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Best places to live in Ireland with every factor weighted equally
The ranking at the top of this page starts with all 13 factors at the same weight. On that footing, these 15 of the 57 places score highest; the number beside each is its match score out of 100. Treat the list as a starting point, not a verdict: raise the factors you care about and the order changes. Select a place to open its full breakdown.
- 177Strongest on restaurants and bars (100), cultural scene (100) and airport access (98). Weakest on housing cost (4). Restaurants and bars: the average resident has 48 restaurants, cafes and bars within 1 km.
- 274Strongest on cultural scene (100), healthcare (97) and restaurants and bars (97). Weakest on public transit (14). Cultural scene: the average resident has 14 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 372Strongest on healthcare (98), long-distance trains (98) and restaurants and bars (91). Weakest on childcare coverage (18). Healthcare: homes average 3.4 km from the nearest HSE general hospital.
- 471Strongest on long-distance trains (100), cultural scene (100) and healthcare (97). Weakest on childcare coverage (21). Long-distance trains: 38 InterCity departures a day (main station Galway (Ceannt)). Dublin 2 h 24 min, Cork 3 h 08 min, Limerick 1 h 38 min, Waterford 4 h 22 min.
- 570Strongest on international community (100), restaurants and bars (100) and childcare coverage (100). Weakest on public transit (0). International community: 23.9% of residents are not Irish citizens (Irish average 13%).
- 669Strongest on restaurants and bars (98), cultural scene (95) and healthcare (94). Weakest on childcare coverage (14). Restaurants and bars: the average resident has 43 restaurants, cafes and bars within 1 km.
- 766Strongest on access to nature (100), healthcare (99) and housing cost (97). Weakest on public transit (17). Access to nature: 20.5% of the land within 1 km of homes is park, forest or open nature. Townwide: 26.2%.
- 864Strongest on healthcare (99), housing cost (92) and airport access (85). Weakest on public transit (5). Healthcare: homes average 3.2 km from the nearest HSE general hospital.
- 963Strongest on walkability (100), access to nature (94) and healthcare (86). Weakest on cultural scene (26). Walkability: the average resident can walk to 3.3 of 4 daily needs.
- 1063Strongest on long-distance trains (100), healthcare (97) and childcare coverage (97). Weakest on bike friendliness (2). Long-distance trains: 40 InterCity departures a day (main station Mallow). Dublin 2 h 04 min, Cork 22 min, Limerick 1 h 11 min, Galway 3 h 06 min, Waterford 2 h 48 min.
- 1161Strongest on cultural scene (100), healthcare (94) and long-distance trains (86). Weakest on childcare coverage (20). Cultural scene: the average resident has 13.9 museums, theatres, cinemas and galleries within 3 km.
- 1260Strongest on access to nature (100), healthcare (100) and housing cost (99). Weakest on public transit (22). Access to nature: 15.8% of the land within 1 km of homes is park, forest or open nature. Townwide: 20.1%.
- 1360Strongest on airport access (100), access to nature (98) and walkability (94). Weakest on childcare coverage (22). Airport access: 15 min by public transport to Dublin Airport.
- 1459Strongest on international community (96), long-distance trains (93) and housing cost (82). Weakest on public transit (20). International community: 21.5% of residents are not Irish citizens (Irish average 13%).
- 1559Strongest on bike friendliness (92), safety (86) and international community (84). Weakest on public transit (19). Bike friendliness: 84.4% of residents live within 300 m of a protected cycle track. 15.5 km of such track in the town, 3.9 km per km² of inhabited land.
Best places in Ireland by priority
Each starting point is a preset in the tool above. It raises the factors named and lowers a few others. The five highest-scoring places under each:
Family raises safety and childcare coverage to 5, and access to nature and healthcare to 4.
- Mallow, Co Cork: 74
- Killarney, Co Kerry: 71
- Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny: 70
- Ennis, Co Clare: 68
- Dublin, Counties Dublin & Meath: 66
Budget first raises housing cost to 5, and safety, bike friendliness, healthcare, long-distance trains, public transit and walkability to 4.
- Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny: 80
- Ennis, Co Clare: 69
- Limerick, Counties Limerick & Clare: 69
- Bray, Counties Wicklow & Dublin: 68
- Cork, Co Cork: 68
Car-free raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4.
- Dublin, Counties Dublin & Meath: 84
- Galway, Co Galway: 71
- Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny: 71
- Limerick, Counties Limerick & Clare: 70
- Bray, Counties Wicklow & Dublin: 69
Frequent flyer raises long-distance trains and airport access to 5, and international community, restaurants and bars and cultural scene to 4.
- Dublin, Counties Dublin & Meath: 95
- Limerick, Counties Limerick & Clare: 81
- Galway, Co Galway: 80
- Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny: 78
- Killarney, Co Kerry: 78
Questions about where to live in Ireland
What is the best place to live in Ireland?
It depends on what you need from a place, which is why the Ireland City Finder re-ranks as you set your priorities. With all 13 factors weighted equally, Dublin, Kilkenny and Limerick score highest of the 57 places compared. Change the starting point and the answer changes: Family puts Mallow first, Budget first puts Kilkenny first, Car-free puts Dublin first and Frequent flyer puts Dublin first.
What are the best places to live in Ireland for families?
The Family starting point raises safety and childcare coverage to 5, and access to nature and healthcare to 4. With it, Mallow, Killarney, Kilkenny, Ennis and Dublin score highest.
Which places in Ireland are easiest to live in without a car?
The Car-free starting point raises bike friendliness, public transit and walkability to 5, and long-distance trains to 4. With it, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Bray score highest.
Where is housing most affordable in Ireland?
On the housing cost factor, the highest scores go to Enniscorthy, Ballina, Dingle, Sligo and Letterkenny. Enniscorthy: average rent €1,079 a month on registered tenancies, 2025.
Which places in Ireland score highest for safety?
On the safety factor, the highest scores go to Carrigaline, Skerries, Maynooth, Cobh and Kinsale. Carrigaline: 296 violent crimes and 66 burglaries per 100,000 residents (Irish average 536 and 164). Recorded at the Garda station in the town, including the countryside they cover. The safety score is built from official crime figures. A low score means more recorded crime than other places on this list, not that a place is unsafe; How the scores work explains the measure.
Where does the data come from?
The Ireland City Finder compares 57 places on 13 factors using official statistics and open data. The figure behind every score is shown beside it, and each source is listed under How the scores work and at the foot of this page. The methodology sets out how every city finder turns figures into scores.
Does the City Finder tell me whether I can move to Ireland?
No. It is an informational research tool that compares places using general statistics. It does not assess eligibility for any visa, residence permit or citizenship, and nothing in it is legal, immigration, tax or financial advice. Karte Global publishes general information on Irish citizenship by descent. For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU.
About the Ireland City Finder
The Ireland City Finder compares 57 places across Ireland on 13 factors: housing cost, safety, bike friendliness, access to nature, international community, healthcare, long-distance trains, airport access, public transit, restaurants and bars, cultural scene, walkability and childcare coverage. Every factor starts at the same weight. Raise the ones you care about, lower or switch off the ones you don't, and the ranking and map re-sort as you go. You can shortlist places, compare them side by side, and copy a link that reopens your exact setup. Dublin opens up into its neighborhoods.
It is built for Americans weighing a move to Ireland, whether through citizenship by descent, a visa or another route, who want to turn a long list of places into a shortlist worth visiting. Dublin, Cork and Limerick are on the list, and so are smaller places that rarely make the usual rankings. Scores are built from official statistics and open data, the figure behind each score is shown next to it, and the sources are listed at the foot of this page. The methodology explains how a figure becomes a score.
If a parent or grandparent was Irish, see whether you may qualify through Irish citizenship by descent. For visa and residence routes, see Move Me To EU, Karte Global's visa and relocation practice. Considering more than one country? Browse every city finder, or compare places across the whole EU on one scale in the EU City Finder.
How the scores work
Each figure is turned into a 0 to 100 score. Most factors are scored half by comparison and half on a fixed scale. The comparison half ranks the places against each other: the weakest twentieth score 0 and the strongest twentieth score 100. The fixed half measures each place from zero up to the level of the strongest, so a town is not marked zero merely for coming last on a list of good options. Housing cost, distance to a hospital and journey times have no natural zero and are scored by comparison only. Public transit is already a percentage of residents and is used as it stands, and cycling is scored on a fixed scale (see the table). Safety has its own scale, described below and in the table.
Towns are compared with the other towns on this list. They are the CSO's census towns: the built-up area as the census draws it, so Dublin includes its suburbs, and Swords, Bray, Malahide and the other towns around it are counted separately. Dublin's neighborhoods are compared only with each other, so a neighborhood score of 80 in Dublin and a town score of 80 are not the same thing. A score is a comparison, not a grade, and the figure behind every score is shown next to it.
Your overall match is not a flat average. Weights are squared, so a factor at 5 counts nearly three times as much as one at 3. The result is stretched so that strong matches separate from middling ones. A place that excels on something you rated 4 or 5 earns a small bonus, shown as "strong fit"; one that does badly on it takes a penalty, shown as "weak fit". Where a place has no figure for a factor, that factor is left out of its match and the others carry the weight.
Badges: Measured a published official statistic or survey result. Derived calculated by us from published data. Editorial written or judged by us: only the short descriptive notes, which never affect a score. Planned not in the score yet.
Reading the safety score. Violent crime counts twice as much as burglary. Half of the score ranks the towns on this list against each other, so the towns with the most recorded violence and burglary get little for that half however safe they are by international standards. The other half is absolute, on a fixed scale that does not depend on the other towns: no recorded violent crime or burglary would score 100, and the Irish average scores 76. A low score means "more recorded crime than other Irish towns", not "unsafe". Across Ireland the Garda Síochána recorded 536 violent crimes and 164 burglaries per 100,000 residents in 2025. Crime is published by Garda station, and a station's area takes in the countryside around its town: that crime is counted against the town's own residents, which makes small towns serving a wide area look worse, Dingle most of all. Crime is also counted where it happens, so towns that draw commuters, visitors and nightlife record more per resident than quieter ones. Rush, Portmarnock, Ratoath and Laytown-Bettystown have no station of their own that records crime, so they show no safety figure. The figure behind each score is shown so you can judge the gap for yourself.
Reading the train and airport figures. Train counts and journey times come from the published timetables for one ordinary Tuesday, 20 October 2026. Engineering works and seasonal changes move these figures, most of all for smaller stations. Treat these two factors as a snapshot of this season, and check a route you would rely on.
The Dublin neighborhood view uses the city's Local Electoral Areas, the wards of its four councils, as far as they lie inside the census town (29 of 31). It uses only the factors that can be measured inside a city. Housing cost and safety are not scored for the neighborhoods: rents and crime are not published for them.