A median age of 47.2: Ballincar is older than 99% of Irish towns
Against a figure of 4.7% across Ireland’s towns, the share of shared households of unrelated adults in Ballincar comes in at 0.7%. The 2022 Census put the town’s population at 423, in 140 households. Across Ballincar, 2.9% of households have no car or van. Compared with other places, households of parents with children are scarce here: 29%, fewer than in 88% of Irish towns.
Slower growth than 99% of Irish towns: Ballincar changed by −4% since 2016
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 +10% across Co. Sligo’s towns.
Ballincar sits above 99% of Irish towns for residents aged 65 and over (32%)
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
8% of residents are aged 15 to 24 (Ireland’s towns: 12%). For comparison, 14% of residents are 65 or over across Ireland’s towns.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
54% women, 46% men
About 86 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Sligo 52.2%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Ballincar sits below 81% of Irish towns for residents who moved in within the year (5.4%)
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
Where 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns, Ballincar has 8.8%. The wider picture: 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Households here average 2.3 people, below 89% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Sligo’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
26% of households are one person living alone (Ireland’s towns: 24%).
A higher share of holiday homes than 91% of Irish towns, at 1.8%
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
Connected households: 93% on broadband; 3.7% offline (typical: 7.6%). Across Ireland’s towns, the share of holiday homes is 0.2%. Households in flats are rarer here than in 99% of Irish towns.
€73,880 a year is the median household income here
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Ballincar’s households have a gross income above €73,880 a year, 23% above the median for Ireland (€60,120). Co. Sligo as a whole has a median of €50,440.
A lower share of residents born outside Ireland than 96% of Irish towns, at 12%
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.
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents with another country’s citizenship is 15%; Ballincar has 4.4%. French leads the languages spoken at home (1.9%), among the 3.7% who speak another language there; 0.2% speak English not well or not at all. Set beside that, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
Irish speakers make up 53% of Ballincar
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 ability to speak Irish extends to 209 residents (53% of those aged 3 and over). Higher than in 67% of Irish towns: 1.3% of residents speak Irish daily outside education.
Above 99% of Irish towns: 95% of residents describe themselves as White Irish
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: 95% of Ballincar · Co. Sligo’s towns 81% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Residents with no religion make up 12%, against 17% across Ireland’s towns. The share of residents who said they are Catholic stands at 78%.
Married residents 15 and over make up 48% in Ballincar, more than in 99% of Irish towns
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.
The census found that 5.4% of residents give unpaid care in Ballincar. As a reference point, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher make up 58% in Ballincar, more than in 90% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Across Ireland’s towns, 9.7% of adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Ballincar, 5%, and 24% hold a postgraduate qualification. As a yardstick, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
No nearby town is as old as Ballincar
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballincar | 423 | — | 47.2 | 32% | 29% |
| Sligo | 20,608 | 4.6 km | 38.5 | 17% | 33% |
| Strandhill | 1,982 | 6.6 km | 41.1 | 14% | 44% |
| Ballysadare | 1,747 | 10.3 km | 35.5 | 11% | 41% |
| Collooney | 1,797 | 13.7 km | 34.9 | 9.6% | 48% |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 15.9 km | 34 | 5.9% | 58% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Sligo’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Sligo has fewer than five towns of 2,500 or more, so its figure is the median of its towns of 1,000 or more; the national figure is the median of 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 Ballincar’s residents
What is the population of Ballincar?
Ballincar had 423 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 4% fewer than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballincar?
The median age is 47.2. 22% are under 18 and 32% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballincar?
53% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (209 people), and 1.3% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballincar?
95% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 12% were born abroad and 4.4% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballincar?
78% are Catholic, 12% have no religion and 11% another religion; 12% didn’t say.
Is Ballincar good for families?
29% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 22% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballincar are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballincar?
Median gross household income in Ballincar was €73,880 in 2022, against €50,440 across Co. Sligo 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).