Photo: Jonathan Thacker · CC BY-SA 2.0Shared houses: 8.3% of households are unrelated adults, more than in 76% of Irish towns
The share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish is 69%, against 78% across Ireland’s towns. There were 8,456 households in Athlone at the 2022 Census, home to 22,869 residents. Locally, 18% of households live in a flat or apartment. Half of the town’s residents are under 36.4, younger than in nearly two thirds of Irish towns.
From 2016 to 2022, 55% of Irish towns grew faster than Athlone: +7%
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.
For comparison, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +11% across Co. Westmeath’s towns.
Residents aged 15 to 24: 13%, a higher share than 60% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 35–39, with nearly one in ten residents. Elsewhere, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. In Castlepollard, the oldest of Co. Westmeath’s towns by this measure, it is 17%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Athlone, 36.4. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Westmeath 50.8%, Ireland 51.2%.
In Athlone, 11% of residents 15 and over are students, more than in 54% 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 workers, professional occupations stand out: 24%, against a typical 21%. As a reference point, 10% of residents 15 and over are students across Ireland’s towns. The census found that nearly one in ten residents lived at another address a year earlier in Athlone.
A lower share of households of parents with children than 65% of Irish towns, at 40%
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Westmeath’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
The typical household size is 2.6 people, against 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. Across the comparison, 43% of households are parents with children across Ireland’s towns. For Athlone, the census puts one-person households at 25%.
Athlone sits above 66% of Irish towns for households without a car or van (21%)
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
89% of households are on broadband; 8.9% have no internet connection (typical: 7.6%). In Athlone, 0.4% of homes are holiday homes. Every 5th household or so has no car or van, the highest share in Co. Westmeath.
The midpoint household income is €53,310 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of households are below €53,310 a year before tax: 11% under the Ireland median (€60,120). For Co. Westmeath as a whole, the figure is €57,430.
Athlone sits above 75% of Irish towns for residents born outside Ireland (29%)
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 35%
Citizenship · share of all residents; the bar runs to 35%
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.
25% speak a language other than English at home, Polish most of all (5.2%); 3% speak English not well or not at all. To put it in context, just over a fifth of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns. At 21%, the share of residents with another country’s citizenship is higher than in 77% of Irish towns.
Athlone ranks below 82% of Irish towns on daily speakers of Irish outside education: 0.7%
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. Westmeath belongs to Mullingar (0.9%). The comparison figure for daily speakers of Irish outside education is 1.1% across Ireland’s towns. In all, 6,701 residents aged 3 and over (34%) can speak Irish.
Athlone sits below 65% of Irish towns for residents with no religion (15%)
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: 69% of Athlone · Co. Westmeath’s towns 79% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Leading the other groups after White Irish: Other White (14%), Asian or Asian Irish (8.2%) and Black or Black Irish (3.8%). 69% of residents said they are Catholic, fewer than in 61% of Irish towns. Typically, 17% of residents said they have no religion across Ireland’s towns.
Athlone sits below 65% of Irish towns for married residents 15 and over (33%)
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 make up 4.9%, close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. Typically, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Adults with a degree or higher: 36%
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, one in ten adults finished at primary level or earlier; in Athlone, 11%, and 13% hold a postgraduate qualification.
In its size band (18,239 to 27,923), the 16th youngest of 41 towns
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
Ages run from 32.4 in Jobstown to 42.9 in Beaumont. Nearest to Athlone in age: Carlow (36.3), Dooradoyle (36.4), Ballymun (36.6) and Carrigaline (36.6).
Every nearby town is older than Athlone
The nearest places, coloured by median age; each is a census urban area.
Health, work, housing and schools
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Against Co. Westmeath’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Co. Westmeath 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 Athlone’s residents
What is the population of Athlone?
Athlone had 22,869 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Athlone?
The median age is 36.4, younger than 66% of Irish towns. 24% are under 18 and 13% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Athlone?
34% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (6,701 people), and 0.7% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Athlone?
69% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 29% were born abroad and 21% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Athlone?
69% are Catholic, 15% have no religion and 17% another religion; 10% didn’t say.
Is Athlone good for families?
40% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 24% of residents are under 18. Schools near Athlone are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Athlone?
Median gross household income in Athlone was €53,310 in 2022, against €57,430 across Co. Westmeath 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).