Revealed: Ireland's largest towns

In April 2022, Louth, Ireland’s smallest county in size, had the two largest towns in the State, Drogheda (44,135 people) and Dundalk (43,112 people).

The five towns with the highest populations nationally were in Leinster, with Swords (40,776), Navan (33,886), and Bray (33,512) completing the list.

The top twenty towns by population in Ireland, in April 2022

Ennis was the next largest town with 27,923 people. Sligo (20,608 people) and Letterkenny (22,549 people) had the highest populations in Connacht and Ulster (part of) respectively.

Portlaoise was the largest town in the Midlands (23,494), just ahead of Athlone (22,869) and Mullingar (22,667). Tullamore was the 28th largest town in the State.

There were 49 towns in the country with a population of 10,000 or more. The majority of these (33) were in Leinster, 11 were in Munster, three in Connacht and two in Ulster (part of). Balbriggan was the youngest large town with an average age of 33.6 years. Clonmel, with an average age of 40.8 years, was the oldest large town.

There were 164 towns with a population of 1,500 to 10,000 people. Just 12 of these towns had an average age under 33 years. Saggart in Dublin was the youngest town in this category, with an average age of 30.4 years in 2022. There were 12 towns in this category where the average age was above 42 years. Ballyshannon in Donegal, and Dingle-Daingean Uí Chúis in Kerry, both with an average age of 44.4 years were the oldest in 2022. The majority of the oldest towns in this category were in the west, including towns in Kerry, Roscommon, Donegal, Cork and Clare.

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