Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Working-age people in Ferns are less likely to have a job than in 89% of Irish towns
Unemployment in Ferns stood at 14% at the 2022 census, next to 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. For jobs and income, Ferns earns a grade of D. The trip to work, school or college averages 26.3 minutes from Ferns; 9.3% take an hour or more.
What Ferns’ work numbers say
Fewer people in work than most towns
61% of people aged 15 to 64 in Ferns had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns; 4.4% 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 Ferns had €42,860 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. CSO publishes no income figure for this place, so this one is our estimate from its electoral divisions. Household income ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Jobs and income in Ferns earn D
Better than 5% of Irish towns once its four measures are combined.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
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.
In work in Ferns: 61% of the 15-to-64s
Of the 5 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Wexford, 2 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 4.4% of people aged 15 and over. Among the unemployed, 56% had been out of work that long. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 49% 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.
What households earn in Ferns: €42,860 a year
Before tax, 2022: lower than in 83% of Irish towns.
That puts Ferns 17% below the median for County Wexford as a whole, €51,437. Of the county’s 5 towns of 2,500 or more, 3 have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €39,560. The State median is €60,123, 40% above Ferns’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Where the people of Ferns earn a living, by industry
The second-largest is Professional services, health and education, at 23% (against 25% across Irish towns), and farming, forestry and fishing is the smallest of the seven, at 2.9%.
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.
Ferns commutes on foot, by bike or bus for 15% of trips
The middle of Irish towns has 2.4% cycling to work; here it is 0.2%. Most go by car or van: 77% of commuters. Against 11% in the middle of Irish towns, 8.4% work mainly from home. The bus takes 3.6% of commuters, against 6% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
Getting to work or school from Ferns takes about as long as in the middle of Irish towns
Most often, a trip takes 15 to 44 minutes: 47%, against 39% in the middle of County Wexford. The middle of County Wexford averages 25.2 minutes a trip. Among County Wexford’s 5 towns counted, 3 have shorter trips on average. Short trips of under 15 minutes make up 39%, where the middle of County Wexford has 44%.
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 the count signing on in County Wexford has moved
6,520 people were signing on in County Wexford in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 fell by 1%. For 73 months in a row now, it has been under its 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).
How Ferns spends its days: 49% of adults in work
Compared with Irish towns, 7.1% 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.
The Walkability grade for Ferns: B+
Better than 70% of Irish towns on two measures together.
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.
The places around Ferns, side by side
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ferns | 61% | 14% | €43K | 26.3 min | D | B+ |
| Enniscorthy 10.5 km | 59% | 17% | €42K | 25.2 min | D− | C+ |
| Bunclody 12.5 km | 65% | 15% | €44K | 24.5 min | C− | C |
| Carnew 13.7 km | 58% | 15% | €45K | 26.4 min | D− | D |
| Gorey 17.1 km | 64% | 12% | €50K | 28.5 min | C− | C+ |
| Courtown 18.7 km | 60% | 15% | €44K | 34.7 min | D− | 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 Ferns, 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 Ferns
What is the unemployment rate in Ferns?
14% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 4.4% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Ferns a good place to find work?
Ferns earns a D for jobs and income, better than 5% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together.
How do people in Ferns get to work?
77% of commuters go by car or van, 11% walk, 0.2% cycle and 3.6% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 8.4% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Ferns?
Trips to work, school or college take 26.3 minutes on average; 9.3% take an hour or more and 39% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Ferns?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Ferns’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Ferns 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 Ferns 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).