#1Greystones-Delgany
22,009 peopleScore 59.3·#73 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: health A, safety A−·lowest: cost of living D−
Greystones-Delgany, #1 on this list · Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 (CC BY-SA 4.0)Wicklow · 2026
Best places to live in County Wicklow
The A range holds one town on this list. Scores on the list run from 59.3 down to 27.9. First of the 9 ranked towns in County Wicklow is Greystones-Delgany, #73 of 320 nationally. The list’s runner-up is Kilcoole, at B+.
The overall score, sorted within the county; the letter compares each town with every town in Ireland of 2,500+, and its national rank sits beside it. How grades work
#1A−
#2Kilcoole
4,569 peopleScore 54.1·#111 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: hazard risk A, safety A−·lowest: cost of living D
#3Bray
33,512 peopleScore 48.1·#159 of 320 Irish towns
Strongest: walkability A−, health B·lowest: cost of living C
All 9 towns, ranked
By overall score against Irish towns; ranks are within the county, and each national rank links to the national list.
#TownScoreGrade · national rankWhat drives it
1Greystones-Delgany22,009 people59.3top 22.6%A−#73 of 320 nationallyStrongest: health A, safety A−·lowest: cost of living D−
2Kilcoole4,569 people54.1top 34.5%B+#111 of 320 nationallyStrongest: hazard risk A, safety A−·lowest: cost of living D
3Bray33,512 people48.1top 49.5%B−#159 of 320 nationallyStrongest: walkability A−, health B·lowest: cost of living C
4Wicklow12,957 people46.1bottom 45.1%B−#176 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety B, health B·lowest: hazard risk D−
5Blessington5,611 people45.2bottom 42.0%C+#186 of 320 nationallyStrongest: jobs & income B, health B·lowest: walkability C−
6Newtownmountkennedy3,539 people45.0bottom 40.1%C+#192 of 320 nationallyStrongest: hazard risk A+, safety B+·lowest: cost of living D
7Baltinglass2,611 people44.4bottom 38.2%C+#198 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety A−, cost of living B·lowest: jobs & income D−
8Arklow13,399 people43.4bottom 35.4%C+#207 of 320 nationallyStrongest: cost of living A−, hazard risk B·lowest: jobs & income C−
9Rathnew3,482 people27.9bottom 5.6%D#302 of 320 nationallyStrongest: safety B, cost of living C−·lowest: hazard risk D−
Quick answers
Questions people ask
How are these towns ranked?
By the overall grade, which blends six graded subjects (safety, cost of living, health, jobs & income, walkability and hazard risk) from public data, each comparing a town with every town in Ireland of 1,000 or more. The rank is among the towns of 2,500 or more in County Wicklow, where five or more have an overall grade.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers places of 2,500 or more with an overall grade. Smaller places, and towns missing figures the overall grade needs, show their grades on their own pages; every town is listed on the County Wicklow page.
County by county
Best places to live, county by county
Photos: Greystones-Delgany, 瑞丽江的河水 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Kilcoole, 瑞丽江的河水 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Bray, 瑞丽江的河水 (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranking Irish towns against each other only, run #71 of 9 November 2026. 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).