Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0A larger share of one-person households than 88% of Irish towns: 31%
The median age in Tralee is 39.3, higher than in 69% of Irish towns. There were 10,187 households in the town at the 2022 Census, home to 26,079 residents. Households without a car or van account for 22%. Nearly two in five households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns: 43%).
Tralee grew +10% from 2016 to 2022, ahead of 65% 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.
Tralee sits above 68% of Irish towns for residents aged 65 and over (16%)
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is 12%; Tralee has 13%. Elsewhere, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. More residents are 40–44 than any other five-year age: 7.9% of residents.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Tralee, 39.3. The typical town is 37.6.
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%.
More students among residents 15 and over than 67% of Irish towns: 11%
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 Tralee, the professional, managerial and technical classes take in 29% of residents and the semi-skilled and unskilled classes 14%, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. The share of residents who moved in within the year stands at 7.1%.
Smaller households than 81% of Irish towns: 2.5 people on average
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.
4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Ireland’s towns, against 7.2% in Tralee.
A town of flats: 15% of households live in one
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
Holiday homes: 1.1%, near enough the figure across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of households in flats is 12%.
Household income at the median: €42,580 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Before tax, the middle household here has €42,580 a year, 29% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Across Co. Kerry the median is €48,320.
Above 60% of Irish towns: 25% of residents were born outside Ireland
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.
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born outside the EU and UK (8.8%) and in the UK (5.9%). Residents with another country’s citizenship are more common here than in 58% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents born outside Ireland is 22%.
Irish speakers: 38% of Tralee’s residents
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
Little separates the share of daily speakers of Irish outside education here, 1.3%, from the figure across Ireland’s towns. Some 8,418 people here, 38% of residents aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Kerry’s 5 towns of 2,500+.
Below 81% of Irish towns: 13% of residents said they have no religion
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: 73% of Tralee · Co. Kerry’s towns 73% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White Irish: Other White (12%), Asian or Asian Irish (5.2%) and Other, including mixed (4%). As a yardstick, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns. Lower than in 68% of Irish towns: 73% of residents describe themselves as White Irish.
32% of residents 15 and over are married, fewer than in 68% 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.
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns: 5.8%. Elsewhere, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher make up 31% in Tralee, less than in 62% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
At the top, 9.4% of adults have a postgraduate qualification; at the other end, 11% finished at primary level or earlier, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns. As a yardstick, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Oldest by rank: 7th of 41 towns of 18,398 to 33,886 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Jobstown (32.4) and the oldest Beaumont (42.9). Nearest to Tralee in age: Crumlin (39), Ennis (39.3), Greystones-Delgany (39.4) and Wexford (40.6).
Tralee sits below 1 of its 2 closest neighbours on median age
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tralee | 26,079 | — | 39.3 | 16% | 39% |
| Milltown | 1,118 | 14.3 km | 37.7 | 14% | 52% |
| Castleisland | 2,536 | 16.7 km | 42.4 | 20% | 42% |
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 Tralee’s residents
What is the population of Tralee?
Tralee had 26,079 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Tralee?
The median age is 39.3, older than 69% of Irish towns. 22% are under 18 and 16% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Tralee?
38% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (8,418 people), and 1.3% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Tralee?
73% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 25% were born abroad and 16% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Tralee?
73% are Catholic, 13% have no religion and 15% another religion; 13% didn’t say.
Is Tralee good for families?
39% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 22% of residents are under 18. Schools near Tralee are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Tralee?
Median gross household income in Tralee was €42,580 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).