Photo: Liz McCabe · CC BY-SA 2.0Earning a living in Killala
Travel time from Killala to work, school or college: 25.1 minutes on average, an hour or longer for 13%. Unemployment in Killala stood at 14% at the 2022 census, where the middle of Irish towns has 9.2%. The Jobs & income Grade leaves out Killala: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Where Killala stands out on work
More unemployment than most towns
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 4.4% 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 Killala had €46,700 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 ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Jobs and income in Killala: the figures
Killala has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
65% of Killala’s 15-to-64s are in work
Of the 6 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Mayo, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
4.4% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Put another way, 58% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 48% 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.
What households earn in Killala: €46,700 a year
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
Killala’s median is 4% below County Mayo’s (€48,665). Of the county’s 6 towns of 2,500 or more, 4 have a higher median. After tax, the median is €43,470. The State median is €60,123, 29% above Killala’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Where Killala’s residents work, by industry
Professional services, health and education is the second-largest at 22%, against 25% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 1.7%.
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.
11% of people travelling to work from Killala walk, cycle or take the bus or train
Walking takes 8.8% of commuters and cycling 0.5%, where the middle of Irish towns has 10% and 2.4%. Mainly from home: 12% of commuters, well above the 7.2% in the middle of County Mayo. 76% go by car or van, against 74% in the middle of County Mayo. Buses carry 1.4% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 6%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
Work and school are closer to hand from Killala than for the middle of Irish towns
In County Mayo, 5 of 6 towns counted average a shorter trip. Trips of under 15 minutes are 45% of the total, against 55% in the middle of County Mayo. The middle of County Mayo averages 20.8 minutes a trip.
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.
People signing on in County Mayo, against 2019
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).
Killala at work: 48% of adults have a job
Compared with Irish towns, 8.2% are full-time students (against 11%), 21% are retired (against 15%) and 6.5% are long-term sick or disabled (against 4.7%).
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 Killala
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a post office is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (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 work picture around Killala
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Killala | 65% | 14% | €47K | 25.1 min | — | — |
| Enniscrone 8.4 km | 70% | 11% | €43K | 23.7 min | B− | C |
| Ballina 11.6 km | 62% | 16% | €44K | 20.2 min | C− | C |
| Crossmolina 13.7 km | 71% | 9.3% | €46K | 24.5 min | B | C |
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 Killala, 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 Killala
What is the unemployment rate in Killala?
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 4.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Killala get to work?
76% of commuters go by car or van, 8.8% walk, 0.5% cycle and 1.4% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 12% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Killala?
Trips to work, school or college take 25.1 minutes on average; 13% take an hour or more and 45% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Killala?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Killala’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Killala 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 Killala 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).