Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0Making a living in Cloghan
Unemployment in Cloghan stood at 15% at the 2022 census, where the middle of Irish towns has 9.2%. Jobs and income go ungraded in Cloghan: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
What Cloghan’s work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
63% of people aged 15 to 64 in Cloghan had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
15% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 5.9% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Cloghan isn’t graded for jobs and income
Cloghan has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
63% of working-age people in Cloghan have jobs
Of the 4 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Offaly, 3 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 5.9% of people aged 15 and over. Among the unemployed, 66% had been out of work that long. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 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.
What residents of Cloghan work in
Manufacturing is the second-largest at 17%, against 11% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 4.5%.
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 €53,020 a year
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Cloghan 5% below the median for County Offaly as a whole, €56,048. 2 of the county’s 4 towns of 2,500 people or more have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €47,580. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 13% above Cloghan’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, 6.8% of Cloghan’s commuters get to work
6.4% work mainly from home, against 11% in the middle of Irish towns. Hardly anyone takes the bus to work, where the middle of Irish towns has 6%. Against 10% and 2.4% in the middle of Irish towns, 6% walk and 0.4% cycle. Driving dominates: 85% go to work by car or van.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
Getting to work or school from Cloghan takes about as long as in the middle of Irish towns
Against 50% in the middle of County Offaly, 39% of trips take under 15 minutes. 9.9% of trips take an hour or more, about the same as in the middle of County Offaly. The middle of County Offaly has 35% of trips at 15 to 44 minutes; here it is 47%, the commonest length. The middle of County Offaly averages 23.7 minutes a trip. 3 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.
Signing on in County Offaly: the count since 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%. For 73 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. 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).
What adults in Cloghan do: 53% are in work
Compared with Irish towns, 6.9% are full-time students (against 11%) and 6.9% 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.
Within 800 m of home in Cloghan
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Of the everyday places, a pharmacy is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (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.
Neighbouring places to Cloghan, compared
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloghan | 63% | 15% | €53K | 27.8 min | — | — |
| Ferbane 6.1 km | 63% | 13% | €53K | 26.8 min | C− | D |
| Banagher 7.5 km | 63% | 13% | €47K | 25.5 min | C− | B |
| Kilcormac 12.1 km | 56% | 19% | €46K | 26.3 min | D− | B |
| Birr 14.6 km | 61% | 15% | €43K | 22.7 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 Cloghan, 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 Cloghan
What is the unemployment rate in Cloghan?
15% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 5.9% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Cloghan get to work?
85% of commuters go by car or van, 6% walk, 0.4% cycle and 0.4% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 6.4% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Cloghan?
Trips to work, school or college take 27.8 minutes on average; 9.9% take an hour or more and 39% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Cloghan?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Cloghan’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Cloghan 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 Cloghan 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).