Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0A higher share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish than 93% of Irish towns, at 89%
Against a figure of 17% across Ireland’s towns, the share of households without a car or van in Rathbane comes in at 25%. At the 2022 Census, 4,111 people lived locally, in 1,429 households. On the census count, 47% of households are parents with children. One-person households are rarer here than in 67% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Rathbane
Growing faster than most
Rathbane went from about 3,480 people in 2016 to 4,111 in 2022, +18%: faster growth than in 86% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Faster growth than 86% of Irish towns: Rathbane changed by +18% 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.
Across Co. Limerick’s towns the median is +9%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
A young neighbourhood: 13% of residents are 15 to 24
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
No age band is larger than 10–14: nearly one in ten residents. Residents aged 65 and over are more common here than in 58% of Irish towns. As a yardstick, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. In Farranshone, the oldest of Co. Limerick’s towns by this measure, it is 23%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Rathbane, 37.9. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Limerick 51.2%, Ireland 51.2%.
A higher share of students among residents 15 and over than 52% of Irish towns, at 11%
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 Rathbane, 25% and 18%. The neighbourhood has fewer residents who moved in within the year than 58% of Irish towns, at 7%.
Rathbane households average 2.8 people, larger than in 70% 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.
7.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home (Ireland’s towns: 4.7%).
Rathbane ranks below 67% of Irish towns on households in flats: 9.4%
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
At home, 87% have broadband, while 11% have no internet access (typical: 7.6%). On average, 12% of households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns. Holiday homes: 0.1% of the total.
Household income, middle of the range: €54,140 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 €54,140 a year, 10% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). In Co. Limerick overall, the median comes to €55,950.
Residents born outside Ireland make up 9.6% in Rathbane, less than in 98% 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.
Most residents from abroad were born outside the EU and UK (3.6%) or in the UK (2.7%). Few places have so few residents with another country’s citizenship: 5.4% here, fewer than in 98% of Irish towns. Elsewhere, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
Only 0.7% of residents speak Irish daily outside education in Rathbane
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
Speakers of Irish: 1,120 residents, 33% of those aged 3 and over. Daily speakers of Irish outside education: 1.1% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
Rathbane sits above 94% of Irish towns for residents who said they are Catholic (81%)
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 Rathbane · Co. Limerick’s towns 82% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Just over one in ten residents said they have no religion (Ireland’s towns: 17%). On average, 71% of residents said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns. After White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (4%), Asian or Asian Irish (3.2%) and Irish Traveller (1.7%).
32% of residents 15 and over are married, below 68% of Irish towns
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.
Nothing unusual on unpaid carers: 5.7%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, 34% of residents 15 and over are married.
20% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, fewer than in 88% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
5.9% of Rathbane’s adults hold a postgraduate qualification, and 18% finished their education at primary level or earlier (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). By way of comparison, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
41 towns of 3,539 to 4,794 people: this is the 20th oldest
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 27.5 in Dangan to 46.5 in Montenotte. Nearest to Rathbane in age: Claremorris (37.4), Kilcoole (37.8), Grange (38) and Castleblayney (38).
3 of the 6 nearest towns are older than Rathbane
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census neighbourhood.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rathbane | 4,111 | — | 37.9 | 15% | 47% |
| Prospect and Newtown Pery | 4,122 | 1.0 km | 40.8 | 18% | 31% |
| Galvone | 5,412 | 1.2 km | 36.2 | 13% | 33% |
| Garryowen | 5,428 | 1.7 km | 40.9 | 15% | 45% |
| Dock | 6,258 | 1.8 km | 35.4 | 9.4% | 24% |
| Limerick City Centre | 3,434 | 2.0 km | 34.8 | 5.9% | 14% |
| Ballinacurra | 3,719 | 2.0 km | 38.6 | 18% | 33% |
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.
- Neighbourhoods are sums of small areas. Neighbourhood figures are TownRatings sums of CSO Small Areas
Questions about Rathbane’s residents
What is the population of Rathbane?
Rathbane had 4,111 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its neighbourhood, 18% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Rathbane?
The median age is 37.9, older than 52% of Irish towns. 26% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Rathbane?
33% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (1,120 people), and 0.7% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Rathbane?
89% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 9.6% were born abroad and 5.4% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Rathbane?
81% are Catholic, 11% have no religion and 7.7% another religion; 15% didn’t say.
Is Rathbane good for families?
47% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 26% of residents are under 18. Schools near Rathbane are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Rathbane?
Median gross household income in Rathbane was €54,140 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 · Neighbourhood figures are TownRatings sums of CSO Small Areas. 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).