Ashbourne · Trounce · CC BY-SA 2.5County Meath, subject by subject
Few of Ireland’s counties do better than County Meath, 2nd of 26 overall. Its strongest subject is health; its weakest, cost of living.
Each subject puts an official figure for the whole county beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
8th of 26B+72/100 Better than most counties for safety. Both measures agree: the whole county and its towns do well here.
Violent crime alone (assault, robbery, kidnapping, weapons): 4.2 per 1,000 a year (Ireland 5.9), 3rd of 26.
Every recorded crime but fraud, theft, drugs and road traffic included: 38.2 per 1,000 a year (Ireland 54.1), 6th of 26.
Source: CSO, recorded crime incidents by Garda station (CJA11), 2023-2025, fraud left out; each station’s area from the Census 2011 Garda sub-districts, and every Small Area’s residents (Census 2022) given its station area’s rate. Homicide and sexual offences aren’t published by station.
Measure: our Safety grade: violent crime, burglary and criminal damage per resident of the Garda station areas around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 320 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 11 towns in County Meath.
Low recorded crime nearly everywhere
At the quiet end sit Dunshaughlin, Duleek and Dunboyne, of 320 graded Irish towns.
| County | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mayo | 74% | 0% | |
| Kildare | 54% | 0% | |
| Cork | 53% | 15% | |
| Wicklow | 48% | 0% | |
| Meath | 41% | 0% | |
| Galway | 31% | 39% |
What the two figures count
Garda stations record crimes where they are reported, and each station’s count is spread over the residents of its area, so a town-centre station’s shoplifting and public-order offences weigh on the people living around it. The county figure averages every resident’s station area; the town grades count violence, burglary and damage, the crimes that reach people at home.
Schools
Not gradedNot graded in Ireland (Education Act 1998, s.53). Section 53 of the Education Act 1998 rules out school league tables, so neither towns nor counties get a Schools grade, and no county results figure is published. Each town’s Schools page lists its schools.
Cost of living
15th of 26C+44/100 Mid-table on cost of living. The county’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
A year’s rent on a new tenancy: 26% of median household income (middle county 28%), 9th of 26.
Median sale price, 2025: €385,000 (Ireland €360,000), 23rd of 26.
Average monthly rent on new tenancies, 2025: €1,542 (middle county €1,207), 20th of 26.
Source: CSO, median price of residential sales by county, 2025 (Revenue stamp-duty filings, HPA02); RTB average monthly rent on new tenancies, 2025 (RIA02; none for the State as a whole); CSO Geographical Profiles of Income, 2022 (median gross household income, GPIIA05).
Measure: our Cost of living grade: sale prices and rents against the area’s household income. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 321 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
Health
1st of 26A+100/100 Near the top of Ireland’s counties for health. The county’s own figure and its towns tell the same story.
Deaths, age-standardised, 2020-2024: 849 a year per 100,000 people (Ireland 918), 1st of 26.
Disability against Ireland’s rate for the same ages: 96 (Ireland 100), 7th of 26.
Source: CSO, Census 2022 general health and disability by Small Area, against Ireland’s rates for each sex and age; CSO age-standardised mortality by county, 2020-2024 (MORT04). No life expectancy is published by county.
Measure: our Health grade: bad health and disability against Ireland’s rates for each town’s ages. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 321 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
Jobs & income
3rd of 26A92/100 Near the top of Ireland’s counties for jobs and income. Both measures agree: the whole county and its towns do well here.
Unemployment (Census 2022, aged 15 and over): 7.4% (Ireland 8.3%), 3rd of 26.
Disposable income per person, 2024: €26,600 (Ireland €30,100), 19th of 26.
Source: CSO, Geographical Profiles of Income, 2022 (GPIIA05); County Incomes, 2024 (RAA02); Census 2022 (unemployment, aged 15 and over).
Measure: our Jobs & income grade: household income, the share at work, unemployment and commute times. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 321 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
Getting about
12th of 26B56/100 Mid-table on getting about. Its countryside does better than its towns: the whole-county figure is the stronger of the two.
Drive or are driven to work: 76% (Ireland 69%).
Work mainly from home: 12% of workers (Ireland 12%), 9th of 26.
Source: CSO, Census 2022, means of travel to work by Small Area; people who work mainly from home or didn’t say left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: everyday places within reach of residents, and walking, cycling and public transport to work. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 321 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
Hazards
7th of 26A−76/100 Better than most counties for hazards. Its towns do better than the county as a whole: the figure for everywhere else pulls it down.
Homes estimated over the radon reference level, averaged over residents: 5.8% (Ireland 7.0%), 13th of 26.
Source: EPA radon map: the estimated share of homes over the reference level in each 10 km square, under each Small Area’s residents (Census 2022).
Measure: our Hazards grade: radon, landslide ground and, where LiDAR covers the town, homes lying low beside water. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 321 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
Growth
2nd of 26A+96/100 Near the top of Ireland’s counties for growth. Both measures agree: the whole county and its towns do well here.
Since 2011: +19.9% (Ireland +12.2%), 1st of 26.
Source: CSO, census populations by county, 2011, 2016 and 2022 (F1003).
Measure: population change from 2016 to 2022 (census). The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in Ireland’s 307 graded towns of 2,500 or more. 12 towns in County Meath.
How County Meath compares with its neighbours
| Meath | Cavan | Westmeath | Dublin | Louth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A+ 962nd of 26 | C+ 3617th of 26 | C 3218th of 26 | B 6011th of 26 | D− 425th of 26 |
| Safety | B+ 726th official · 41% in top towns | C− 2416th official · 0% in top towns | D 1221st official | C 3226th official · 22% in top towns | D 822nd official |
| Schools | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Cost of living | C+ 4420th official · 51% in top towns | A 927th official · 87% in top towns | C+ 4015th official | D− 025th official · 7% in top towns | D− 424th official |
| Health | A+ 1005th official · 36% in top towns | C 3212th official · 0% in top towns | B 6014th official | A− 8019th official · 38% in top towns | C 2823rd official |
| Jobs & income | A 923rd official · 28% in top towns | C− 2016th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 449th official | A 882nd official · 34% in top towns | C− 2413th official |
| Getting about | B 569th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1623rd official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7010th official | A+ 1001st official · 46% in top towns | A+ 962nd official |
| Hazards | A− 7614th official · 77% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 74% in top towns | B− 5212th official | A− 841st official · 26% in top towns | B 6410th official |
| Growth | A+ 962nd official · 67% in top towns | C+ 3618th official · 13% in top towns | B− 5411th official | B+ 6813th official · 28% in top towns | B− 5411th official |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for Ireland. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, towns, villages and countryside together: Census 2022 Small Areas added up, Garda station areas weighted by the people living in them, or the CSO’s own county table. It is ranked against Ireland’s other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns and city neighbourhoods of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for Ireland. Quarters are of people, not towns, so a county with a city isn’t marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the county’s standing among Ireland’s 26 counties: the two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, health 14, jobs and income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, hazards 4 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it can’t show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Schools aren’t graded: the Education Act 1998 (s.53) rules out school league tables. No life expectancy is published by county, so health uses age-standardised measures instead. The county figure for hazards is radon: the towns’ flood measure needs LiDAR, which covers towns, not the countryside. The RTB publishes no rent for the State as a whole, so rents are set beside the middle county. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking Irish towns against each other only, run #54 of 3 November 2026 · County figures: Census 2022 Small Areas added up by county; the CSO’s county tables (prices, incomes, mortality, population); Garda station-area crime rates (CSO); RTB rents; the EPA radon map. 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).