Bruff sits below 99% of Irish towns for residents with no religion (8.1%)
Set against 12% across Ireland’s towns, 7% of households live in a flat or apartment in Bruff. Here, 20% of residents are 65 or over. Shared households of unrelated adults are rarer here than in 92% of Irish towns. At the 2022 Census, 887 people lived in the town, in 342 households.
+3% since 2016: slower than 78% 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.
Set beside +8% across Ireland’s towns and +9% across Co. Limerick’s towns.
A median age of 39.3: Bruff is older than 69% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 35–39: nearly one in ten residents. Bruff has fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than 87% of Irish towns, at 11%. In Farranshone, the oldest of Co. Limerick’s towns by this measure, it is 23%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Limerick 51.2%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Students among residents 15 and over: 8%, a lower share than 93% 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 Bruff, 34% and 19%. At 6.3%, the share of residents who moved in within the year is lower than in 69% of Irish towns.
One-person households: 29%, a higher share than 75% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Limerick’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Across Ireland’s towns, households average 2.7 people; in Bruff, 2.6. To put it in context, 24% of households are one person living alone across Ireland’s towns. Households of parents with children: 43% of the total.
Households without a car or van: 13%, a lower share than 69% 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
78% of households are on broadband; 20% have no internet connection (typical: 7.6%). By way of comparison, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns. For Bruff, the census puts holiday homes at 0.2%.
The median household brings in €52,380 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Before tax, the middle household here has €52,380 a year, 13% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Co. Limerick’s median household income is €55,950.
Residents born outside Ireland: 11%, a lower share than 97% 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.
Polish leads the languages spoken at home (2.9%), among the 7.8% who speak another language there; 1.3% speak English not well or not at all. For residents born outside Ireland, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 22%. Bruff has fewer residents with another country’s citizenship than 98% of Irish towns, at 5.2%.
Only 0.5% of residents speak Irish daily outside education in Bruff
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
No town in Co. Limerick beats Farranshone (1.9%). The comparison figure for daily speakers of Irish outside education is 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
Bruff ranks above 98% of Irish towns on residents who describe themselves as White Irish: 92%
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: 92% of Bruff · Co. Limerick’s towns 82% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White Irish: Other White (4.9%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.2%) and Black or Black Irish (0.9%). The usual figure: 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. 89% of residents said they are Catholic, a higher share than in 99% of Irish towns.
6.5% of residents give unpaid care, a share 90% of Irish towns don’t reach
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.
The figure for married residents 15 and over is 32% in Bruff and 34% across Ireland’s towns. Elsewhere, 5.4% of residents give unpaid care across Ireland’s towns.
Bruff sits below 79% of Irish towns for adults with a degree or higher (24%)
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate qualifications are held by 6.9% of adults here, while 15% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Across Ireland’s towns, the share of adults with a degree or higher is 36%.
2 of the 5 nearest towns are older than Bruff
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruff | 887 | — | 39.3 | 20% | 43% |
| Kilmallock | 1,761 | 8.6 km | 42.9 | 23% | 34% |
| Croom | 1,240 | 12.7 km | 39.8 | 18% | 38% |
| Caherconlish | 1,569 | 13.8 km | 37.7 | 14% | 53% |
| Charleville | 3,970 | 16.6 km | 38.2 | 16% | 42% |
| Dooradoyle | 18,593 | 18.7 km | 36.4 | 11% | 44% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Limerick’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Limerick’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 Bruff’s residents
What is the population of Bruff?
Bruff had 887 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 3% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Bruff?
The median age is 39.3. 23% are under 18 and 20% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Bruff?
40% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (327 people), and 0.5% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Bruff?
92% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 11% were born abroad and 5.2% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Bruff?
89% are Catholic, 8.1% have no religion and 3.5% another religion; 2.4% didn’t say.
Is Bruff good for families?
43% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 23% of residents are under 18. Schools near Bruff are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Bruff?
Median gross household income in Bruff was €52,380 in 2022, against €55,950 across Co. Limerick 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).