This publication is part of a series of results from Census 2022. More thematic publications will be published throughout 2023 as outlined in the Census 2022 Publication Schedule.
For Census 2022, the Central Statistics Office has introduced a new way of defining urban areas. These new urban areas, or Built Up Areas (BUAs) were developed in conjunction with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Ordnance Survey Ireland (now Tailte Éireann). The new BUA boundaries were created using a different approach to the Settlements used in Census 2016 so there is no direct comparison of the data for urban areas between the two censuses in this publication. Where the word 'town' is used in this release, it is referring to the BUAs. For more information about BUAs, please see Census 2022 Urban Settlement Boundaries and Built Up Areas.
The top 10 largest towns in the State remained almost the same compared with the settlements in 2016. Naas joined the list of the top 10 largest towns, while Newbridge dropped out. Some towns also moved places on the list. In 2022, Swords was the third largest town in the State, replaced by Dundalk as the second largest.
County Louth had the two largest towns in the State, Drogheda with 44,135 people and Dundalk with 43,112 people.
The next three, all in Leinster, had populations of over 30,000: Swords (40,776), Navan (33,886) and Bray (33,512).
Ennis (27,923) was sixth at State level and the largest in Munster; three other towns in this province had over 18,000 people – Tralee (26,079), Clonmel (18,369) and Carrigaline (18,239).
The largest town in Connacht was Sligo, with a population of 20,608 while Letterkenny was the largest in Ulster (part of) with 22,549 people enumerated there in 2022.
Of the 49 towns with a population of 10,000 or more, two thirds, or 33, were in Leinster, 11 in Munster, three in Connacht and two in Ulster (part of).
In Census 2022, out of the 164 towns with a population of 1,500 to 10,000 people, there were 12 towns that had an average age under 33 years.
Of these 12 towns, eight were in Leinster, three in Munster and one was in Connacht.
Saggart in Dublin, with an average age of 30.4 years, was the youngest town in 2022.
Of the eight towns in Leinster, three were in County Dublin (Saggart, Kinsealy-Drinan and Newcastle) or in surrounding counties such as Meath (Enfield and Stamullen), Kildare (Kilcock), Louth (Tullyallen) and Wicklow (Rathnew).
The remaining four towns were close to Cork City (Watergrasshill, Rathcormac and Carrigtwohill) and Galway City (Baile Chláir).
In Census 2022, out of the 164 towns with a population of 1,500 to 10,000 persons, there were 12 with an average age above 42 years.
Out of these 12 towns, seven were in Munster, two in Leinster, two in Connacht and one in Ulster (part of).
Ballyshannon in Donegal and Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis in Kerry, both with an average age of 44.4 years, were the oldest towns in 2022.
Three quarters of the oldest towns were in the west of Ireland: in Kerry (Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis, Ballybunion, Listowel and Castleisland), Roscommon (Boyle and Castlerea), Donegal (Ballyshannon), Cork (Bantry) and Clare (Kilrush).
The remaining three towns were in Wexford (Rosslare), Kilkenny (Graiguenamanagh-Tinnahinch) and Limerick (Kilmallock).