#1Kilcock
8,674 peopleScore 72.1·#1 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: health A−, jobs & income A−·lowest: hazard risk B−
Kilcock, #1 on this list · Photo: Ben Brooksbank (CC BY-SA 2.0)Kildare · 2026
Best places to live in County Kildare
The scores on the list span 72.1 at the top to 37.0 at the bottom. Top place among the 14 towns ranked in County Kildare goes to Kilcock, which stands #1 of 320 across the country. In second place stands Rathangan, graded A+. 9 towns on the list grade A− or better.
The overall score, sorted within the county; the letter compares each town with every town in Ireland of 2,500+, and its national rank sits beside it. How grades work
#1A+
#2Rathangan
3,263 peopleScore 69.7·#2 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: safety A, hazard risk A·lowest: walkability C
#3Celbridge
20,601 peopleScore 69.1·#3 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: safety A, health A−·lowest: cost of living B−
All 14 towns, ranked
By overall score against Irish towns; ranks are within the county, and each national rank links to the national list.
14 towns
#TownScoreGrade · national rankWhat drives it
1Kilcock8,674 people72.1top 0.1%A+#1 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A−, jobs & income A−·lowest: hazard risk B−
2Rathangan3,263 people69.7top 0.3%A+#2 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety A, hazard risk A·lowest: walkability C
3Celbridge20,601 people69.1top 0.6%A+#3 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety A, health A−·lowest: cost of living B−
4Kilcullen3,815 people66.7top 2.5%A+#9 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety A, jobs & income A−·lowest: walkability D
5Sallins6,269 people64.2top 6.9%A#23 of 320 nationallyStrongest: jobs & income B+, cost of living B+·lowest: safety B
6Maynooth17,259 people63.1top 8.8%A#29 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A, hazard risk A−·lowest: cost of living C
7Clane8,152 people62.1top 11.9%A#39 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A−, jobs & income A−·lowest: walkability C−
8Leixlip16,733 people61.4top 13.8%A#45 of 320 nationallyStrongest: jobs & income A, health A−·lowest: cost of living C
9Naas26,180 people60.7top 16.6%A−#54 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A, jobs & income A−·lowest: cost of living C+
10Monasterevin5,307 people58.2top 25.4%B+#82 of 320 nationallyStrongest: cost of living A−, hazard risk B+·lowest: health C
11Kill3,818 people57.9top 26.3%B+#85 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A, hazard risk A−·lowest: walkability D
12Kildare10,302 people51.0top 42.9%B#138 of 320 nationallyStrongest: hazard risk A−, cost of living B+·lowest: jobs & income C+
13Newbridge24,366 people49.4top 46.7%B−#150 of 320 nationallyStrongest: cost of living B+, walkability B−·lowest: safety C
14Athy11,035 people37.0bottom 22.3%C−#249 of 320 nationallyStrongest: cost of living A, hazard risk B·lowest: jobs & income D−
Quick answers
Questions people ask
How are these towns ranked?
By the overall grade, which blends six graded subjects (safety, cost of living, health, jobs & income, walkability and hazard risk) from public data, each comparing a town with every town in Ireland of 1,000 or more. The rank is among the towns of 2,500 or more in County Kildare, where five or more have an overall grade.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers places of 2,500 or more with an overall grade. Smaller places, and towns missing figures the overall grade needs, show their grades on their own pages; every town is listed on the County Kildare page.
County by county
Best places to live, county by county
Photos: Kilcock, Ben Brooksbank (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Rathangan, Jonathan Billinger (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Celbridge, Eirian Evans (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking Irish towns against each other only, run #71 of 9 November 2026. 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).