Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainHouseholds in Ashford have higher incomes than those in 72% of Irish towns
18% of its workers worked mainly from home on census day in 2022. The Jobs & income grade for Ashford is B−. From Ashford, trips to work, school or college average 34.8 minutes; for 16%, it takes an hour or more.
Jobs and income in Ashford: what the figures say
Higher incomes than most towns
The median household in Ashford had €67,738 a year before tax in 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760. Household income ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 34.8 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 16% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Many work from home
18% of workers worked mainly from home on census day, against 11% in the middle of Irish towns. Getting to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Jobs & income in Ashford: graded B−
With four measures combined, it comes out better than 51% of Irish towns.
Its strongest measure is household income; its weakest, trip times.
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.
How much households earn in Ashford: €67,738
That puts Ashford 6% above the median for County Wicklow as a whole, €64,077. Of the county’s 9 towns of 2,500 or more, 3 have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €57,622. The State median is €60,123, 11% below Ashford’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
More time on the road to work or school from Ashford than in the middle of Irish towns
Most often, a trip takes 15 to 44 minutes: 47%, against 41% in the middle of County Wicklow. In the middle of County Wicklow, the trip averages 31.6 minutes. Among County Wicklow’s 9 towns counted, 9 have shorter trips on average. Against 36% in the middle of County Wicklow, 26% of trips take under 15 minutes.
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 long trips to work, school or college take, 2022 census (trips whose length wasn’t stated left out).
9% of Ashford’s commuters walk, cycle, or take the bus or train
On foot 3.3%, by bike 0.5%: the middle of Irish towns has 10% and 2.4%. 73% go by car or van, about the same as in the middle of County Wicklow. The bus takes 4.1% of commuters, against 6% in the middle of Irish towns.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
How residents in work get there (2022 census; people working mainly from home included).
Where the people of Ashford earn a living, by industry
Professional services, health and education is the second-largest at 25%, against 25% across Irish towns; the smallest of the seven is farming, forestry and fishing, at 1.4%.
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.
People living here who are in work, by the industry they work in, wherever their job is (2022 census).
Work for 70% of 15-to-64s in Ashford
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Wicklow, 7 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Of those in the labour force, 9.1% were out of work, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 3.6% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 63% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 58% 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.
Signing on in County Wicklow: the count since 2019
4,688 people were signing on in County Wicklow in September 2026. Set against a year before, the count in September 2026 rose by 3%. For 49 months in a row now, it has been under its 2019 average. Its lowest month since 2019 was November 2024, at 4,389. County Wicklow: signing on peaked in July 2020 at 6,173, 13% above the 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).
Jobs, studies and retirement in Ashford: 58% in work
The mix is close to Irish towns’ as a whole.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), principal economic status of people aged 15 and over; occupations of those at work, in three broad groups.
Everyone aged 15 and over, by what they said they mainly do (2022 census), and the jobs of those in work.
The walkability of Ashford: D
Better than 6% of Irish towns on two measures together.
Of the everyday places, a pharmacy is the one the fewest residents have within 800 m (0%).
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.
How the places next to Ashford compare on work
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashford | 70% | 9.1% | €68K | 34.8 min | B− | D |
| Rathnew 3.5 km | 61% | 14% | €50K | 27 min | D | D |
| Wicklow 5.8 km | 68% | 9.3% | €64K | 32.3 min | B− | C |
| Newcastle 7.9 km | 73% | 4.9% | €71K | 35.5 min | A− | D |
| Newtownmountkennedy 8.7 km | 71% | 8% | €66K | 30.7 min | B+ | B |
| Kilcoole 11.4 km | 70% | 7.3% | €70K | 30.2 min | B+ | B+ |
| Kilpedder 11.4 km | 74% | 5.7% | €67K | 32.2 min | A− | D |
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 Ashford, 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 Ashford
What is the unemployment rate in Ashford?
9.1% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 3.6% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Ashford a good place to find work?
Ashford earns a B− for jobs and income, better than 51% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together.
How do people in Ashford get to work?
73% of commuters go by car or van, 3.3% walk, 0.5% cycle and 5.2% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 18% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Ashford?
Trips to work, school or college take 34.8 minutes on average; 16% take an hour or more and 26% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Ashford?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Ashford’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Ashford 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 Ashford 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).