Photo: Pmk58 · CC BY-SA 4.0Jobs and earnings in Waterville, and the trip to work
At the 2022 census, 11% of the labour force in Waterville had no job, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Getting to work, school or college from Waterville takes 19.3 minutes on average, with 5.8% taking an hour or more. Jobs and income go ungraded in Waterville: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
The work figures that set Waterville apart
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Waterville had €41,380 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. CSO publishes no income figure for this place, so this one is our estimate from its electoral divisions. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 19.3 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 5.8% 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.
Jobs and income in Waterville: the figures
Waterville has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
How much households earn in Waterville: €41,380
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Waterville 14% below the median for County Kerry as a whole, €48,320. Of the county’s 5 towns of 2,500 or more, 3 have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €37,920. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 45% above Waterville’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Less time on the road to work or school from Waterville than in the middle of Irish towns
In the middle of County Kerry, the trip averages 21.7 minutes. No town of the 5 counted in County Kerry has a shorter average trip. Under 15 minutes: 53% of trips, much as in the middle of County Kerry.
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.
Where the people of Waterville earn a living, by industry
Commerce and trade is the second-largest at 14%, against 26% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is manufacturing, at 3%.
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.
Jobs for 71% of people aged 15 to 64 in Waterville
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Kerry, 4 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 1.1% of people aged 15 and over. Among the unemployed, 18% had been out of work that long. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 50% 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.
Not by car: 14% of Waterville’s commuters walk, cycle or ride the bus or train
In the middle of County Kerry, 71% drive to work; here it is 73%. The middle of Irish towns has 6% going by bus; here it is 1.4%. 12% work mainly from home, against 8% in the middle of County Kerry.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
People signing on in County Kerry, against 2019
4,870 people were signing on in County Kerry in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 7%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 30 months. County Kerry saw its highest month in April 2020: 8,848 people signing on, 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).
A retired town: 25% of adults in Waterville
Compared with Irish towns, 8.1% are full-time students and 50% are in work (against 57%).
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
The everyday places near home in Waterville
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a school 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 the places around Waterville
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterville | 71% | 11% | €41K | 19.3 min | — | — |
| Cahirciveen 13.2 km | 60% | 24% | €39K | 19.9 min | D | 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 Waterville, 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 Waterville
What is the unemployment rate in Waterville?
11% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 1.1% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Waterville get to work?
73% of commuters go by car or van, 11% walk, 0.9% cycle and 1.4% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 12% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Waterville?
Trips to work, school or college take 19.3 minutes on average; 5.8% take an hour or more and 53% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Waterville?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Waterville’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Waterville 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 Waterville 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).