Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1,317 people call this town in Co. Wexford home.
Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: on the way to work, 15% walk, cycle or take the bus or train, where the typical Irish town has 23%. Work and incomes lag: just over three fifths of working-age residents are employed, with an unemployment rate of 14%. It also trails on health (C) — for every 100 its ages would predict, 126 residents are in bad health and 117 have a disability. The median sale, €270,000, comes to 6.3 times what the median household here earns.
Figures: commuting, work and health, CSO Census 2022 · prices, Property Price Register, 2023 to 2025 · incomes, CSO. Ferns has subject grades but no overall grade: Irish towns get one from 2,500 residents.
Health less sure: few enough residents report bad health that the town's figure could be well above or below its true level.
The 3 things Ferns does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compares Ferns with Irish towns of 2,500 or more, ordered by how far it is from the middle. Towns in other countries are graded separately.
Ferns has subject grades but no overall grade: Irish towns get one from 2,500 residents.
How TownRatings grades Irish towns →
The record adds 18 archaeological sites.
Homes built before 1919: 5%, against 3% across Irish towns.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ferns.
Before tax, the average household brings in €42,860 a year. 61% of 15 to 64s were in work, about level with Co. Wexford’s towns (61%) and below Irish towns (68%). The jobless rate is 14%.
| Census 2022 | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unemployment rate | 14% | 15% | 9.2% |
| In work, 15 to 64 | 61% | 61% | 68% |
| Median household income | €42,860 | €44,117 | €57,760 |
| Trips under 15 minutes | 39% | 44% | 31% |
CSO, Census 2022 travel to work, work and education · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · Live Register · Census day was 3 April 2022, with working from home still common; shares are of those who travelled.
0.3% of homes stand on ground with high landslide susceptibility, about level with Irish towns (0%) and below Co. Wexford’s towns (0.9%). Radon: 100% of homes are in high-radon areas, above Co. Wexford’s towns (93%) and Irish towns (0%) alike. Next to none of its homes lie low beside a river or the sea.
| Share of homes | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| In high-radon areas | 100% | 93% | 0% |
| On high landslide susceptibility | 0.3% | 0.9% | 0% |
EPA radon map, GSI landslide susceptibility and our low-lying homes estimate from OPW LiDAR.
85% of Ferns’ residents described their health as good or very good at the census, about level with Co. Wexford’s towns (85%) and below Irish towns (88%). Disability touches a quarter of Ferns’ population. At the census, 2.3% of people here described their health as bad or very bad.
| Census 2022 | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unpaid carers | 5% | 5.6% | 5.4% |
| Good or very good health | 85% | 85% | 88% |
| With a disability | 25% | 26% | 22% |
| Bad or very bad health | 2.3% | 2.7% | 2% |
CSO, Census 2022 general health, disability and carers · CSO life expectancy by region, 2016 · HSE medical cards, 2024 · TownRatings age-standardised ratios
53% of households own their home, below Co. Wexford’s towns (60%) and Irish towns (61%) alike. Private tenants account for nearly a fifth of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Second-hand homes | €270,000 | 70 |
| Housing | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households in social housing | 26% | 17% | 13% |
| Households owning their home | 53% | 60% | 61% |
| Rent on a new tenancy, a month | €1,109 | €1,111 | €1,606 |
| Median sale price | €270K | €250K | €350K |
Property Price Register · CSO residential prices by Eircode area · RTB rents · CSO, Census 2022 tenure
The warmest afternoons come in July, at around 20.1°C in Ferns. Across the year, Ferns now averages 0.2°C more than it did in 1981–2010. A year brings 1,005 mm of rain, near Co. Wexford’s towns (1,026 mm) and higher than Irish towns (937 mm).
| Climate, 1991–2020 | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 20.1°C | 19.8°C | 19.9°C |
| January low | 2.6°C | 3.0°C | 2.9°C |
| Rain a year | 1,005 mm | 1,026 mm | 937 mm |
Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages.
Among the protected sites near Ferns is Slaney River Valley SAC. Woodland covers 1.9% of the land within 1 km, lower than both Co. Wexford’s towns (6.9%) and Irish towns (2.7%).
| Outdoors | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near a park | 0% | 83% | 92% |
| Woodland within 1 km | 1.9% | 6.9% | 2.7% |
| Paths per km² of town | 0.1 km per km² | 0.7 km per km² | 2.1 km per km² |
| Green space per 1,000 residents | 7.1 ha | 2.3 ha | 4.1 ha |
OpenStreetMap parks and paths, NPWS protected sites and the National Trails Register.
Showers may brush past today without adding up to much, on a breeze of up to 30 km/h; the coldest it gets is 9°C. Tuesday stands out as the wet day ahead, with roughly 12 mm. In Ferns, the November norm is a high of 11°C and a low of 5°C.
| Season | High | Low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winter | 9°C | 3°C | 274 mm |
| Spring | 13°C | 5°C | 199 mm |
| Summer | 20°C | 11°C | 230 mm |
| Autumn | 14°C | 7°C | 302 mm |
Forecast: MET Norway (CC BY 4.0) · normals: Met Éireann, 1991–2020
Born abroad: just over one in ten residents, below both Co. Wexford’s towns (21%) and Irish towns (22%). People 65 and over make up 16% of the town. The share aged 15 to 24 is 13%.
Women make up 52.1% of Ferns
686 women and 631 men live here; across Ireland, women are 50.6%.
| Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 21% | 20% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 28% | 29% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 25% | 24% |
| 65+ | 16% | 15% | 14% |
| Primary or none | 15% | 13% | 9.7% |
| Lower secondary | 24% | 18% | 14% |
| Leaving Cert | 38% | 40% | 35% |
| Diploma or cert | 5.3% | 6% | 5.8% |
| Degree or higher | 17% | 22% | 36% |
CSO, Census 2022 · Co. Wexford and Ireland: the median of their towns of 2,500+
General election turnout: 61%, close to Co. Wexford’s towns (62%) and above Irish towns (59%). One council serves Ferns: Wexford County Council. 50% of voters turned out at the last local elections. Independent lead Wexford County Council with 11 of 34 seats, but no party has a majority: 18 are needed.
| Turnout | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local elections, June 2024 | 50% | 52% | 46% |
| General election, November 2024 | 61% | 62% | 59% |
Department of Housing count sheets, 2024
Homes from before 1919 make up 5.3% of the total, below Co. Wexford’s towns (8%) but above Irish towns (3.4%). The archaeological record lists 18 sites here. Ferns has 9 buildings on the national inventory of architectural heritage, 1 of them rated of national or international importance.
| Heritage | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory buildings per 10,000 residents | 68 | 216 | 48 |
| Homes built before 1919 | 5.3% | 8% | 3.4% |
| Archaeological sites on the record | 18 | 28 | 11 |
NIAH, the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage · Sites and Monuments Record · CSO, Census 2022 homes by year built
Per 1,000 residents, 4.5 violent crimes are recorded each year. In all, 32.7 crimes per 1,000 residents were recorded a year, below both Co. Wexford’s towns (65.4) and Irish towns (54.3). Of the graded crimes in Ferns, assaults and harassment came up most often (2023–2025).
Not in the gradeTheft, public order and offences found by Garda checks (drugs, road traffic, dangerous acts) are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence, burglary and damage.
| Per 1,000 a year | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burglary & damage | 4.3 | 7.8 | 6.4 |
| All recorded crime | 32.7 | 65.4 | 54.3 |
| Theft | 4.3 | 12.6 | 15.3 |
| Violent crime | 4.5 | 7.9 | 5.7 |
CSO recorded crime by Garda station, 2023–2025, shared to towns by where residents live · Census 2022 populations
DEIS, the support scheme, covers half of them, above both Co. Wexford’s towns (44%) and Irish towns (35%). Within 3 km of Ferns there are 2 schools (2 primary schools).
| School | Level | Pupils | Ethos |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naomh Maodhog N.S. DEISLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 285 | Catholic |
| Schools within 3 km | Ferns | Co. Wexford | Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teach through Irish | 0% | 6% | 8% |
| In the DEIS scheme | 50% | 44% | 35% |
Department of Education school lists, 2025/26 (preliminary) · no results are published by school · No letters, no results: Irish schools aren’t ranked one by one.
Castles, abbeys, gardens, museums and days out in and near Ferns. Best known first.
CathedralFerns Cathedralin townCastleCastle · Office of Public WorksFerns Castlein townMuseumMuseumMedieval Ferns Experiencein townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Ferns has 9 buildings on the national inventory of architectural heritage, 1 of them rated of national or international importance. 18 archaeological sites are on the record here.
4 notable people were born in Ferns.
The nearest places of 1,000 or more. Boundaries: Tailte Éireann, CSO Urban Areas 2022 and Electoral Divisions.
Ferns had 1,317 people at the 2022 census, up from 1,286 in 2016: 2.4% more, against 7.6% in the median of Irish towns.
The median age in Ferns is 38.1, against 37.6 in the median of Irish towns. 20% of residents are under 15 and 16% are 65 or over.
77% of working residents drive to work and 15% walk, cycle or take the bus or train (the median of Irish towns: 23%). 8% mostly work from home, and 39% of journeys take under 15 minutes.
Urban area in Co. Wexford
1,317 people live in Ferns, in the area of Wexford County Council. TownRatings uses the CSO’s 2022 Urban Areas as Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a county or a council area, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from Tailte Éireann’s boundaries and the CSO’s Census 2022 (CC BY 4.0)
Sources: CSO, Census 2022 Small Area Population Statistics (CC BY 4.0) · Tailte Éireann, Urban Areas and Electoral Divisions 2022 (CC BY 4.0) · TownRatings grades, run #544 (Irish towns only). 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).