Photo: Captain Fearnought at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0Dunshaughlin sits below 97% of Irish towns for households without a car or van (4.6%)
One-person households make up 15%, against 24% across Ireland’s towns. Half of Dunshaughlin’s 6,644 residents are older than 34.7 (younger than just over four fifths of Irish towns), in 2,290 households at the 2022 Census. Households of parents with children account for 52%. On residents aged 65 and over, Dunshaughlin sits lower than 88% of Irish towns: 8.1%.
What stands out about the people of Dunshaughlin
Growing faster than most
Dunshaughlin went from about 4,560 people in 2016 to 6,644 in 2022, +46%: faster growth than in 99% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
A growing town: +46% since 2016, faster than 99% 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.
For comparison, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +11% across Co. Meath’s towns.
A median age of 34.7: Dunshaughlin is younger than 82% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 35–39: one in ten residents, 1.3 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Lower than in 77% of Irish towns: 11% of residents are aged 15 to 24.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Dunshaughlin, 34.7. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Meath 50.7%, Ireland 51.2%.
51% of residents belong to the professional, managerial and technical classes
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
Work here tilts toward associate professional and technical, at 18% against a typical 13%. Residents who moved in within the year: 7.8% of the total. Lower than in 56% of Irish towns: 10% of residents 15 and over are students.
2.9 people per household, more than in 81% of Irish towns
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.
Across Ireland’s towns, 4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home; in Dunshaughlin, 2.9%.
Dunshaughlin ranks below 80% of Irish towns on households in flats: 7.1%
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
Holiday homes are rarer here than in 93% of Irish towns. Across the comparison, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns. Connected households: 95% on broadband; 3.9% offline (typical: 7.6%).
€87,880 a year is the median household income here
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Households here have a median gross income of €87,880, 46% higher than across Ireland (€60,120). Countywide, Co. Meath has a median of €70,660.
13% of residents are citizens of another country, fewer than in 61% 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.
Another language is spoken at home by 20%, most often Polish (2.9%); 2.2% speak English not well or not at all. Just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland, fewer than in 55% of Irish towns. Residents with another country’s citizenship: 15% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
In Dunshaughlin, 44% of residents can speak Irish
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
Within Co. Meath, Athboy has the largest share, 2.4%. More daily speakers of Irish outside education than in 73% of Irish towns: 1.4%.
Only 70% of residents said they are Catholic in Dunshaughlin
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: 79% of Dunshaughlin · Co. Meath’s towns 80% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the most common groups are Other White (13%), Asian or Asian Irish (3.6%) and Black or Black Irish (2.1%). Few places have as many residents who describe themselves as White Irish: 79% here, more than in 54% of Irish towns. Residents who said they are Catholic make up 71% across Ireland’s towns. With residents with no religion at 18%, Dunshaughlin is ahead of 53% of Irish towns on that count.
Dunshaughlin ranks above 91% of Irish towns on married residents 15 and over: 40%
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.
Where 5.4% of residents give unpaid care across Ireland’s towns, Dunshaughlin has 4.3%. To put it in context, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Dunshaughlin sits above 74% of Irish towns for adults with a degree or higher (48%)
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
At the top, 18% of adults have a postgraduate qualification; at the other end, 4.9% finished at primary level or earlier, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns. As a reference point, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
The 10th youngest of 41 towns of 5,766 to 7,581 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Gillabbey is the youngest (25.6); Sutton the oldest (45.4). Nearest to Dunshaughlin in age: Rathgar (34.2), Kinsealy-Drinan (34.4), Sallins (34.8) and Eyre Square (35.1).
3 of the 6 nearest towns are older than Dunshaughlin
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 Dunshaughlin’s residents
What is the population of Dunshaughlin?
Dunshaughlin had 6,644 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 46% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Dunshaughlin?
The median age is 34.7, younger than 82% of Irish towns. 27% are under 18 and 8.1% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Dunshaughlin?
44% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (2,633 people), and 1.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Dunshaughlin?
79% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 21% were born abroad and 13% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Dunshaughlin?
70% are Catholic, 18% have no religion and 12% another religion; 4.2% didn’t say.
Is Dunshaughlin good for families?
52% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 27% of residents are under 18. Schools near Dunshaughlin are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Dunshaughlin?
Median gross household income in Dunshaughlin was €87,880 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).