Photo: sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Athgarvan earn more than those in 97% of Irish towns
13% of trips from Athgarvan last an hour or longer; the mean is 29.6 minutes. Athgarvan grades A− for jobs and income. Unemployment in Athgarvan stood at 6.7% at the 2022 census, where the middle of Irish towns has 9.2%.
What the numbers say about work in Athgarvan
Less unemployment than most towns
6.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 2.1% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Higher incomes than most towns
The median household in Athgarvan had €95,000 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 ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Athgarvan grades A− for jobs and income
Taken together, its four measures make it better than 83% of Irish towns.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
Graded against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more; a shorter trip and less unemployment count in its favor.
Ranks start at 2,500 residents, so this grade has no rank.
How the grade works
Four measures, weighed equally against every Irish town of 1,000 people or more: median gross household income (CSO, 2022), people at work as a share of residents aged 15 to 64, the unemployment rate and the average trip to work, school or college (all three Census 2022). Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Athgarvan at work: 70% of people aged 15 to 64
Of the 14 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Kildare, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 2.1% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 48% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 61% 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.
Before tax, the median household in Athgarvan has €95,000
That puts Athgarvan 30% above the median for County Kildare as a whole, €72,997. No town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. Net of tax, it is €76,180. The State median is €60,123, 37% below Athgarvan’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
The work of Athgarvan’s residents, industry by industry
Professional services, health and education is the second-largest at 23%, against 25% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 1.4%.
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.
7.5% of Athgarvan’s commuters walk, cycle, or take the bus or train
Working mainly from home: 14% here, 11% in the middle of Irish towns. The middle of Irish towns has 6% by bus and 0.9% by rail; here it is 1.3% and 3.5%. Walking takes 2% of commuters and cycling 0.7%, where the middle of Irish towns has 10% and 2.4%. The car or van carries most commuters: 78%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
A slower run to work or school from Athgarvan than in the middle of Irish towns
The middle of County Kildare has 49% of trips at 15 to 44 minutes; here it is 44%, the commonest length. Across County Kildare, the middle town’s trips average 32.6 minutes. 1 of the 14 towns of County Kildare counted have a shorter average trip. The middle of County Kildare has 28% of trips under 15 minutes; here it is 35%.
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 Live Register count in County Kildare since 2019
6,663 people were signing on in County Kildare in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 rose by 1%. For 69 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2023, at 5,976. County Kildare: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 8,793, 12% 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).
Jobs, studies and retirement in Athgarvan: 61% in work
Compared with Irish towns, 15% are full-time students (against 11%), 11% are retired (against 15%) and 2.7% 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.
Getting around Athgarvan on foot earns D−
Better than 3% of Irish towns on two measures together.
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.
How Athgarvan compares with the places nearby
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athgarvan | 70% | 6.7% | €95K | 29.6 min | A− | D− |
| Kilcullen 3.2 km | 73% | 6.4% | €66K | 28.6 min | A− | D |
| Newbridge 3.5 km | 67% | 9.3% | €64K | 30.7 min | B− | B− |
| Curragh Camp 4.3 km | 65% | 12% | €62K | 28.8 min | C+ | D |
| Kildare 8.3 km | 66% | 10% | €63K | 31.2 min | C+ | B− |
| Carragh 10.2 km | 66% | 3.4% | €102K | 33.1 min | B+ | D |
| Naas 11 km | 73% | 6.2% | €82K | 32.2 min | A− | C+ |
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 Athgarvan, 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 Athgarvan
What is the unemployment rate in Athgarvan?
6.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.1% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Athgarvan a good place to find work?
Athgarvan earns an A− for jobs and income, better than 83% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together.
How do people in Athgarvan get to work?
78% of commuters go by car or van, 2% walk, 0.7% cycle and 4.8% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 14% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Athgarvan?
Trips to work, school or college take 29.6 minutes on average; 13% take an hour or more and 35% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Athgarvan?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Athgarvan’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Athgarvan 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 Athgarvan travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL) · grades: TownRatings. 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).