Photo: Deirge Ó Dhaoinebeaga · CC BY-SA 4.038% of households are one person living alone, a share 98% of Irish towns don’t reach
2.8% of homes are holiday homes (Ireland’s towns: 0.2%). Residents who said they are Catholic: just over four fifths of the total. Fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than in 97% of Irish towns: 9.4%. The 2022 Census counted 1,711 residents in 729 households.
A growing town: +10% since 2016, faster than 64% of Irish towns
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.
Ballymote is older than 79% of Irish towns: a median age of 40.2
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
People aged 65 and over make up 18% of residents, against 14% across Ireland’s towns. In Enniscrone, the oldest of Co. Sligo’s towns by this measure, it is 27%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 93 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.
Students among residents 15 and over make up 7.9% in Ballymote, less than in 94% of Irish towns
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
Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 7.5%; Ballymote has 6%. Typically, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns.
2.3 people per household, fewer than in 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.
With households of parents with children at 37%, Ballymote is behind 74% of Irish towns on that count. On the census count, 3.8% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home.
Ballymote ranks below 77% of Irish towns on households in flats: 7.4%
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
14% of households have no internet access (typical: 7.6%); 83% have broadband. On average, just over one in ten households live in a flat or apartment across Ireland’s towns. Locally, 20% of households have no car or van.
€42,620 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.
Gross household income has a median of €42,620 a year here, 29% below Ireland (€60,120). Across Co. Sligo, the middle household has €50,440.
Residents with another country’s citizenship: 10%, a lower share than 75% of Irish towns
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 born abroad is 22%; in Ballymote it is 18%. The largest groups were born in the UK (8.4%) and outside the EU and UK (4.2%). As a yardstick, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns.
A lower share of daily speakers of Irish outside education than 99% of Irish towns, at 0.4%
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 564 residents (37% of those aged 3 and over). Across Ireland’s towns, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education.
Ballymote ranks below 85% of Irish towns on residents with no religion: 12%
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: 86% of Ballymote · Co. Sligo’s towns 81% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White Irish, the biggest groups are Other White (8.7%), Black or Black Irish (2%) and Asian or Asian Irish (1.6%). For residents with no religion, the comparison across Ireland’s towns is 17%. Higher than in just over four fifths of Irish towns: 86% of residents describe themselves as White Irish.
A smaller share of married residents 15 and over than 83% of Irish towns: 29%
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.
At 6%, the share of unpaid carers is in line with the figure across Ireland’s towns. Measured more widely, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Ballymote ranks below 75% of Irish towns on adults with a degree or higher: 26%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
A postgraduate qualification is the highest level for 7.9% of adults; primary level or less for 9.3% (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). The wider picture: 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
No nearby town is as old as Ballymote
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballymote | 1,711 | — | 40.2 | 18% | 37% |
| Collooney | 1,797 | 10.6 km | 34.9 | 9.6% | 48% |
| Coolaney | 1,155 | 10.9 km | 34 | 5.9% | 58% |
| Ballysadare | 1,747 | 13.9 km | 35.5 | 11% | 41% |
| Tubbercurry | 2,307 | 14.7 km | 37.8 | 15% | 41% |
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 Ballymote’s residents
What is the population of Ballymote?
Ballymote had 1,711 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 10% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ballymote?
The median age is 40.2. 26% are under 18 and 18% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ballymote?
37% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (564 people), and 0.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ballymote?
86% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 18% were born abroad and 10% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ballymote?
81% are Catholic, 12% have no religion and 7.1% another religion; 6.4% didn’t say.
Is Ballymote good for families?
37% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 26% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ballymote are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ballymote?
Median gross household income in Ballymote was €42,620 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).