Photo: Mike Searle · CC BY-SA 2.0Fewer of Clara’s 15-to-64s are in work than in 88% of Irish towns
The 2022 census put unemployment in Clara at 12%, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Clara grades C for jobs and income, #241 of 321 Irish towns. Trips to work, school or college from Clara take 23.1 minutes on average, and 8.4% take an hour or more.
The work numbers behind Clara
Fewer people in work than most towns
61% of people aged 15 to 64 in Clara had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Clara had €47,072 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 23.1 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 8.4% 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 Clara: C
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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.
Clara at work: 61% of people aged 15 to 64
None of the 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Offaly has a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
3.3% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 51% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 49% 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.
Median household income: €47,072 a year
Before tax, 2022: lower than in 71% of Irish towns.
Clara’s median is 16% below County Offaly’s (€56,048). Of the county’s 3 other towns of 2,500 or more, 2 have a higher median. After tax, the median is €43,291. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 28% above Clara’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
A quicker run to work or school from Clara than in the middle of Irish towns
49% of trips take under 15 minutes, about the same as in the middle of County Offaly. 1 of the 4 towns of County Offaly 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.
Jobs held by Clara’s residents, by industry
The second-largest is Manufacturing, at 21% (against 11% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 1.6%.
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.
For 11% of Clara’s commuters, the trip is on foot, by bike, bus or train
6.9% walk and 1.4% cycle to work, against 10% and 2.4% in the middle of Irish towns. Most go by car or van: 82% of commuters. By bus 0.8%, by train, DART or Luas 2.2%: the middle of Irish towns has 6% and 0.9%.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
People signing on in County Offaly, against 2019
2,937 people were signing on in County Offaly in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 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: signing on peaked in July 2019 at 4,211, 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).
49% of Clara’s adults have a job
Compared with Irish towns, 8.2% are long-term sick or disabled (against 4.7%).
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Getting around Clara on foot earns C−
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a food shop: 51%.
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.
Among Irish towns of 2,500 to 4,600, Clara ranks 60th of 85 for jobs and income
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annacotty County Limerick | 3,398 | 71% | 6% | €90K | A+ |
| 2 | Glanmire County Cork | 4,454 | 71% | 5.6% | €87K | A+ |
| 3 | Grange Upper County Waterford | 2,510 | 71% | 7.4% | €65K | A |
| … | ||||||
| 58 | Gort County Galway | 2,870 | 68% | 11% | €45K | C |
| 59 | Kinnegad County Westmeath | 3,064 | 65% | 9.3% | €61K | C |
| 60 | Clara County Offaly | 3,403 | 61% | 12% | €47K | C |
| 61 | Togher County Cork | 3,007 | 62% | 12% | €43K | C |
| 62 | Blackpool County Cork | 3,124 | 68% | 12% | €42K | C |
| … | ||||||
| 85 | Courtown County Wexford | 4,365 | 60% | 15% | €44K | D− |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Clara, and others in County Offaly.
The work picture around Clara
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clara | 61% | 12% | €47K | 23.1 min | C | C− |
| Kilbeggan 8 km | 65% | 11% | €49K | 23.4 min | C+ | C |
| Moate 9.5 km | 67% | 11% | €53K | 25.6 min | C+ | C |
| Tullamore 11 km | 64% | 12% | €53K | 24.3 min | C+ | B− |
| Ferbane 16.8 km | 63% | 13% | €53K | 26.8 min | C− | D |
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 Clara, 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 Clara
What is the unemployment rate in Clara?
12% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 3.3% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Clara a good place to find work?
Clara earns a C for jobs and income, better than 29% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #241 of 321 Irish towns.
How do people in Clara get to work?
82% of commuters go by car or van, 6.9% walk, 1.4% cycle and 3% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 5.7% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Clara?
Trips to work, school or college take 23.1 minutes on average; 8.4% take an hour or more and 49% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Clara?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Clara’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Clara 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 Clara 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).