Photo: Ian Rob · CC BY-SA 2.0The share of 15-to-64s with a job in Kells trails that of 72% of Irish towns
At the 2022 census, 12% of the labour force in Kells had no job; the middle of Irish towns is 9.2%. Kells grades D for jobs and income, #288 of 321 Irish towns. The mean journey from Kells lasts 31.7 minutes, and 18% exceed an hour.
Kells and work: the main findings
More unemployment than most towns
12% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 31.7 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 18% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
The Jobs & income grade for Kells: D
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
Graded against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more; a shorter trip and less unemployment count in its favor.
How the grade works
Four measures, weighed equally against every Irish town of 1,000 people or more: median gross household income (CSO, 2022), people at work as a share of residents aged 15 to 64, the unemployment rate and the average trip to work, school or college (all three Census 2022). Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
How many in Kells have a job: 64% of 15-to-64s
None of the 11 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Meath has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
4% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 56% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 53% 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.
Getting to work or school from Kells takes more time than in the middle of Irish towns
Against 29% in the middle of County Meath, 36% of trips take under 15 minutes. Trips of 15 to 44 minutes are the most common, at 40% (middle of County Meath: 47%). The middle of County Meath averages 32.9 minutes a trip. 2 of the 12 towns of County Meath counted have a shorter average 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.
Where the people of Kells earn a living, by industry
The second-largest is Professional services, health and education, at 22% (against 25% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 2.6%.
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.
Half the households here have more than €52,111 a year
Before tax, 2022: lower than in 57% of Irish towns.
Kells’s median is 26% below County Meath’s (€70,657). Every other town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. After tax, the median is €46,309. The State median is €60,123, 15% above Kells’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Without a car, 17% of Kells’ commuters get to work
The bus and rail carry about as many commuters as in the middle of Irish towns. Against 4.3% in the middle of County Meath, 10% walk here. By car or van: 75% of commuters, much as in the middle of County Meath. 7.5% work mainly from home, against 11% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The Live Register count in County Meath since 2019
3,692 people were signing on in County Meath in September 2026. For 71 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2024, at 3,559. Kells office: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 843, 12% 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.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Jobs, studies and retirement in Kells: 53% in work
The mix is close to Irish towns’ as a whole.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
How walkable Kells is: C+
Better than 43% of Irish towns on two measures together, #7 of 12 in County Meath.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a post office: 44%.
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.
Kells is 92nd of 103 Irish towns of 4,600 to 8,900 people for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ballinlough County Cork | 5,435 | 74% | 4.8% | €72K | A+ |
| 2 | Carrigtwohill County Cork | 5,568 | 73% | 5.5% | €71K | A+ |
| 3 | Oranmore County Galway | 5,819 | 79% | 5.9% | €80K | A+ |
| … | ||||||
| 21 | Dunboyne County Meath | 7,155 | 70% | 5.4% | €89K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 27 | Dunshaughlin County Meath | 6,644 | 75% | 6.1% | €88K | A− |
| … | ||||||
| 73 | Duleek County Meath | 4,899 | 66% | 9.7% | €62K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 90 | Listowel County Kerry | 4,794 | 61% | 14% | €40K | D |
| 91 | The Glen County Cork | 6,119 | 61% | 13% | €48K | D |
| 92 | Kells County Meath | 6,608 | 64% | 12% | €52K | D |
| 93 | Ballybough County Dublin | 8,188 | 68% | 12% | €48K | D |
| 94 | Fair Hill County Cork | 4,910 | 59% | 14% | €45K | D |
| … | ||||||
| 103 | Cherry Orchard County Dublin | 8,280 | 56% | 18% | €53K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Kells, and others in County Meath.
Kells and its neighbours: work and income
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kells | 64% | 12% | €52K | 31.7 min | D | C+ |
| Mullagh 10.5 km | 62% | 11% | €53K | 34.4 min | D | C− |
| Athboy 12.1 km | 66% | 11% | €55K | 34.6 min | C− | B |
| Navan 15.8 km | 67% | 10% | €63K | 33.8 min | C | C+ |
| Virginia 18.2 km | 68% | 9.2% | €54K | 33 min | C+ | C |
| Oldcastle 19 km | 64% | 11% | €46K | 25.6 min | C | B+ |
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 Kells, 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 Kells
What is the unemployment rate in Kells?
12% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Kells a good place to find work?
Kells earns a D for jobs and income, better than 14% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #288 of 321 Irish towns.
How do people in Kells get to work?
75% of commuters go by car or van, 10% walk, 0.3% cycle and 6.9% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 7.5% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Kells?
Trips to work, school or college take 31.7 minutes on average; 18% take an hour or more and 36% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Kells?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Kells’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Kells 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 Kells travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL) · grades: TownRatings. 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).