Photo: Munifico · CC BY-SA 3.0One-person households: 32%, a higher share than 90% of Irish towns
In Castlebar the average household is 2.4 people, beside 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. The census found that 71% of residents describe themselves as White Irish here. With a median age of 38.7, Castlebar is older than 63% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census counted 13,054 residents in 5,158 households.
Since 2016, Castlebar has grown +8%, faster than 53% 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.
A higher share of residents aged 65 and over than 64% of Irish towns, at 16%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
No age band is larger than 35–39: nearly one in ten residents. The wider picture: 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns. Compared with other places, residents aged 15 to 24 are scarce here: 12%, fewer than in 62% of Irish towns. In Westport, the oldest of Co. Mayo’s towns by this measure, it is 20%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Castlebar, 38.7. The typical town is 37.6.
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. Mayo 51.6%, Ireland 51.2%.
Castlebar: 9.4% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, above 71% 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
36% of Castlebar’s residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. Residents who moved in within the year make up 7.5% across Ireland’s towns.
38% of households are parents with children, below 72% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Mayo’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Against a figure of 4.7% across Ireland’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Castlebar comes in at 6.4%. Set beside that, 43% of households are parents with children across Ireland’s towns.
In Castlebar, 1% of homes are holiday homes, more than in 84% 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
Broadband: 88% of households. Nearly a fifth of households have no car or van, a higher share than in 57% of Irish towns. For comparison, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes across Ireland’s towns. No internet at all: 11% (typical: 7.6%).
Half of households earn more than €49,850 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
A median gross household income of €49,850 sits 17% below Ireland (€60,120). Countywide, Co. Mayo has a median of €48,670.
28% of residents were born outside Ireland, a share 71% of Irish towns don’t reach
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 35%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
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.
The two biggest birthplaces abroad are outside the EU and UK (8.4%) and in the UK (7.2%). Measured more widely, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. 18% of residents are citizens of another country, a higher share than in 66% of Irish towns.
Can speak Irish: 42% of Castlebar’s residents
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
Little separates the share of daily speakers of Irish outside education here, 1.2%, from the figure across Ireland’s towns. In all, 4,789 residents aged 3 and over (42%) can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Mayo’s 6 towns of 2,500+.
Residents with no religion: 14%, a lower share than 71% 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: 71% of Castlebar · Co. Mayo’s towns 69% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The share of residents who said they are Catholic tops 60% of Irish towns: 73%. By way of comparison, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns. Behind White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (15%), Asian or Asian Irish (5.8%) and Other, including mixed (3.2%).
Castlebar ranks below 64% of Irish towns on married residents 15 and over: 33%
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 census found that 5.4% of residents give unpaid care in Castlebar. 57% of the town’s residents 15 and over are single and 33% married, against 56% and 34% across Ireland’s towns.
36% of adults hold a degree or higher
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
A postgraduate qualification is the highest level for just over one in ten adults; primary level or less for 8.8% (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). Higher than in 51% of Irish towns: 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher.
The 12th oldest of 41 towns of 11,149 to 15,296 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Castletroy (29) and the oldest Foxrock (44.7). Nearest to Castlebar in age: Cobh (38.7), Clontarf West (38.7), Kimmage (39.1) and Mahon (39.4).
Every nearby town is older than Castlebar
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Mayo’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Mayo’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 Castlebar’s residents
What is the population of Castlebar?
Castlebar had 13,054 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 8% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Castlebar?
The median age is 38.7, older than 63% of Irish towns. 23% are under 18 and 16% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Castlebar?
42% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (4,789 people), and 1.2% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Castlebar?
71% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 28% were born abroad and 18% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Castlebar?
73% are Catholic, 14% have no religion and 14% another religion; 8.3% didn’t say.
Is Castlebar good for families?
38% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 23% of residents are under 18. Schools near Castlebar are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Castlebar?
Median gross household income in Castlebar was €49,850 in 2022, against €48,670 across Co. Mayo 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).