Photo: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia · Public domainBelow 99% of Irish towns: 1.2% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home
Flats are home to 4.2% of households, against 12% across Ireland’s towns. Higher than in 77% of Irish towns: 50% of households are parents with children. 1,892 people lived in Ashford on Census night in 2022, in 671 households, with a median age of 38.6. Residents with no religion: nearly a quarter of the total.
What stands out about the people of Ashford
Growing faster than most
Ashford went from about 1,550 people in 2016 to 1,892 in 2022, +22%: faster growth than in 93% of Irish towns. Population change ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
+22% since 2016, a pace 93% of Irish towns didn’t match
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%.
Ashford is older than 62% of Irish towns: a median age of 38.6
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 35–39: 8.4% of residents. Ashford has fewer residents aged 15 to 24 than 83% of Irish towns, at 11%. In Bray, the oldest of Co. Wicklow’s towns by this measure, it is 16%.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About 95 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 5.6% in Ashford, less than in 78% 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
By occupation, associate professional and technical are over-represented: 19%, against a typical 13%. On the census count, one in ten residents 15 and over are students. Measured more widely, 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
16% of households are one person living alone, fewer than in 87% of Irish towns
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.
In Ashford the average household is 2.8 people, beside 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of one-person households is 24%.
A smaller share of households without a car or van than 96% of Irish towns: 5%
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
There is little gap on holiday homes: 0.8%, about the same as across Ireland’s towns. Households without a car or van: 17% across Ireland’s towns, for comparison.
Median household income: €67,740 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Half of Ashford’s households have a gross income above €67,740 a year, 13% above the median for Ireland (€60,120). For Co. Wicklow as a whole, the figure is €64,080.
Residents with another country’s citizenship: 8.1%, a lower share than 87% of Irish towns
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 largest groups were born in the UK (6.1%) and outside the EU and UK (5.1%). Set beside that, 15% of residents are citizens of another country across Ireland’s towns. Residents born outside Ireland are rarer here than in nearly four fifths of Irish towns.
38% of Ashford 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
Bray leads Co. Wicklow with 1.4%. On daily speakers of Irish outside education, Ashford sits lower than nearly three quarters of Irish towns: 0.8%.
86% of residents describe themselves as White Irish, more than in 81% 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: 86% of Ashford · Co. Wicklow’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Compared with 71% across Ireland’s towns, 66% of residents said they are Catholic here. By way of comparison, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. Besides White Irish, the main groups are Other White (9%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.9%) and Irish Traveller (1.6%).
More married residents 15 and over than 93% of Irish towns: 41%
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 account for 5.5%. 51% of Ashford’s residents 15 and over are single and 41% married, against 56% and 34% across Ireland’s towns.
42% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher, more than in 64% of Irish towns
Highest level of education completed, residents 15 and over whose education has ended.
Highest qualification · residents 15+ whose education has ended
Postgraduate qualifications are held by 15% of adults here, while 9% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Set beside that, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
3 in 6 nearby towns have a higher median age than Ashford
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 Ashford’s residents
What is the population of Ashford?
Ashford had 1,892 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 22% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Ashford?
The median age is 38.6. 24% are under 18 and 15% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Ashford?
38% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (658 people), and 0.8% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Ashford?
86% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 16% were born abroad and 8.1% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Ashford?
66% are Catholic, 23% have no religion and 11% another religion; 3.2% didn’t say.
Is Ashford good for families?
50% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 24% of residents are under 18. Schools near Ashford are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Ashford?
Median gross household income in Ashford was €67,740 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).