Photo: Sarah777 · Public domain34% of households are one person living alone, a share 94% of Irish towns don’t reach
Set against 71% across Ireland’s towns, 83% of residents said they are Catholic in Thurles. The 2022 Census put the town’s population at 8,185, in 3,304 households. Across Thurles, 21% of households have no car or van. The median age in the town is 40.6, higher than in 81% of Irish towns.
What stands out about the people of Thurles
Many older residents
19% of residents are 65 or over, more than in 87% of Irish towns; 5.5% are 80 or over, and 34% of households are one person living alone. Ages ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
Thurles changed by +4% from 2016 to 2022, behind 72% 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.
Across Ireland’s towns, half of towns changed by more than +8%; across Co. Tipperary’s towns, by more than +5%.
Residents aged 65 and over make up 19% in Thurles, more than in 87% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
45–49 is the most common age band: 7.3% of residents. At 12%, the share of residents aged 15 to 24 is higher than in 54% of Irish towns. To put it in context, 14% of residents are 65 or over 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+
■ Thurles, 40.6. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Tipperary 51.3%, Ireland 51.2%. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Thurles ranks below 69% of Irish towns on residents who moved in within the year: 6.3%
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
Students among residents 15 and over are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns: 9.9%. The usual figure: 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
2.4 people per household, fewer than in 87% 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: 38% here and 43% across Ireland’s towns. Shared households of unrelated adults: 3.8% of the total.
Households in flats: 9.6%, a lower share than 65% of Irish towns
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
Thurles sits close to the norm on holiday homes: 1%, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. 9.1% of households live in a flat or apartment, less than in 68% of Irish towns, against a typical 12% across Ireland’s towns.
The midpoint household income is €44,580 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Thurles’s households have a gross income below €44,580 a year, 26% under the median for Ireland (€60,120). Co. Tipperary as a whole has a median of €52,760.
Fewer residents born outside Ireland than 80% of Irish towns: 16%
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.
Compared with 15% across Ireland’s towns, 11% of residents are citizens of another country here. Across Ireland’s towns, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland. The two biggest birthplaces abroad are in the UK (4.4%) and outside the EU and UK (4.3%).
1.4% of residents speak Irish every day outside education
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
In all, 3,221 residents aged 3 and over (43%) can speak Irish. It is the highest share of Co. Tipperary’s 9 towns of 2,500+. Against that, 1.1% of residents speak Irish daily outside education across Ireland’s towns.
10% said they have no religion, fewer than in 93% of Irish towns
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: 84% of Thurles · Co. Tipperary’s towns 77% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
After White Irish, the largest groups are Other White (9.5%), Asian or Asian Irish (2.4%) and Other, including mixed (2.1%). Higher than in nearly three quarters of Irish towns: 84% of residents describe themselves as White Irish. Across the comparison, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns.
Thurles sits below 73% of Irish towns for married residents 15 and over (31%)
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.
6.1% of residents give unpaid care, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. By way of comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
A lower share of adults with a degree or higher than 74% of Irish towns, at 27%
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Of Thurles’s adults, 7.7% went on to postgraduate study and 12% left at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). As a reference point, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
Among 41 towns of 6,971 to 9,647 people, the 11th oldest
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 31.4 in Temple Bar to 50.3 in Dalkey. Nearest to Thurles in age: Monaghan (39.8), Buncrana (39.8), Baldoyle (40.9) and Youghal (42).
Thurles is younger than 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thurles | 8,185 | — | 40.6 | 19% | 38% |
| Templemore | 2,005 | 13.2 km | 41.1 | 20% | 39% |
| Urlingford | 1,196 | 16.4 km | 37.3 | 16% | 50% |
| Cashel | 4,805 | 18.8 km | 37.3 | 14% | 43% |
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 Thurles’s residents
What is the population of Thurles?
Thurles had 8,185 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 4% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Thurles?
The median age is 40.6, older than 81% of Irish towns. 23% are under 18 and 19% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Thurles?
43% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (3,221 people), and 1.4% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Thurles?
84% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 11% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Thurles?
83% are Catholic, 10% have no religion and 6.5% another religion; 5.5% didn’t say.
Is Thurles good for families?
38% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 23% of residents are under 18. Schools near Thurles are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Thurles?
Median gross household income in Thurles was €44,580 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).