Photo: Oliver Dixon · CC BY-SA 2.0A smaller share of residents with no religion than 99% of Irish towns: 7.9%
7.5% of households live in a flat or apartment, against 12% across Ireland’s towns. Roscrea has more one-person households than 67% of Irish towns, at 27%. At the 2022 Census Roscrea was home to 5,542 people in 2,048 households. Census figures put shared households of unrelated adults at 3.8% here.
A change of +5% since 2016 leaves Roscrea behind 68% 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.
The median change is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +5% across Co. Tipperary’s towns.
Roscrea sits above 60% of Irish towns for residents aged 15 to 24 (13%)
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
No age band is larger than 40–44: 8% of residents. With a median age of 37.8, Roscrea is older than 52% of Irish towns. Measured more widely, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. In Carrick-on-Suir, the oldest of Co. Tipperary’s towns by this measure, it is 20%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Roscrea, 37.8. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
50% women, 50% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Tipperary 51.3%, Ireland 51.2%.
In Roscrea, 5.1% of residents lived at another address a year earlier, fewer than in 85% 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
Among the working population, process, plant and machine operatives make up 17%, against a typical 7.8%. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents who moved in within the year is 7.5%. For Roscrea, the census puts students among residents 15 and over at 9.2%.
Households here average 2.7 people, below 52% of Irish towns
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Tipperary’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
Households of parents with children: 43% of the total.
More car-free households than 71% of Irish towns: 22% in Roscrea
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
Internet at home: broadband for 83%, nothing for 14% (typical: 7.6%). One household in 5 has no car or van, the 3rd highest share in Co. Tipperary. Census figures put holiday homes at 0.2% in Roscrea.
The midpoint household income is €43,980 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Roscrea’s households have a gross income below €43,980 a year, 27% under the median for Ireland (€60,120). Co. Tipperary comes in at €52,760 at the median.
In Roscrea, 17% of residents are citizens of another country, more than in 60% 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.
Another language is spoken at home by 20%, most often Polish (3.2%); 5.6% speak English not well or not at all. Set beside that, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. Just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland, about the same as across Ireland’s towns.
Roscrea sits below 96% of Irish towns for daily speakers of Irish outside education (0.5%)
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 highest share in Co. Tipperary belongs to Thurles (1.4%). 1,581 residents, 32% of those aged 3 and over, can speak Irish. On average, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
Roscrea ranks above 92% of Irish towns on residents who said they are Catholic: 81%
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: 77% of Roscrea · Co. Tipperary’s towns 77% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
The largest groups after White Irish are Other White (16%), Irish Traveller (2.9%) and Asian or Asian Irish (2.2%). For comparison, 71% of residents said they are Catholic across Ireland’s towns. Residents who describe themselves as White Irish make up 77%, against 78% across Ireland’s towns.
Married residents 15 and over make up 32% in Roscrea, less than in 70% 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.
Unpaid carers are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns, at 5.1%. For comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
A smaller share of adults with a degree or higher than 95% of Irish towns: 16%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
At the top, 4.6% of adults have a postgraduate qualification; at the other end, 16% finished at primary level or earlier, against 9.7% across Ireland’s towns.
The 20th oldest of 41 towns of 4,910 to 6,216 people
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Gillabbey (25.6) and the oldest Sutton (45.4). Nearest to Roscrea in age: Blessington (37.6), Ardee (37.7), Knocknaheeny (39.3) and Ballybofey-Stranorlar (39.3).
Roscrea is younger than 2 of its 3 nearest neighbours
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
| Town | People | Away | Median age | 65+ | Parents with children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roscrea | 5,542 | — | 37.8 | 15% | 43% |
| Birr | 4,726 | 17.2 km | 39.4 | 18% | 40% |
| Rathdowney | 1,368 | 17.6 km | 37.4 | 17% | 43% |
| Templemore | 2,005 | 17.8 km | 41.1 | 20% | 39% |
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Tipperary’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Tipperary’s towns of 2,500 or more and over 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 Roscrea’s residents
What is the population of Roscrea?
Roscrea had 5,542 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 5% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Roscrea?
The median age is 37.8, older than 52% of Irish towns. 26% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Roscrea?
32% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (1,581 people), and 0.5% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Roscrea?
77% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 22% were born abroad and 17% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Roscrea?
81% are Catholic, 7.9% have no religion and 11% another religion; 5.7% didn’t say.
Is Roscrea good for families?
43% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 26% of residents are under 18. Schools near Roscrea are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Roscrea?
Median gross household income in Roscrea was €43,980 in 2022, against €52,760 across Co. Tipperary 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).