Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Earning a living in Ballycumber
Trips to work, school or college from Ballycumber take 23.2 minutes on average, and 7% take an hour or more. The 2022 census put unemployment in Ballycumber at 6.7%, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Jobs and income go ungraded in Ballycumber: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Ballycumber and work: the main findings
Less unemployment than most towns
6.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 1.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 23.2 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 7% 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.
Ballycumber isn’t graded for jobs and income
Ballycumber has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
66% of working-age people in Ballycumber have jobs
All 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Offaly have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
1.8% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Put another way, 50% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 50% 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.
Against the middle of Irish towns, Ballycumber has the shorter trip to work or school
The commonest trip is 15 to 44 minutes, for 49% of trips; the middle of County Offaly has 35%. 2 of the 4 towns of County Offaly counted have a shorter average trip. The middle of County Offaly has 50% of trips under 15 minutes; here it is 42%.
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.
Median income per household in Ballycumber: €55,210
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
Ballycumber’s median is 1% below County Offaly’s (€56,048). No town of 2,500 or more in the county has a higher median. After tax, the median is €49,960. The State median is €60,123, 9% above Ballycumber’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Leaving the car at home: 9.8% of commuters in Ballycumber
The middle of County Offaly has 6.6%; here, 9.9% work mainly from home. Against 73% in the middle of County Offaly, 80% go by car or van. Public transport barely figures, where the middle of Irish towns has 6% by bus and 0.9% by rail. Walking takes 8.6% of commuters and cycling 1.2%, where the middle of Irish towns has 10% and 2.4%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
The count signing on in County Offaly is 21% below its 2019 level
2,937 people were signing on in County Offaly in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 2%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 73 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was March 2025, at 2,930. County Offaly saw its highest month in July 2019: 4,211 people signing on, 9% 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. This place has no office of its own name, so the chart is its county’s or city’s.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
Getting around Ballycumber on foot
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a pharmacy: 0%.
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.
Ballycumber and its neighbours: work and income
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballycumber | 66% | 6.7% | €55K | 23.2 min | — | — |
| Clara 5.2 km | 61% | 12% | €47K | 23.1 min | C | C− |
| Moate 8.2 km | 67% | 11% | €53K | 25.6 min | C+ | C |
| Ferbane 11.8 km | 63% | 13% | €53K | 26.8 min | C− | D |
| Kilbeggan 13.1 km | 65% | 11% | €49K | 23.4 min | C+ | C |
| Tullamore 14.2 km | 64% | 12% | €53K | 24.3 min | C+ | B− |
| Kilcormac 17.3 km | 56% | 19% | €46K | 26.3 min | D− | 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 Ballycumber, 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 Ballycumber
What is the unemployment rate in Ballycumber?
6.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 1.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Ballycumber get to work?
80% of commuters go by car or van, 8.6% walk, 1.2% cycle and 0% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 9.9% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Ballycumber?
Trips to work, school or college take 23.2 minutes on average; 7% take an hour or more and 42% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Ballycumber?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Ballycumber’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Ballycumber 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 Ballycumber travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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).