Photo: Bangers at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Work, pay and getting to work in Balla
6.8% of the labour force in Balla was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. The mean journey from Balla lasts 22.5 minutes, and 6.1% exceed an hour. Balla isn’t graded for jobs and income: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
What Balla’s work numbers say
More people in work than most towns
74% of people aged 15 to 64 in Balla had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Less unemployment than most towns
6.8% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 2.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 22.5 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 6.1% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
The figures behind jobs and income in Balla
Balla has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
How many in Balla have a job: 74% of 15-to-64s
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Mayo, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 2.8% of people aged 15 and over. Among the unemployed, 62% had been out of work that long. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 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.
A quicker run to work or school from Balla than in the middle of Irish towns
51% of trips take 15 to 44 minutes, where the middle of County Mayo has 36%. The middle of County Mayo averages 20.8 minutes a trip. Among County Mayo’s 6 towns counted, 4 have shorter trips on average. 41% of trips take under 15 minutes, against 55% in the middle of County Mayo.
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.
What the people of Balla do for work
The second-largest is Commerce and trade, at 22% (against 26% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 2.7%.
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.
€56,810 a year: the median household in Balla
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Balla 17% above the median for County Mayo as a whole, €48,665. No town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. Net of tax, it is €50,050. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 6% above Balla’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Without a car, 7.5% of Balla’s commuters get to work
Buses carry 1.3% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 6%. Walking takes 6.2% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 10%. Most go by car or van: 84% of commuters. Working mainly from home: 7.8% here, 11% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The count signing on in County Mayo is 24% below its 2019 level
4,861 people were signing on in County Mayo in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 3%. For 73 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. County Mayo: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 7,288, 10% 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. This place has no office of its own name, so the chart is its county’s or city’s.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Most of Balla works: 61% of adults are in work
The mix is close to Irish towns’ as a whole.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Everyday places a walk away in Balla
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a pharmacy: 0%.
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.
The places around Balla, side by side
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balla | 74% | 6.8% | €57K | 22.5 min | — | — |
| Kiltimagh 10 km | 69% | 10% | €42K | 22.8 min | B− | B− |
| Claremorris 12.2 km | 73% | 8.6% | €50K | 26.7 min | B | C |
| Castlebar 12.3 km | 67% | 11% | €50K | 19.9 min | B− | C+ |
| Knock 13.9 km | 72% | 8.1% | €38K | 22.6 min | B | D |
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 Balla, 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 Balla
What is the unemployment rate in Balla?
6.8% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Balla get to work?
84% of commuters go by car or van, 6.2% walk, 0% cycle and 1.3% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 7.8% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Balla?
Trips to work, school or college take 22.5 minutes on average; 6.1% take an hour or more and 41% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Balla?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Balla’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Balla 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 Balla travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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).