Photo: David Purchase · CC BY-SA 2.0In Shillelagh, 0.7% of households are unrelated adults sharing a home, fewer than in 99% of Irish towns
The share of residents who describe themselves as White Irish is 93%, against 78% across Ireland’s towns. The 2022 Census put Shillelagh’s population at 390, in 148 households. The census found that 5.4% of households live in a flat or apartment here. The median age in the town is 42.2, higher than in 90% of Irish towns.
Shillelagh changed by +7% from 2016 to 2022, slower than 51% 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.
For comparison, the median is +8% across Ireland’s towns and +13% across Co. Wicklow’s towns.
A smaller share of residents aged 15 to 24 than 97% of Irish towns: 9.5%
Share of residents in each five-year band; the tick is the typical town.
No age band is larger than 45–49: one in ten residents, 1.4 times the share across Ireland’s towns. Census figures put residents aged 65 and over at 17% in Shillelagh. Against that, 12% of residents are aged 15 to 24 across Ireland’s towns.
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%.
Below 97% of Irish towns: 3.4% of residents lived at another address a year earlier
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
At 9.1%, students among residents 15 and over sit close to the figure across Ireland’s towns. The wider picture: 7.5% of residents lived at another address a year earlier across Ireland’s towns.
Above 69% of Irish towns: 28% of households are one person living alone
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.
Parents with children are 45% of households (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 28% are one person living alone (Co. Wicklow’s towns 18%). Elsewhere, nearly a quarter of households are one person living alone across Ireland’s towns. The average household has 2.7 people.
Below 70% of Irish towns: 12% of households have no car or van
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
Across Ireland’s towns, 0.2% of homes are holiday homes; in Shillelagh, 1.2%. In one household in 8 there is no car or van.
Household income, middle of the range: €47,670 a year
Household income in 2022 from CSO’s linked administrative data (GPIIA): the middle household’s income before and after tax.
Gross household income has a median of €47,670 a year here, 21% below Ireland (€60,120). That compares with €64,080 across Co. Wicklow.
Fewer residents born abroad than 98% of Irish towns: 9.9%
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 in the UK (4.7%) and outside the EU and UK (2.3%). Few places have so few residents with another country’s citizenship: 4.3% here, fewer than in 98% of Irish towns. For comparison, 22% of residents were born outside Ireland across Ireland’s towns.
In Shillelagh, Irish is spoken by 32% of residents
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
Daily speakers of Irish outside education are about as common here as across Ireland’s towns, at 0.8%. Bray leads Co. Wicklow with 1.4%.
A lower share of residents with no religion than 95% of Irish towns, at 9.3%
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: 93% of Shillelagh · Co. Wicklow’s towns 83% · Ireland’s towns 78%.
Religion · all residents
Beyond White Irish, the biggest groups are Other White (5.3%), Asian or Asian Irish (1.3%) and Other, including mixed (0.5%). Few places have as many residents who said they are Catholic: 77% here, more than in 80% of Irish towns. Across Ireland’s towns, the share of residents with no religion is 17%.
A larger share of married residents 15 and over than 67% of Irish towns: 36%
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.
On unpaid carers, 5.1% here is much the same as across Ireland’s towns. As a yardstick, 34% of residents 15 and over are married across Ireland’s towns.
Fewer adults with a degree or higher than 83% of Irish towns: 23%
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 nearly one in ten adults here, while 11% 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.
Every neighbour of Shillelagh has a younger population
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 Shillelagh’s residents
What is the population of Shillelagh?
Shillelagh had 390 residents at the 2022 Census, counted within its urban area, 7% more than 2016.
What is the average age in Shillelagh?
The median age is 42.2. 26% are under 18 and 17% 65 or older.
How many people speak Irish in Shillelagh?
32% of residents aged 3 and over can speak Irish (118 people), and 0.8% speak it every day outside education, against a typical 1.1% across Ireland’s towns.
How diverse is Shillelagh?
93% describe themselves as White Irish (Ireland’s towns: 78%); 9.9% were born abroad and 4.3% are citizens of another country.
What religion are people in Shillelagh?
77% are Catholic, 9.3% have no religion and 14% another religion; 3.1% didn’t say.
Is Shillelagh good for families?
45% of households are parents with children (Ireland’s towns 43%), and 26% of residents are under 18. Schools near Shillelagh are on its Schools page.
What is the median income in Shillelagh?
Median gross household income in Shillelagh was €47,670 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).