Photo: Sarah777 · CC BY-SA 2.0Jobs and the daily commute in Donard
The average trip to work, school or college from Donard takes 35.2 minutes; 18% take an hour or more. 8.7% of the labour force in Donard was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. Donard isn’t graded for jobs and income: it has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts.
Work in Donard: the figures worth knowing
Work near the middle
72% of people aged 15 to 64 in Donard 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 35.2 minutes on average, against 27.6 in the middle of Irish towns; 18% 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.
Donard: jobs and income figures, no grade
Donard has under 1,000 residents, where the grade starts. The figures on this page are still its own.
Work and school are further off in time from Donard than for the middle of Irish towns
Trips of 15 to 44 minutes are the most common, at 49% (middle of County Wicklow: 41%). Across County Wicklow, the middle town’s trips average 31.6 minutes. Of the 9 towns of County Wicklow counted, 9 have a shorter average trip. Under 15 minutes: 25% of trips, next to 36% in the middle of County Wicklow.
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.
72% of Donard’s 15-to-64s are in work
Of the 9 other places of 2,500 people or more in County Wicklow, 8 have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
Long-term unemployment, a year or more out of work, covered 3.2% of people aged 15 and over. Put another way, 60% of the unemployed had been out of work for a year or more. Counting everyone aged 15 and over, retirees and students included, 56% 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.
Donard at the median: €58,640 a household
Before tax, 2022; the middle of Irish towns is €57,760.
That puts Donard 8% below the median for County Wicklow as a whole, €64,077. 6 of the county’s 9 towns of 2,500 people or more have a higher median. Net of tax, it is €49,540. Across Ireland the median household has €60,123, 3% above Donard’s.
CSO Geographical Profiles of Income in Ireland 2022: median gross household income, from tax and welfare records linked to Census households.
How Donard gets to work: 13% without a car
In the middle of County Wicklow, 74% drive to work; here it is 72%. 14% work mainly from home, against 11% in the middle of Irish towns. By bus: 1% of commuters, next to 6% in the middle of Irish towns. On foot: 12% of commuters, well above the 6.7% in the middle of County Wicklow.
Census 2022 (CSO SAPS), means of travel to work.
How the count signing on in County Wicklow has moved
4,688 people were signing on in County Wicklow in September 2026. Over the year to September 2026, the count 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).
Walking to the shops, school and post office in Donard
Not graded: the Walkability grade starts at 1,000 residents.
Fewest residents live within 800 m of a pharmacy: 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 Donard compare on work
| Town | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donard | 72% | 8.7% | €59K | 35.2 min | — | — |
| Dunlavin 7.1 km | 62% | 12% | €54K | 27.7 min | C− | D− |
| Baltinglass 11.2 km | 63% | 12% | €52K | 34.5 min | D− | D |
| Kilcullen 15 km | 73% | 6.4% | €66K | 28.6 min | A− | D |
| Rathvilly 16.6 km | 66% | 9.3% | €53K | 34 min | C | D− |
| Blessington 17.1 km | 69% | 7.2% | €69K | 31.6 min | B | C− |
| Athgarvan 18.2 km | 70% | 6.7% | €95K | 29.6 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 Donard, 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 Donard
What is the unemployment rate in Donard?
8.7% of the labour force was out of work at the 2022 census, against 9.2% in the middle of Irish towns. 3.2% of people aged 15 and over had been out of work for a year or more.
How do people in Donard get to work?
72% of commuters go by car or van, 12% walk, 0% cycle and 1% take the bus or train. On census day 2022, 14% worked mainly from home.
How long is the commute from Donard?
Trips to work, school or college take 35.2 minutes on average; 18% take an hour or more and 25% under a quarter of an hour.
How many jobs are there in Donard?
Ireland doesn’t publish a count of the jobs based in each town. What the census does say is what Donard’s residents work at, wherever their job is: see What residents work in.
Where do people in Donard 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 Donard travel and how long their trips take.
Sources: CSO Census 2022 SAPS · CSO Geographical Profiles of Income 2022 · CSO Live Register (LRM07) · OpenStreetMap (ODbL). 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).