Photo: Wanfried-Dublin · CC BY 4.0Ratoath ranks above 99% of Irish towns on households of parents with children: 65%
3.2% of households have no car or van, against 17% across Ireland’s towns. The 2022 Census counted 10,077 residents in 3,041 households. For Ratoath, the census puts one-person households at 11%. The median age here is 34.6, lower than in 83% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Ratoath
A town of families
55% of households are couples with children and 10% lone parents with children, more than in 99% of Irish towns and the highest share in Co. Meath; 24% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
A student town
16% of residents aged 15 and over are students, more than in 95% of Irish towns; Ireland’s towns 10%. 17% of residents are 15 to 24. Social class & newcomers ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
From 2016 to 2022, 51% of Irish towns grew faster than Ratoath: +7%
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.
Elsewhere, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +11% across Co. Meath’s towns.
5.3% of residents are 65 or over, fewer than in 97% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
17% of residents are aged 15 to 24; across Ireland’s towns the figure is 12%. Measured more widely, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Ratoath, 34.6. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Meath 50.7%, Ireland 51.2%.
Above 95% of Irish towns: 16% of residents 15 and over are students
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
By occupation, managers, directors and senior officials are over-represented: 13%, against a typical 7.8%. Residents who moved in within the year: 4.5% of the total. As a yardstick, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
Bigger households than 99% of Irish towns: 3.4 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.
Shared households of unrelated adults make up 3.1%, against 4.7% across Ireland’s towns.
Households in flats make up 11% in Ratoath, less than in 60% of Irish towns
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
Broadband reaches 97% of households; 2.3% have no internet at all (typical: 7.6%). Set beside that, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns. Holiday homes are rarer here than in 93% of Irish towns.
€96,270 a year: the median household income
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Ratoath’s households have a gross income above €96,270 a year, 60% above the median for Ireland (€60,120). Co. Meath’s median household income is €70,660.
Only 16% of residents were born outside Ireland in Ratoath
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.
The largest groups were born outside the EU and UK (5.1%) and elsewhere in the EU (4.5%). The share of residents born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns is 22%. Compared with other places, residents with another country’s citizenship are scarce here: 9.3%, fewer than in just over four fifths of Irish towns.
Can speak Irish: 46% of Ratoath’s residents
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
The highest share in Co. Meath belongs to Athboy (2.4%). The share of daily speakers of Irish outside education stands at 0.8%.
Ratoath sits above 81% of Irish towns for residents who describe themselves as White Irish (86%)
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: 86% of Ratoath · Co. Meath’s towns 80% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The next-largest groups, after White Irish, are Other White (8.4%), Asian or Asian Irish (3.3%) and Other, including mixed (1.5%). The usual figure: 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Compared with other places, residents who said they are Catholic are common here: 75%, more than in nearly three quarters of Irish towns. Here 16% of residents said they have no religion, where the figure across Ireland’s towns is 17%.
A larger share of married residents 15 and over than 84% of Irish towns: 39%
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.
On unpaid carers, 4.9% here is much the same as across Ireland’s towns. The usual figure: 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher: 41%, a higher share than 63% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Students still in education make up 21% of residents 15 and over. Across Ireland’s towns, adults with a degree or higher come to 36%.
Youngest by rank: 3rd of 41 towns of 8,707 to 11,704 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Parnell Square is the youngest (34.2); Donaghmede the oldest (43.8). Nearest to Ratoath in age: Parnell Square (34.2), Phibsborough (34.5), Sandyford (35.2) and Lusk (35.3).
Of the 6 towns nearest Ratoath, 3 are older
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ratoath | 10,077 | — | 34.6 | 5.3% | 65% |
| Ashbourne | 15,680 | 4.2 km | 35.6 | 8.3% | 56% |
| Dunshaughlin | 6,644 | 5.4 km | 34.7 | 8.1% | 52% |
| Dunboyne | 7,155 | 9.9 km | 36.6 | 9.8% | 57% |
| Clonee | 1,205 | 10.9 km | 34.2 | 5.6% | 39% |
| Hollystown | 12,884 | 11.0 km | 30.9 | 2.5% | 58% |
| Ongar | 13,390 | 12.3 km | 31.6 | 2.5% | 56% |
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 Ratoath’s residents
What is the population of Ratoath?
Ratoath had 10,077 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ratoath?
The median age is 34.6, younger than 83% of Irish towns. 30% are under 18 and 5.3% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ratoath?
46% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (4,276 people), and 0.8% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ratoath?
86% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 9.3% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ratoath?
75% are Catholic, 16% have no religion and 8.3% another religion; 5.4% didn’t say.
Is Ratoath good for families?
65% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 30% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ratoath are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ratoath?
Median gross household income in Ratoath was €96,270 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).