Photo: William Murphy · CC BY-SA 2.0Households in Maynooth earn more than those in 95% of Irish towns
Maynooth grades B+ for jobs and income, #9 of 14 in County Kildare. People heading out of Maynooth for work or study spend 33.6 minutes travelling on average; 16% spend 60 minutes or longer. At the 2022 census, 5.4% of the labour force in Maynooth had no job; the middle of Irish towns is 9.2%.
Work in Maynooth, in a few figures
Less unemployment than most towns
5.4% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 1.4% 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 Maynooth had €89,223 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 33.6 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 16% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Many work from home
17% of workers worked mainly from home on census day, against 11% in the middle of Irish towns. Getting to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Maynooth grades B+ for jobs and income
Its four measures together rank it better than 69% of Irish towns, #9 of 14 in County Kildare.
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.
Students are 19% of people aged 15 and over. They count among the 15 to 64s, so they lower the share in work and the grade with it.
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.
68% of Maynooth’s 15-to-64s are in work
Of the 13 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Kildare, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
1.4% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 40% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 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.
Household income in Maynooth: €89,223 at the median
Maynooth’s median is 22% above County Kildare’s (€72,997). No other town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. After tax, the median is €69,794. The State median is €60,123, 33% below Maynooth’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Maynooth spends longer getting to work or school than the middle of Irish towns
Across County Kildare, the middle town’s trips average 32.6 minutes. Of the 14 towns of County Kildare counted, 11 have a shorter average trip. Under 15 minutes: 27% of trips, next to 28% in the middle of County Kildare. The commonest trip is 15 to 44 minutes, for 49% of trips, much as in the middle of County Kildare.
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.
For 27% of Maynooth’s commuters, the trip is on foot, by bike, bus or train
Home is the main workplace for 17%, where the middle of Irish towns has 11%. Walking takes 8.2% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 10%. The middle of County Kildare has 4.5%; here, 11% go by train, DART or Luas. 56% go by car or van, against 70% in the middle of County Kildare.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The work done by people from Maynooth
The second-largest is Commerce and trade, at 26% (against 26% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 0.4%.
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.
12% fewer people sign on in County Kildare than in 2019
6,663 people were signing on in County Kildare in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count rose by 1%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 69 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2023, at 5,976. Maynooth office: signing on peaked in July 2019 at 2,790, 11% 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.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Work, study, retirement: 61% of adults in Maynooth are in work
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Maynooth earns B for walkability
Better than 62% of Irish towns on two measures together, #1 of 14 in County Kildare.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a post office: 58%.
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 Maynooth ranks: 39th of 79 Irish towns of 12,100 to 23,300
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballsbridge County Dublin | 12,743 | 80% | 5.2% | €99K | A+ |
| 2 | Ballincollig County Cork | 21,940 | 73% | 5.1% | €76K | A+ |
| 3 | Rathmines East County Dublin | 16,923 | 77% | 5.4% | €94K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Leixlip County Kildare | 16,733 | 74% | 6.2% | €81K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 34 | Celbridge County Kildare | 20,601 | 71% | 6.3% | €81K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 37 | Killarney County Kerry | 14,412 | 71% | 9.3% | €48K | B+ |
| 38 | Clonmel County Tipperary | 18,369 | 68% | 8.5% | €51K | B+ |
| 39 | Maynooth County Kildare | 17,259 | 68% | 5.4% | €89K | B+ |
| 40 | Whitehall County Dublin | 13,675 | 71% | 6.5% | €68K | B+ |
| 41 | Castletroy County Limerick | 15,093 | 55% | 6.7% | €75K | B+ |
| … | ||||||
| 79 | Enniscorthy County Wexford | 12,310 | 59% | 17% | €42K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Maynooth, and others in County Kildare.
Around Maynooth: jobs, pay and the commute
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maynooth | 68% | 5.4% | €89K | 33.6 min | B+ | B |
| Celbridge 5.3 km | 71% | 6.3% | €81K | 33.2 min | A− | B |
| Kilcock 5.7 km | 74% | 6.5% | €83K | 33 min | A− | B |
| Leixlip 6.1 km | 74% | 6.2% | €81K | 31.8 min | A | B |
| Straffan 7.5 km | 77% | 2.9% | €99K | 30.3 min | A+ | C− |
| Dunboyne 8.7 km | 70% | 5.4% | €89K | 31.4 min | A− | B |
| Lucan 9.5 km | 73% | 6.7% | €85K | 34.2 min | A− | 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 Maynooth, 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 Maynooth
What is the unemployment rate in Maynooth?
5.4% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 1.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Maynooth a good place to find work?
Maynooth earns a B+ for jobs and income, better than 69% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #9 of 14 in County Kildare.
How do people in Maynooth get to work?
56% of commuters go by car or van, 8.2% walk, 1.8% cycle and 17% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 17% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Maynooth?
Trips to work, school or college take 33.6 minutes on average; 16% take an hour or more and 27% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Maynooth?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Maynooth’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Maynooth 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 Maynooth 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).