Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
847 residents make their home in this town in Co. Kilkenny.
A typical home sold for €322,900, or 5.4 years of the town’s median household income. 29 of its buildings are on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Walking, cycling and public transport carry 10% of commuters. Over-65s are 19% of the population.
Gowran isn’t graded: grades for Irish towns begin at 1,000 residents.
The 3 things Gowran does most differently from other towns.
The record adds 59 archaeological sites.
Homes built before 1919: 15%, against 3% across Irish towns.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Gowran.
Within 3 km of Gowran there is one school. 197 pupils attend the one school within 3 km of the town.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| S.N. Muire Special classesLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 197 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils since 2019/20 | −24% | +4% | +4% |
| Teach through Irish | 0% | 6% | 8% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 0% | 11% | 35% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · Ireland publishes no school-by-school results, which is why these cards have no letters.
Radon: 100% of homes are in high-radon areas, above both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (84%) and Irish towns (0%). Landslides: none of Gowran lies in a high-susceptibility zone. Few of its homes stand low beside water.
| Share of homes | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In high-radon areas | 100% | 84% | 0% |
| On high landslide susceptibility | 0% | 0% | 0% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
Expect January lows of around 2.3°C in Gowran. Here July highs average 20.3°C, near Co. Kilkenny’s towns (20.2°C) and higher than Irish towns (19.9°C). October is the wettest month in the town, with 95 mm of rain on average.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 20.3°C | 20.2°C | 19.9°C |
| January low | 2.3°C | 2.3°C | 2.9°C |
| Rain a year | 873 mm | 906 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
27% of residents have a disability, higher than both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (23%) and Irish towns (22%). Ages taken into account, Gowran counts 117 people with a disability for every 100 predicted. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 3.2% of the town.
| Census 2022 | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bad or very bad health | 3.2% | 1.8% | 2% |
| With a disability | 27% | 23% | 22% |
| Good or very good health | 85% | 88% | 88% |
| Unpaid carers | 4.7% | 5.2% | 5.4% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
Home ownership stands at nearly two thirds of households. 21% live in social housing, above both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (19%) and Irish towns (13%).
| Housing | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households renting privately | 12% | 19% | 22% |
| Households in social housing | 21% | 19% | 13% |
| Households owning their home | 65% | 60% | 61% |
| Median sale price | €323K | €289K | €350K |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure · The price is for the postcode area R95, not the town alone: too few sales inside the town carry a full address.
A short walk to green space: 100% of homes, close to Co. Kilkenny’s towns (96%) and above Irish towns (92%). There are 5.2 ha of green space for every 1,000 people in Gowran.
| Outdoors | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paths per km² of town | 0.2 km per km² | 0.8 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Woodland within 1 km | 2% | 3.8% | 2.7% |
| Near a park | 100% | 96% | 92% |
| Protected nature within 5 km | 0.9% | 2.4% | 1.8% |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
In November a normal day reaches 11°C and a normal night 4°C; the forecast for Gowran below sets each day against them. Expect little more than a sprinkle today, wind picking up to 24 km/h, and a low of 8°C. Rain peaks later in the week on Tuesday, at about 3 mm for the day.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 9°C | 2°C | 232 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 5°C | 179 mm |
| Summer | 20°C | 11°C | 207 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 7°C | 255 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
28% of trips took under 15 minutes, lower than both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (39%) and Irish towns (31%). Unemployment stands at 7.4%. By car: that was how 81% of commuters travelled at the census.
| Census 2022 | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In work, 15 to 64 | 73% | 68% | 68% |
| Unemployment rate | 7.4% | 10% | 9.2% |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 28% | 39% | 31% |
| Average trip | 27.8 min | 23.8 min | 27.6 min |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
People aged 15 to 24 make up 9.9% of the town. 19% of residents are 65 or over, higher than both Co. Kilkenny’s towns (14%) and Irish towns (14%). The share of residents under 15 is 22%.
Women make up 53.2% of Gowran
451 women and 396 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 22% | 24% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 29% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 24% |
| 65+ | 19% | 14% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 14% | 9.4% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 19% | 14% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 32% | 37% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 7% | 6.1% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 27% | 31% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Kilkenny and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
Gowran is run by Kilkenny County Council, its only council: Ireland has one tier of local government. No party holds a majority on Kilkenny County Council: Fianna Fáil lead with 11 of 24 seats, short of the 13 needed. It sits in the Castlecomer local electoral area, which elects 6 councillors.
| Turnout | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 53% | 50% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 58% | 58% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
The archaeological record lists 59 sites here. 14.6% of its homes were built before 1919, above Co. Kilkenny’s towns (4.5%) and Irish towns (3.4%) alike.
| Heritage | Gowran | Co. Kilkenny | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 342 | 216 | 48 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 14.6% | 4.5% | 3.4% |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 59 | 84 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
2 places to visit are mapped within 5 km of Gowran; with them, the best known within 40 km.
CastleKilkenny Castle13 km west
CastleBallymoon Castle13 km northeast
CathedralSaint Marys Cathedral13 km west
Abbey or priory · Office of Public WorksJerpoint Abbey15 km southwest
CathedralSt Canice's Cathedral and Round Tower13 km westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Gowran’s built heritage counts 29 inventory entries; 1 carry national or international standing. 59 archaeological sites are on the record here.
12 notable people were born in Gowran.
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gowran | 847 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Muinebeag (Bagenalstown) Carlow | 2,945 | 10 | B+ | B+ | A− | C |
| Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch | 1,506 | 12 | — | A | A+ | C |
| Thomastown | 2,305 | 12 | — | B | B+ | C− |
| Kilkenny | 27,184 | 13 | B+ | B+ | C | B |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
The median age in Gowran is 40.6, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns.
9% mostly work from home, and 28% of journeys take under 15 minutes.
Gowran had 847 people at the 2022 census, up from 826 in 2016: 2.5% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
Urban area in Co. Kilkenny
847 people live in Gowran, in the area of Kilkenny County Council. TownRatings uses the CSO’s 2022 Urban Areas as Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a county or a council area, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0). 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).