Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Castletown sits below 99% of Irish towns for residents with no religion (5.1%)
14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns, against 20% in Castletown. Few places have as many holiday homes: 1.2% here, more than in 88% of Irish towns. This Co. Laois town is home to 454 residents in 155 households, by the 2022 Census. One-person households: 27% of the total.
Faster growth than 52% of Irish towns: Castletown changed by +8% since 2016
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.
A young town: 13% of residents are 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The median age in Castletown is 37.4, lower than in 54% of Irish towns. On average, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. The largest age band is 5–9: 8.6% of residents, 1.3 times the share across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
55% women, 45% men
About 82 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Laois 50.9%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
9.8% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, more than in 74% 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
Across Ireland’s towns, 34% of residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes; in Castletown, 35% and 19%. As a yardstick, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Castletown households average 2.9 people, larger than in 79% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Laois’ towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
43% of households are parents with children across Ireland’s towns, against 46% in Castletown. The census found that 3.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home here.
Households without a car or van make up 10% in Castletown, less than in 75% of Irish towns
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
Households in flats are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns. Elsewhere, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns. 80% have broadband at home and 16% no internet at all (typical: 7.6%).
Before tax, the median household income is €53,690 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
The median household earns €53,690 gross, 11% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Co. Laois comes in at €59,520 at the median.
Fewer residents born abroad than 91% of Irish towns: 13%
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.
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born in the UK (6%) and outside the EU and UK (4.5%). The wider picture: just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. Few places have so few residents with another country’s citizenship: 7.4% here, fewer than in 91% of Irish towns.
Able to speak Irish: 45% in Castletown
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
Nothing unusual on daily speakers of Irish outside education: 0.9%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. The ability to speak Irish extends to 193 residents (45% of those aged 3 and over).
85% of residents said they are Catholic, more than in 98% 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: 89% of Castletown · Co. Laois’ towns 84% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Besides White Irish, the main groups are Other White (7.4%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.6%) and Black or Black Irish (1.3%). Typically, 71% of residents said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns. More residents who describe themselves as White Irish than in 92% of Irish towns: 89%.
A smaller share of married residents 15 and over than 82% of Irish towns: 30%
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.
5.3% of residents give unpaid care. Against that, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Castletown ranks below 83% of Irish towns on adults with a degree or higher: 23%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate: 6.2% of adults. The share of adults with a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns is 36%. Primary level or earlier: 14%, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns.
Castletown and its 5 nearest towns: 2 of them are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castletown | 454 | — | 37.4 | 20% | 46% |
| Mountrath | 2,070 | 3.0 km | 35.8 | 13% | 47% |
| Abbeyleix | 1,897 | 12.1 km | 41.4 | 18% | 43% |
| Rathdowney | 1,368 | 15.0 km | 37.4 | 17% | 43% |
| Portlaoise | 23,494 | 15.1 km | 35.9 | 9.5% | 50% |
| Mountmellick | 4,905 | 19.3 km | 37.6 | 14% | 49% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Laois’ towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Laois has fewer than five towns of 2,500 or more, so its figure is the median of its towns of 1,000 or more; the national figure is the median of 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 Castletown’s residents
What is the population of Castletown?
Castletown had 454 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 8% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Castletown?
The median age is 37.4. 29% are under 18 and 20% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Castletown?
45% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (193 people), and 0.9% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Castletown?
89% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 13% were born abroad and 7.4% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Castletown?
85% are Catholic, 5.1% have no religion and 10% another religion; 1.1% didn’t say.
Is Castletown good for families?
46% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 29% of residents are under 18. Schools near Castletown are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Castletown?
Median gross household income in Castletown was €53,690 in 2022, against €59,520 across Co. Laois 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).