Photo: Ian Paterson · CC BY-SA 2.0A median age of 50.7: Ballyoulster is older than 99% of Irish towns
In Ballyoulster, nearly a third of households are one person living alone, beside 24% across Ireland’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as White Irish account for 91%. Households of parents with children are rarer here than in 84% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census put the town’s population at 523, in 182 households.
Slower than most: +6% since 2016, behind 57% 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.
For comparison, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +14% across Co. Kildare’s towns.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 32% in Ballyoulster, more than in 99% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
More residents are 85+ than any other five-year age: 7.6% of residents, 5.1 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Few places have so few residents aged 15 to 24: 11% here, fewer than in 69% of Irish towns. Across the comparison, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Kildare 51.0%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Residents who moved in within the year: 5.7%, a lower share than 77% 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
Just over two fifths of Ballyoulster’s residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 11% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. On average, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Smaller households than 74% 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. Kildare’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Here, 4.4% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
88% of homes are houses
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
No internet at all: 13% (typical: 7.6%). Broadband: 86% of households. Holiday homes are rarer here than in 93% of Irish towns.
Median household income: €84,750 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Ballyoulster’s households have a gross income above €84,750 a year, 41% above the median for Ireland (€60,120). For Co. Kildare as a whole, the figure is €73,000.
12% born outside Ireland, fewer than in 96% of Irish towns
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.
8.8% speak a language other than English at home, French most of all (1.1%); 1.2% speak English not well or not at all. On residents with another country’s citizenship, Ballyoulster sits lower than 98% of Irish towns: 5.1%. The wider picture: 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
1.5% of Ballyoulster’s residents use 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
Speakers of Irish: 189 residents, 40% of those aged 3 and over. Daily speakers of Irish outside education: 1.1% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
Residents who said they are Catholic: 75%, a higher share than 71% 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: 91% of Ballyoulster · Co. Kildare’s towns 77% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White Irish are Other White (6.2%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.4%) and Black or Black Irish (1%). On religion, 18% answered “no religion”, 75% Catholic and 7.8% another religion, against 17% and 71% across Ireland’s towns.
Married residents 15 and over: 40%, a higher share than 90% 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.
Ballyoulster sits close to the norm on unpaid carers: 4.8%, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. Across the comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Ballyoulster: 37% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, above 52% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Just over a tenth of Ballyoulster’s adults hold a postgraduate qualification, and 14% finished their education at primary level or earlier (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). The comparison figure for adults with a degree or higher is 36% across Ireland’s towns.
The towns around Ballyoulster are all younger
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Kildare’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Kildare’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 Ballyoulster’s residents
What is the population of Ballyoulster?
Ballyoulster had 523 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 6% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballyoulster?
The median age is 50.7. 17% are under 18 and 32% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballyoulster?
40% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (189 people), and 1.5% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballyoulster?
91% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 12% were born abroad and 5.1% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballyoulster?
75% are Catholic, 18% have no religion and 7.8% another religion; 6.7% didn’t say.
Is Ballyoulster good for families?
32% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 17% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballyoulster are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballyoulster?
Median gross household income in Ballyoulster was €84,750 in 2022, against €73,000 across Co. Kildare 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).