Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Between 2016 and 2022, its population grew by 12%. It is a town of 767 residents in Co. Meath.
A median €356,800 buys a home here, 5.6 years of what the median household earns. On the way to work, 7% walk, cycle or take the bus or train. Just over a fifth of adults have a degree. It skews young: only one in ten residents are 65 or over.
At under 1,000 residents, Donore is too small for the grades Irish towns get.
The 3 things Donore does most differently from other towns.
The record adds 1 archaeological site.
Homes built before 1919: 4%, against 3% across Irish towns.
Castles, abbeys, gardens, museums and days out in and near Donore. Best known first.
Abbey or prioryDuleek Abbey3.7 km outside town, to the south
MuseumMillmount Fort4.4 km outside town, to the northeastNational parkNational parkBrú na Bóinne national park1.4 km outside town, to the westAttractionAttraction · Office of Public WorksBrú na Bóinne Visitor Centre Access1.2 km outside town, to the westArt galleryArt galleryHighlanes Gallery4.7 km outside town, to the northeastHistoric siteHistoric site · Office of Public WorksNewgrange3.2 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Donore.
Pupil numbers changed −3% since 2019/20, below both Co. Meath’s towns (+4%) and Irish towns (+4%). 4 schools lie within 3 km of Donore: 3 primary schools and 1 secondary school. St Oliver's Community College is the nearest secondary school, 3.7 km away.
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Pauls Senior N.S. DEISLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 466 | Catholic |
| St Oliver's Community College DEISLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary · ETB | Post-primary · ETB | 1,422 | Multi-denominational |
| Rathmullan N.S. DEISIn the DEIS schemePrimary | Primary | 373 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In the DEIS scheme | 75% | 0% | 35% |
| Teach through Irish | 0% | 8% | 8% |
| Pupils since 2019/20 | −3% | +4% | +4% |
| Single-sex secondaries | 0% | 0% | 39% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · These schools carry no letter or result: Ireland doesn’t release them school by school.
The nearest bathing water to Donore is Laytown/Bettystown, 12 km away, rated excellent in 2025. The EPA’s radon map puts 1.3% of homes in Donore above the reference level. Also worth knowing: the ground under Donore carries no high landslide susceptibility.
| Share of homes | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low-lying near a river | 0% | 0% | 0.5% |
| In high-radon areas | 0% | 0% | 0% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
Donore gets 842 mm of rain a year. The year’s mean temperature is 9.6°C, below both Co. Meath’s towns (9.9°C) and Irish towns (10.3°C). In January, overnight lows in Donore settle at 2.0°C.
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 19.4°C | 19.9°C | 19.9°C |
| Average temperature over the year | 9.6°C | 9.9°C | 10.3°C |
| January low | 2.0°C | 2.1°C | 2.9°C |
| Rain a year | 842 mm | 855 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
Disability, age-adjusted: 108 for every 100 expected in Donore. 91% of the town’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, about level with Co. Meath’s towns (91%) and above Irish towns (88%). A disability affects 21% of people locally.
| Census 2022 | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 91% | 91% | 88% |
| With a disability | 21% | 19% | 22% |
| Unpaid carers | 5.1% | 4.8% | 5.4% |
| Bad or very bad health | 1.6% | 1.6% | 2% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
The owner-occupied share of households is 72%. 6% rent privately, lower than both Co. Meath’s towns (15%) and Irish towns (22%).
| Housing | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households in social housing | 21% | 9% | 13% |
| Households renting privately | 6% | 15% | 22% |
| Households owning their home | 72% | 74% | 61% |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure · The price is for the postcode area A92, not the town alone: too few sales inside the town carry a full address.
Among the protected sites near Donore is River Boyne. Within 5 km, 4% of the land is protected nature, higher than both Co. Meath’s towns (0.8%) and Irish towns (1.8%).
| Outdoors | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near a park | 0% | 95% | 92% |
| Paths per km² of town | 0.3 km per km² | 1.3 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Woodland within 1 km | 3.7% | 1% | 2.7% |
| Protected nature within 5 km | 4% | 0.8% | 1.8% |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
The heaviest rain of the week is due on Saturday, around 7 mm. Long-term averages for Donore put November days at 10°C and November nights at 4°C. Some 2 mm of rain falls today, driven by wind of up to 35 km/h; the low reaches 10°C.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 8°C | 2°C | 212 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 5°C | 176 mm |
| Summer | 19°C | 11°C | 212 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 7°C | 242 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
Before tax, the average household brings in €63,860 a year. Just over four in five commuters drove, above both Co. Meath’s towns (74%) and Irish towns (66%). Of those in the labour force, 11% are unemployed.
| Census 2022 | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate | 11% | 7.3% | 9.2% |
| In work, 15 to 64 | 65% | 70% | 68% |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 36% | 29% | 31% |
| Average trip | 28.2 min | 32.9 min | 27.6 min |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
Children under 15 make up 25%, above both Co. Meath’s towns (24%) and Irish towns (20%). Degrees are held by 22% of adults.
Women make up 50.2% of Donore
385 women and 382 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 25% | 24% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 28% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 25% | 24% |
| 65+ | 9.5% | 9.2% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 12% | 7.7% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 17% | 13% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 40% | 37% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 8.5% | 7% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 22% | 36% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Meath and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
Meath County Council is the one council for Donore; Ireland has no town or county councils between it and the government. Independent lead Meath County Council with 11 of 40 seats, but no party has a majority: 21 are needed. This Co. Meath town sits in the Laytown-Bettystown local electoral area, which elects 7 councillors.
| Turnout | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| General election, November 2024 | 60% | 60% | 59% |
| Local elections, June 2024 | 47% | 47% | 46% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
1 archaeological sites are on the record, below Co. Meath’s towns (24) and Irish towns (11) alike. Scaled to its population, that is 39 inventory buildings for every 10,000 people in Donore. Homes from before 1919 make up 4.1% of the total.
| Heritage | Donore | Co. Meath | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 39 | 29 | 48 |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 1 | 24 | 11 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 4.1% | 1.4% | 3.4% |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
Surveyors for the national inventory recorded 3 buildings in Donore, each of regional importance. Archaeologists have recorded one site here.
No notable person born in Donore is on our list; these were born in the towns around it.
Steve Staunton: Jonesy702, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Colin O'Donoghue: vagueonthehow from Tadcaster, York, England, CC BY 2.0 · Mairead McGuinness: Photographer: Christophe Licoppe, CC BY 4.0 · Ian Harte: Jon Candy, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
| Town | People | km | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donore | 767 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Duleek | 4,899 | 3.6 | B+ | A− | A− | B− |
| Tullyallen Louth | 1,697 | 5.4 | — | C− | C | A− |
| Drogheda Louth | 44,135 | 5.5 | C− | C | C | C+ |
| Slane | 1,445 | 8.2 | — | B+ | A | A− |
| Kentstown | 1,195 | 10 | — | B+ | C+ | B+ |
| Laytown-Bettystown-Mornington-Donacarney | 15,642 | 11 | C+ | B | C | B− |
People: CSO, Census 2022. Distances: centre to centre.
Donore had 767 people at the 2022 census, up from 683 in 2016: 12.3% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
The median age in Donore is 37.2, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns.
11% mostly work from home, and 36% of journeys take under 15 minutes.
Urban area in Co. Meath
Donore has 767 people, in the area of Meath County Council. TownRatings uses the CSO’s 2022 Urban Areas as Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a county or a council area, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0). 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).