Photo: Oliver Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0How Ballycastle works: jobs, income and commuting
Unemployment in Ballycastle stood at 17% at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. From Ballycastle, trips to work, school or college average 33.7 minutes, with 18% taking an hour or more. Jobs and income go ungraded in Ballycastle: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Ballycastle and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
60% of people aged 15 to 64 in Ballycastle had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
17% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 4.5% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Ballycastle had €34,530 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. CSO publishes no income figure for this place, so this one is our estimate from its electoral divisions. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 33.7 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 18% 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.
Ballycastle: jobs and income figures, no grade
Ballycastle has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
How many in Ballycastle have a job: 60% of 15-to-64s
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Mayo, 1 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
4.5% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 63% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 36% 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.
Ballycastle households: €34,530 a year at the median
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
Ballycastle’s median is 29% below County Mayo’s (€48,665). Every town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. After tax, the median is €32,900. The State median is €60,123, 74% above Ballycastle’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Work and school are further off in time from Ballycastle than for the middle of Irish towns
44% 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. Of the 6 towns of County Mayo counted, 6 have a shorter average trip. 33% 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.
Ballycastle gets to work without a car for 9% of commuters
12% work mainly from home, against 7.2% in the middle of County Mayo. By car or van: 79% of commuters, next to 74% in the middle of County Mayo. The middle of Irish towns has 6% going by bus; here it is 3%. Walking takes 6% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 10%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The Live Register count in County Mayo since 2019
4,861 people were signing on in County Mayo in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 3%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 73 months. 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).
Everyday places within walking distance in Ballycastle
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a food shop: 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.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Ballycastle, 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 Ballycastle
What is the unemployment rate in Ballycastle?
17% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 4.5% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Ballycastle get to work?
79% of commuters go by car or van, 6% walk, 0% cycle and 3% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 12% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Ballycastle?
Trips to work, school or college take 33.7 minutes on average; 18% take an hour or more and 33% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Ballycastle?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Ballycastle’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Ballycastle 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 Ballycastle 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).