Photo: Malone0 · CC BY-SA 4.0Half of Arklow is over 39.6, older than 75% of Irish towns
Residents who said they are Catholic are more common here than in 72% of Irish towns. At the 2022 Census Arklow was home to 13,399 people in 5,014 households. Households of parents with children account for 47%. Across Ireland’s towns, 12% of households live in a flat or apartment; in the town, 8.7%.
Arklow changed by +3% from 2016 to 2022, behind 78% 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, the typical town changed +8%; across Co. Wicklow’s towns, +13%.
A larger share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 60% of Irish towns: 13%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The biggest five-year age group is 10–14, with nearly one in ten residents. The wider picture: 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns. Residents aged 65 and over are more common here than in 50% of Irish towns. In Bray, the oldest of Co. Wicklow’s towns by this measure, it is 16%.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Arklow, 39.6. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Median share of women: Co. Wicklow 50.8%, Ireland 51.2%.
Residents who moved in within the year make up 4.8% in Arklow, less than in 86% 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
Across Ireland’s towns, 34% of residents are in the professional, managerial and technical classes and 15% in the semi-skilled and unskilled classes; in Arklow, 31% and 19%. As a yardstick, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Below 78% of Irish towns: 3.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home
Private households by CSO’s family types, beside the county’s towns and Ireland’s.
Against Co. Wicklow’s towns and Ireland’s towns
People per household
Ireland’s towns.
For Arklow, the census puts one-person households at 24%. To put it in context, 4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Ireland’s towns. A household here has 2.7 people on average; across Ireland’s towns, 2.7.
18% of households have no car or van, more than in 53% 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
At 0.5%, holiday homes sit close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. Elsewhere, 17% of households have no car or van across Ireland’s towns.
Median household income: €49,940 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
At €49,940 a year before tax, the median household income is 17% under that of Ireland (€60,120). That compares with €64,080 across Co. Wicklow.
Below 74% of Irish towns: 17% of residents were born outside Ireland
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.
The most common home language after English is Polish (5%); in all 14% speak another language, and 1.9% 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. 11% of residents are citizens of another country, a lower share than in 70% of Irish towns.
In Arklow, 37% of residents can speak Irish
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
Speakers of Irish: 4,584 residents, 37% of those aged 3 and over. Few places have as many daily speakers of Irish outside education: 1.1% here, more than in 52% of Irish towns.
Arklow: 84% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, above 72% 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 Arklow · Co. Wicklow’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White Irish come Other White (12%), Asian or Asian Irish (2.2%) and Other, including mixed (1.3%). Few places have so few residents with no religion: 16% here, fewer than in 56% of Irish towns. To put it in context, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns.
35% of residents 15 and over are married, a share 52% of Irish towns don’t reach
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.
At 6.1%, unpaid carers sit close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. For comparison, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Only 24% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher in Arklow
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
A postgraduate qualification is the highest level for 6.3% of adults; primary level or less for 12% (Ireland’s towns: 9.7%). Across Ireland’s towns, the share of adults with a degree or higher is 36%.
In its size band (11,517 to 15,598), the 6th oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
The youngest is Castletroy (29) and the oldest Foxrock (44.7). Nearest to Arklow in age: Blackrock (39.5), Corbally and King's Island (39.5), Wicklow (39.7) and Killarney (40).
Around Arklow, 2 of 4 towns have a higher median age
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. Wicklow’s towns and Ireland’s towns. Each comparison is its own median: over Co. Wicklow’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 Arklow’s residents
What is the population of Arklow?
Arklow had 13,399 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 3% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Arklow?
The median age is 39.6, older than 75% of Irish towns. 25% are under 18 and 14% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Arklow?
37% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (4,584 people), and 1.1% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Arklow?
84% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 17% were born abroad and 11% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Arklow?
75% are Catholic, 16% have no religion and 9% another religion; 5.3% didn’t say.
Is Arklow good for families?
47% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 25% of residents are under 18. Schools near Arklow are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Arklow?
Median gross household income in Arklow was €49,940 in 2022, against €64,080 across Co. Wicklow 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).