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Top 10 towns and cities in Ireland for tech lovers

The importance of technology is continually growing, we look into the best places to live in Ireland if you are a technology lover.

Choosing where to live is so much more than just picking a location. You’ll need a deposit, a mortgage and spare cash for a host of other costs and that’s all before you even start looking!

Things like property prices, schools and transport links can all play a part in helping you to decide the right place, but for tech lovers, there are often other factors that take priority.

Access to electric chargers, tech sector job prospects and coverage of 5G broadband are all important to the tech-minded.

So, if you love your tech, we’ve compared towns and cities across Ireland to help you decide where to call home. In our research, we’ve included the number of EV chargers, tech jobs, startups, access to 5G out of three and house prices.

The Best Towns and Cities for Tech Lovers in Ireland

Rank Town/City County Total score Chargers per 1000 Tech startups per 1000 Avg House price 5G Tech jobs per 1000 people
1 Kildare Kildare 3.07 0.46 4.29 €250,500 2 6.37
2 Kells Meath 2.88 0.65 1.47 €174,523 3 0.16
3 Carrick-on-Shannon Leitrim 2.83 0.74 1.23 €110,582 2 1.23
4 Ballinasloe Galway 2.67 0.9 0.45 €145,409 2 0
5 Roscommon Roscommon 2.59 0.68 1.02 €143,568 2 0.51
6 Sligo Sligo 2.55 0.52 1.09 €141,404 2 2.92
7 Longford Longford 2.50 0.5 0.8 €114,545 2 2.1
8 Castlebar Mayo 2.44 0.33 0.75 €156,227 3 0.5
9 Galway Galway 2.40 0.1 2.23 €275,118 3 5.37
10 Ballina Mayo 2.37 0.59 0.1 €130,245 2 1.87
11 Shannon Clare 2.31 0.31 1.44 €138,455 1 8.22
12 Killarney Kerry 2.29 0.69 0.69 €219,432 2 0.41
13 Bandon Cork 2.28 0.72 0.43 €208,123 2 0
14 Nenagh Tipperary 2.27 0.45 0.45 €171,932 2 3.9
15 Waterford Waterford 2.26 0.19 0.95 €187,955 3 1.4
16 Limerick Limerick 2.26 0.08 1.2 €214,364 3 4.1
17 Tullamore Offaly 2.24 0.21 0.82 €180,318 3 0.48
18 Ennis Clare 2.22 0.28 0.55 €194,250 3 0.63
19 Dublin Dublin 2.19 0.09 2.9 €383,317 3 4.78
20 Buncrana Donegal 2.19 0.44 0.29 €122,773 2 0
21 Monaghan Monaghan 2.18 0.26 1.04 €148,318 2 1.95
22 Letterkenny Donegal 2.17 0.36 0.42 €142,159 2 1.97
23 Westport Mayo 2.16 0.32 1.29 €190,182 2 1.29
24 Cork Cork 2.15 0.1 1.26 €269,952 3 4.87
25 Listowel Kerry 2.15 0.41 0.41 €141,705 2 0.21
26 Dundalk Louth 2.14 0.18 0.72 €207,569 3 1.1
27 Wicklow Wicklow 2.11 0.38 2.55 €319,025 2 0.85
28 Carlow Carlow 2.09 0.25 0.95 €179,909 2 2.68
29 Carrickmacross Monaghan 2.08 0.79 0.2 €172,513 1 0
30 New Ross Wexford 2.07 0.37 0.12 €138,295 2 0.87
map showing the top 10 places to live in Ireland as a tech lover

 

Top 10 Towns & Cities for Tech Lovers in Ireland

1. Kildare

Kildare is our winner, taking the title as the best town or city for tech lovers in Ireland.

It boasts the greatest number of tech startups per 1,000 of its population out of any city or town in our study. Although it is lacking in technology jobs it scores above average in every other category make it the best place for tech lovers in Ireland.

2. Kells

Kells is a great place to charge an electric vehicle, buy a home and get a super-fast 5G connection.

It just misses out on the top spot because if you’re looking for work in the tech industry you may have to travel a bit further afield to find your dream job.

3. Carrick-on-Shannon

The third best place to live is Carrick-On-Shannon. If you have an electric car there’s a good chance you’ll find a free charger, and while you’re there, take a look at some properties - house prices are the cheapest in our study.

4. Ballinasloe

With pretty cheap property prices and tons of electric chargers, Ballinasloe is a great place to live for tech lovers. It even has pretty good access to 5G.

5. Roscommon

Coming in at number five, with a lot of electric chargers for its size, reasonable house prices and good access to 5G Roscommon could be a great place for tech lovers to live.

6. Sligo

Sligo offers a lot that would appeal to tech lovers, although you may have to travel a little for tech jobs. With reasonably priced housing along with some access to 5G and more EV chargers than average Sligo comfortably makes our top 10.

7. Longford

If you’re tech-savvy and want the fastest speeds without having to pay the earth for housing, Longford could be the destination for you.

With cheap house prices, 5G access (albeit limited), and above-average numbers of EV chargers Longford is a great place to live.

8. Castlebar

Castlebar boasts far cheaper than average prices for a property so is a great place to get on the property ladder as well as having great 5G access. There aren’t a huge number of tech jobs available locally, so if that is a deal-breaker it may not be the right place for you.

9. Galway

Galway is home to a fair few tech startups - scoring above average in this category.

For the entrepreneurial type, Galway could be a great place to live with great 5G access to get your business off the ground quickly.

10. Ballina

With good access to EV chargers, way below average house prices and pretty strong 5G connections, Ballina takes the final spot on our list and makes a great place to live for someone who loves all things technology.

Best town or city for EV chargers

Ballinasloe is the best place to live if you want a quick charge without having to wait. Although six chargers may not sound like a lot, compared to the size of the population, it’s almost one per 1,000 people - amazing in comparison to many other places.

Best town or city for startups in Ireland

Kildare is the best place to live if the number of startups is a factor in your decision. The town has had 37 startups founded in the last 5 years - 4.29 per 1,000 people. It has more than any other town or city we looked at per 1,000 of the population. In comparison, Dublin boasts 3,408 startups, however, that’s just 2.9 per 1,000 people, although still great, Kildare is miles ahead.

Top five places for startups

Kildare

Number of Startups in last 5 yrs: 37

Number of startups per 1000 in last 5 yrs: 4.29

Dublin

Number of Startups in last 5 yrs: 3408

Number of startups per 1000 in last 5 yrs: 2.90

Wicklow

Number of Startups in last 5 yrs: 27 

Number of startups per 1000 in last 5 yrs: 2.55

Galway

Number of Startups in last 5 yrs: 178

Number of startups per 1000 in last 5 yrs: 2.23

Kells

Number of Startups in last 5 yrs: 9

Number of startups per 1000 in last 5 yrs: 1.47

Best town of the city for affordable housing

Carrick-On-Shannon takes the crown for the town or city with the cheapest house prices. In the last 12 months, the average price paid for a property in Carrick-On-Shannon is €110,582. Donabate came in as the most expensive in the last 12 months with a whopping average price of €452,516.

Best town or city for tech jobs

Dunboyne is the place to go if you fancy your chances of scoring a tech job close to home. With an average of 21.73 tech or technology jobs per 1,000 people within 5km of Dunboyne, you’ve got a good chance of getting the job of your dreams without having to commute.

Dunboyne didn’t make the top 10 places to live due to the lack of local tech startups and a low number of car chargers.

Methodology and sources

Methodology To work out the best towns and cities for tech lovers we have analysed a series of metrics and scored them.

The metrics include

  • the number of electric vehicle chargers
  • the number of tech startups
  • 5G coverage in the area
  • house prices
  • tech and technology job adverts.

To calculate the index we worked out the number of chargers, tech jobs, and startups per 1000 people. We also looked at three main providers of 5G to see if they had a good level of coverage in each town and city as well as taking into account the cost of a house. We then normalised the data categories individually from 0 to 1 then summed the results. Data pulled April 2021.

Sources

Last updated on 18/05/2023
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