Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0A lower share of shared households of unrelated adults than 92% of Irish towns, at 2.3%
Against a figure of 71% across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who said they are Catholic in Athboy comes in at 77%. With a median age of 38.8, Athboy is older than 64% of Irish towns. The 2022 Census counted 2,596 residents in 939 households. Households of parents with children: 47% of the total.
A +6% change since 2016: slower than 62% 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.
Across Co. Meath’s towns the median is +11%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
Athboy ranks above 75% of Irish towns on residents aged 15 to 24: 14%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
35–39 is the most common age band: 7.7% of residents. Fewer residents aged 65 and over than in 50% of Irish towns: 14%. The wider picture: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Athboy, 38.8. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Meath 50.7%, Ireland 51.2%.
In Athboy, 6.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 65% 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
32% of Athboy’s residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 19% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. Typically, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Bigger households than 63% of Irish towns: 2.8 people each on average
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Meath’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
One-person households account for 24%.
Only 12% of households have no car or van in Athboy
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 8.9% have no internet access (typical: 7.6%). Across Ireland’s towns, 17% of households have no car or van. Holiday homes: 0.3% of the total. 11% of households live in a flat or apartment, a lower share than in 58% of Irish towns.
Half above, half below €55,190 a year in household income
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 €55,190 a year, 8% less than the Ireland median (€60,120). Co. Meath’s median household income is €70,660.
Athboy: 23% of residents were born outside Ireland, above 52% 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.
Polish leads the languages spoken at home (3.3%), among the 20% who speak another language there; 3.6% speak English not well or not at all. 15% of residents are citizens of another country, a higher share than in 52% of Irish towns. For residents born outside Ireland, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 22%.
Athboy sits above 97% of Irish towns for daily speakers of Irish outside education (2.4%)
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
876 residents, 37% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Meath’s 12 towns of 2,500+. Across Ireland’s towns, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education.
13% of residents said they have no religion, fewer than in 75% 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: 77% of Athboy · Co. Meath’s towns 80% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Of the other groups, the largest are Other White (15%), Asian or Asian Irish (3.1%) and Black or Black Irish (2.1%). Compared with other places, residents who describe themselves as White Irish are scarce here: 77%, fewer than in 56% of Irish towns. On average, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns.
Athboy: 35% of residents 15 and over are married, above 58% 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.
Census figures put unpaid carers at 5.4% in Athboy. As a yardstick, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
In Athboy, 27% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, fewer than in 72% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Of Athboy’s adults, 7.5% went on to postgraduate study and 10% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). By way of comparison, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
In its size band (2,510 to 3,211), the 20th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
At the ends of the range sit Kilbarry (30.4), the youngest, and Ballybrack (45.5), the oldest. Nearest to Athboy in age: Bailieborough (38.2), Bundoran (38.4), Claddagh (38.9) and Kylemore (39).
Athboy is younger than 1 of its 6 nearest neighbours
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. Meath’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Meath’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 Athboy’s residents
What is the population of Athboy?
Athboy had 2,596 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 6% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Athboy?
The median age is 38.8, older than 64% of Irish towns. 25% are under 18 and 14% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Athboy?
37% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (876 people), and 2.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Athboy?
77% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 23% were born abroad and 15% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Athboy?
77% are Catholic, 13% have no religion and 9.3% another religion; 4.4% didn’t say.
Is Athboy good for families?
47% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 25% of residents are under 18. Schools near Athboy are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Athboy?
Median gross household income in Athboy was €55,190 in 2022, against €70,660 across Co. Meath 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).