kerry has a shorter average trip. Against 53% in the middle of County Kerry, 56% of trips take under 15 minutes.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), time taken to travel to work, school or college; the four bands are the shares of trips whose length was stated.
The industries behind Spa’s jobs
Commerce and trade is the second-largest at 29%, against 26% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 2%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), industry of people at work who live here. Ireland doesn’t publish how many jobs are based in each town, so this shows what residents do, not the jobs here.
Before tax, the median household in Spa has €59,940
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Spa 24% above the median for County Kerry as a whole, €48,320. No town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. Net of tax, it is €51,560.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Leaving the car at home: 6.3% of commuters in Spa
Against 8% in the middle of County Kerry, 15% work mainly from home here. Driving to work: 79% here, 71% in the middle of County Kerry. Bus and rail carry 1.4% and 2.1% of commuters, against 6% and 0.9% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.8% walk to work, against 10% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The Live Register in County Kerry, month by month
4,870 people were signing on in County Kerry in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 7%. For 30 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. County Kerry: signing on peaked in April 2020 at 8,848, 26% above the 2019 average.
Live Register (CSO LRM07), people signing on at social welfare offices each month. It isn’t an unemployment rate: part-time and seasonal workers sign on too, and offices serve areas that aren’t published. This place has no office of its own name, so the chart is its county’s or city’s.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
28% of adults in Spa are retired
Compared with Irish towns, 53% are in work (against 57%) and 2.5% are long-term sick or disabled (against 4.7%).
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Walking to the shops, school and post office in Spa
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a food shop is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (0%).
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), places within 800 m in a straight line of each Census small area; active commuting from Census 2022. OpenStreetMap misses many GP surgeries and bakeries in Ireland, so those two are shown, not graded.
Work in and around Spa
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spa | 73% | 3.3% | €60K | 19.1 min | — | — |
| Tralee 6.1 km | 61% | 14% | €43K | 20.5 min | C− | C+ |
| Milltown 15.6 km | 65% | 12% | €52K | 22.7 min | C+ | B− |
| Killorglin 19.2 km | 68% | 11% | €43K | 22.3 min | C+ | B− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and trip times, with both grades.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Spa, where it comes from, and what Ireland doesn’t publish.
- In work. People at work over residents aged 15 to 64 (Census 2022). Graded in place of the share of everyone 15 and over, so a town of retirees isn’t marked down for them.
- Unemployment. Unemployed people (first-job seekers included) over the labour force, from Census 2022.
- Household income. CSO’s median gross household income for 2022. Where CSO publishes no figure for the town, ours is the household-weighted mean of its electoral divisions’ medians, and the page says so.
- Trip times. Census 2022 groups trips to work, school and college by length; the average uses each group’s middle (7.5 to 105 minutes).
- Signing on. The Live Register counts people signing on at a social welfare office, by office and county. It includes part-time and seasonal workers, so it follows a trend; it isn’t an unemployment rate.
- Walkability. Four everyday places within 800 m (pharmacy, food shop, school, post office) and the share who walk, cycle or take the bus or train to work. GP surgeries and bakeries are shown, not graded: OpenStreetMap misses many.
- Which towns we compare. Places of 2,500 people or more that aren’t a whole city: towns and city neighbourhoods. Grades start at 1,000 people; ranks at 2,500.
- What isn’t here. Ireland publishes no count of the jobs based in each town and no open table of where commuters go (CSO releases its place-of-work file, POWSCAR, on application only), so this page has no daily tide, commute map or jobs-based-here block. Claimant rates aren’t published for towns either: the Live Register is by office and county.
Questions about work in Spa
What is the unemployment rate in Spa?
3.3% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 0.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Spa get to work?
79% of commuters go by car or van, 2.8% walk, 0% cycle and 3.5% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 15% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Spa?
Trips to work, school or college take 19.1 minutes on average; 5.4% take an hour or more and 56% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Spa?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Spa’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Spa work?
Ireland has no open table of where commuters go: CSO releases its place-of-work file (POWSCAR) on application only. The census does give how people from Spa travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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).