Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainFethard has lower household incomes than 88% of Irish towns
People heading out of Fethard for work or study spend 23.3 minutes travelling on average; 7.1% spend 60 minutes or longer. For jobs and income, Fethard earns a grade of C−.
Fethard and work: the main findings
Fewer people in work than most towns
62% of people aged 15 to 64 in Fethard had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
13% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 3.5% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
The median household in Fethard had €41,349 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 23.3 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 7.1% 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.
Jobs and income in Fethard earn C−
Its four measures together rank it better than 19% of Irish towns.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
Graded against Irish towns of 1,000 people or more; a shorter trip and less unemployment count in its favor.
Ranks start at 2,500 residents, so this grade has no rank.
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.
The share in work in Fethard: 62% of 15-to-64s
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Tipperary, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Of those in the labour force, 13% were out of work, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 3.5% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 49% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 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.
Median household income in Fethard is €41,349
That puts Fethard 22% below the median for County Tipperary as a whole, €52,756. 7 of the county’s 9 towns of 2,500 people or more have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €38,105. The State median is €60,123, 45% above Fethard’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Less time on the road to work or school from Fethard than in the middle of Irish towns
Most often, a trip takes 15 to 44 minutes: 50%, against 39% in the middle of County Tipperary. 4 of the 9 towns of County Tipperary counted have a shorter average trip. 41% of trips take under 15 minutes, against 49% in the middle of County Tipperary.
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.
How long trips to work, school or college take, 2022 census (trips whose length wasn’t stated left out).
Where the people of Fethard earn a living, by industry
The second-largest is Commerce and trade, at 20% (against 26% across Irish towns), and transport and communications is the smallest of the seven, at 3.8%.
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.
People living here who are in work, by the industry they work in, wherever their job is (2022 census).
For 13% of Fethard’s commuters, the trip is on foot, by bike, bus or train
Driving dominates: 81% go to work by car or van. Working mainly from home: 5.1% here, 11% in the middle of Irish towns. Buses carry 1.5% of commuters, where the middle of Irish towns has 6%. 0.8% cycle to work, against 2.4% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
How residents in work get there (2022 census; people working mainly from home included).
Signing on in County Tipperary: the count since 2019
5,284 people were signing on in County Tipperary in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count fell by 1%. It has stayed below its 2019 average for the last 73 months. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2024, at 5,080. County Tipperary saw its highest month in July 2019: 8,381 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).
50% of Fethard’s adults have a job
Compared with Irish towns, 7.7% are full-time students (against 11%) and 9.1% 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.
Everyone aged 15 and over, by what they said they mainly do (2022 census), and the jobs of those in work.
Fethard on foot: a B− grade
Better than 46% of Irish towns on two measures together.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a food shop: 84%.
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.
How the places next to Fethard compare on work
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fethard | 62% | 13% | €41K | 23.3 min | C− | B− |
| Clonmel 12.3 km | 68% | 8.5% | €51K | 20.7 min | B+ | C |
| Cashel 13.9 km | 67% | 9.2% | €46K | 23.9 min | B− | B+ |
| Cahir 18.6 km | 68% | 9.7% | €47K | 23.4 min | B− | C+ |
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 Fethard, 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 Fethard
What is the unemployment rate in Fethard?
13% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 3.5% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Fethard a good place to find work?
Fethard earns a C− for jobs and income, better than 19% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together.
How do people in Fethard get to work?
81% of commuters go by car or van, 11% walk, 0.8% cycle and 1.8% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 5.1% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Fethard?
Trips to work, school or college take 23.3 minutes on average; 7.1% take an hour or more and 41% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Fethard?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Fethard’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Fethard 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 Fethard 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).