Photo: P L Chadwick · CC BY-SA 2.0A family town: 58% of households are parents with children
The typical household size is 3.1 people, against 2.7 across Ireland’s towns. Across Blessington, 7.5% of households have no car or van. Lower than in four fifths of Irish towns: 9.7% of residents are 65 or over. This Co. Wicklow town had 5,611 residents in 1,851 households at the 2022 Census.
What stands out about the people of Blessington
A town of families
45% of households are couples with children and 13% lone parents with children, more than in 95% of Irish towns; 24% of residents are under 15. Households ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022.
+3% since 2016: slower than 79% 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 Co. Wicklow’s towns the median is +13%, and across Ireland’s towns +8%.
Residents aged 15 to 24 make up 13% in Blessington, more than in 66% of Irish towns
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
The largest age band is 10–14: just over one in ten residents, 1.5 times the share across Ireland’s towns. With a median age of 37.6, Blessington is younger than just over half of Irish towns. Set beside that, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns.
Median age of Irish towns of 2,500+
■ Blessington, 37.6. The typical town is 37.6.
Broad ages · share of residents
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Median share of women: Co. Wicklow 50.8%, Ireland 51.2%.
Students among residents 15 and over make up 12% in Blessington, more 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
In Blessington, the professional, managerial and technical classes take in just over two in five residents and the semi-skilled and unskilled classes 14%, against 34% and 15% across Ireland’s towns. For Blessington, the census puts residents who moved in within the year at 5.3%.
Fewer shared households of unrelated adults than 96% of Irish towns: 1.9%
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.
16% of households are one person living alone (Ireland’s towns: 24%). Measured more widely, 4.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home across Ireland’s towns.
Blessington sits above 58% of Irish towns for households in flats (14%)
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
92% have broadband at home and 5% no internet at all (typical: 7.6%). On holiday homes, Blessington sits lower than nearly three quarters of Irish towns: 0.1%. The share of households in flats across Ireland’s towns is 12%.
Household income, middle of the range: €69,340 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
A median gross household income of €69,340 sits 15% above Ireland (€60,120). Co. Wicklow’s median household income is €64,080.
Residents born outside Ireland: 18%, a lower share than 70% 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.
By birthplace, the largest groups from abroad were born elsewhere in the EU (5.2%) and outside the EU and UK (5.2%). Compared with other places, residents with another country’s citizenship are scarce here: 12%, fewer than in 63% of Irish towns. The comparison figure for residents born outside Ireland is 22% across Ireland’s towns.
Irish speakers make up 39% of Blessington
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
At 1.2%, daily speakers of Irish outside education sit close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. No town in Co. Wicklow beats Bray (1.4%).
Blessington ranks above 66% of Irish towns on residents who describe themselves as White Irish: 82%
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: 82% of Blessington · Co. Wicklow’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Next after White Irish come Other White (13%), Other, including mixed (1.7%) and Asian or Asian Irish (1.5%). On residents with no religion, Blessington sits higher than 61% of Irish towns: 19%. Against that, 78% of residents describe themselves as White Irish across Ireland’s towns. The share of residents who said they are Catholic tops 58% of Irish towns: 72%.
In Blessington, 38% of residents 15 and over are married, more than in 78% of Irish towns
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.
Higher than in nearly three fifths of Irish towns: 5.6% of residents give unpaid care. To put it in context, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Fewer adults with a degree or higher than 57% of Irish towns: 32%
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 just over one in ten adults here, while 7.5% stopped at primary level or earlier (9.7% across Ireland’s towns). Measured more widely, 36% of adults whose education has ended hold a degree or higher across Ireland’s towns.
In its size band (5,112 to 6,272), the 21st oldest of 41 towns
Median age of the Irish towns nearest in population; hover a dot.
At the ends of the range sit Gillabbey (25.6), the youngest, and Sutton (45.4), the oldest. Nearest to Blessington in age: Rathcoole (37), Knockrea (37.4), Ardee (37.7) and Roscrea (37.8).
Nearby, 1 of 6 towns have older populations than Blessington
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 Blessington’s residents
What is the population of Blessington?
Blessington had 5,611 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 3% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Blessington?
The median age is 37.6, younger than 51% of Irish towns. 30% are under 18 and 9.7% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Blessington?
39% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (2,042 people), and 1.2% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Blessington?
82% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 18% were born abroad and 12% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Blessington?
72% are Catholic, 19% have no religion and 8.6% another religion; 3.5% didn’t say.
Is Blessington good for families?
58% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 30% of residents are under 18. Schools near Blessington are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Blessington?
Median gross household income in Blessington was €69,340 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).