Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0Bray’s household incomes are higher than in 67% of Irish towns
Bray grades B− for jobs and income, #5 of 9 in County Wicklow. 13% of trips from Bray last an hour or longer; the mean is 31.8 minutes. The bus or train carries 17% of its commuters.
The work figures that set Bray apart
Work near the middle
69% of people aged 15 to 64 in Bray had a job at the 2022 census; the middle of Irish towns is 68%. In work ↓
Longer trips than most towns
Trips to work, school or college take 31.8 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 13% take an hour or more. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: CSO Census 2022, CSO household income 2022 and the Live Register.
Jobs & income in Bray: graded B−
Its four measures together rank it better than 53% of Irish towns, #5 of 9 in County Wicklow.
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.
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.
Bray spends longer getting to work or school than the middle of Irish towns
In County Wicklow, 5 of 9 towns counted average a shorter trip. Against 36% in the middle of County Wicklow, 27% of trips take under 15 minutes. 52% of trips take 15 to 44 minutes, where the middle of County Wicklow has 41%.
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).
In Bray, 27% of residents in work are in commerce and trade
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).
Bray at work: 69% of people aged 15 to 64
Of the 8 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Wicklow, 5 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Unemployment, counted the census way, was 8.9% of the labour force; the middle of Irish towns is 9.2%. 2.8% of everyone aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more. Among the unemployed, 52% had been out of work that long. Of all residents aged 15 and over, retirees and students among them, 55% 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.
Before tax, the median household in Bray has €64,121
Of the county’s 8 other towns of 2,500 or more, 5 have a higher median. After tax, the median is €54,578. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 6% below Bray’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
Household incomes across Bray: €46K to €78K
Median gross household income in each of the 7 electoral divisions where 50 or more of Bray’s households live: the highest is 1.7 times the lowest. The share of people aged 15 to 64 in work runs from 57% in Rathmichael (Bray) to 73% in Shankill-Shanganagh.
| Electoral division | Households here | Median income (whole division) | Aged 15–64 in work (here) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kilmacanoge | 4,237 | €70,686 | 68% |
| Bray No. 3 | 2,538 | €61,188 | 73% |
| Bray No. 2 | 2,494 | €64,884 | 71% |
| Rathmichael (Bray) | 801 | €49,605 | 57% |
| Bray No. 1 | 764 | €45,816 | 66% |
| Shankill-Shanganagh | 623 | €78,072 | 73% |
| Shankill-Rathmichael | 383 | €75,972 | 66% |
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022 (GPIIA01): each division’s median covers all its households, including any outside Bray; households and the share in work are Bray’s own part (Census 2022, CSO SAPS).
Not by car: 29% of Bray’s commuters walk, cycle or ride the bus or train
8.8% go by train, DART or Luas, against 1.5% in the middle of County Wicklow. In the middle of County Wicklow, 74% drive to work; here it is 57%. On foot and by bike, commuting here is much as 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).
The monthly count of people signing on in County Wicklow
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. Bray office: signing on peaked in July 2019 at 2,715, 14% 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.
People signing on each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
How Bray spends its days: 55% of adults 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 Bray: A−
Better than 81% of Irish towns on two measures together, #1 of 9 in County Wicklow.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a post office: 77%.
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.
5th of 13: where Bray ranks among Irish towns of 23,500 to 45,200
| # | Town | People | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naas County Kildare | 26,180 | 73% | 6.2% | €82K | A− |
| 2 | Swords County Dublin | 40,776 | 74% | 7% | €77K | A− |
| 3 | Ennis County Clare | 27,923 | 68% | 9.6% | €53K | B |
| 4 | Kilkenny County Kilkenny | 27,184 | 68% | 10% | €54K | B |
| 5 | Bray County Wicklow | 33,512 | 69% | 8.9% | €64K | B− |
| 6 | Newbridge County Kildare | 24,366 | 67% | 9.3% | €64K | B− |
| 7 | Blanchardstown County Dublin | 24,613 | 69% | 11% | €69K | B− |
| … | ||||||
| 13 | Dundalk County Louth | 43,112 | 62% | 14% | €49K | D |
Ordered by Jobs & income Grade: the top three, the towns either side of Bray, and others in County Wicklow.
Neighbouring places to Bray, compared
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bray | 69% | 8.9% | €64K | 31.8 min | B− | A− |
| Kilmacanogue 3.5 km | 71% | 5.6% | €71K | 31.6 min | A− | C− |
| Enniskerry 3.9 km | 68% | 7.9% | €85K | 33.3 min | B | C+ |
| Shankill 4.1 km | 70% | 7.6% | €73K | 33.2 min | B | B+ |
| Killiney 6.2 km | 68% | 8.8% | €71K | 32.3 min | B− | B+ |
| Greystones-Delgany 6.9 km | 72% | 5.5% | €86K | 33.5 min | A− | B |
| Ballybrack 7.1 km | 69% | 7% | €70K | 30.3 min | B+ | A− |
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 Bray, 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 Bray
What is the unemployment rate in Bray?
8.9% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 2.8% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
Is Bray a good place to find work?
Bray earns a B− for jobs and income, better than 53% of Irish towns on household income, the share of 15-to-64s in work, unemployment and trip times together, #5 of 9 in County Wicklow.
How do people in Bray get to work?
57% of commuters go by car or van, 9.8% walk, 2.2% cycle and 17% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 13% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Bray?
Trips to work, school or college take 31.8 minutes on average; 13% take an hour or more and 27% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Bray?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Bray’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Bray 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 Bray 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).