In Dublin, a new tenant now pays, on average, two thousand three hundred and one euros a month. Three hours west by train, in Westport, County Mayo, the same average is twelve hundred and twelve. That is about half. But Westport gets nearly twice Dublin’s rain, and there is no hospital emergency department in the town. Today, seven real places to live in Ireland, compared line by line from official figures, so you can see which one fits you.
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How we compared them
Here are the seven: Dublin, Cork, Galway, Ennis, Westport, Sligo and Dundalk. A capital, two more cities, a county town, an Atlantic town, the north-west, and a commuter town on the Belfast line. For each one, the same six lines. The average rent a newcomer signs for, from the Residential Tenancies Board, for the first three months of this year. The population, from the twenty twenty-two census. The train to Dublin, and the nearest airport with flights to America. The nearest emergency department, from the health service’s own list. And the rain, from Met Éireann’s thirty-year averages.
Dublin
Dublin first, because everything else is measured against it. One point two six million people live in the city and its suburbs. New rents in the city average two thousand three hundred and one euros a month, the highest of our seven. Dublin Airport has US preclearance, so you clear American immigration before you take off. There are several emergency departments, among them St James’s, the Mater and Beaumont. Trinity College has been here since fifteen ninety-two. And Dublin is the driest of the seven, about seven hundred and fifty millimetres of rain a year, or thirty inches. The trade-off is the cost: Dublin, at two thousand three hundred, is the most expensive of the seven by a long way.
The trade-off: the cost. The highest rent of the seven.
More about the area: Dublin City Council.
Cork
Cork is Ireland’s second city, with two hundred and twenty-two thousand people. New rents in the city average nineteen hundred and three euros. Direct trains to Dublin take about two and a half hours, and leave roughly every hour. Cork University Hospital has the emergency department. The English Market, a covered food market in the city centre, has been trading since seventeen eighty-eight. For an American, the catch is the airport: Cork’s long-haul connections run through London, Amsterdam and Paris, so the flight home starts with a change. Rain: about eleven hundred millimetres a year.
The trade-off: no direct flight to America from Cork.
More about the area: Cork City Council.
Galway
Galway is the city of the west coast, eighty-six thousand people in the city and its suburbs. And here is the surprise. New rents in Galway city now average two thousand and four euros, second only to Dublin among Irish cities, and the first time Galway has passed two thousand. In the first three months of this year they rose ten and a half per cent, faster than in any other city. The train to Dublin takes about two and a half hours, and for America you fly from Shannon or Dublin. University Hospital Galway has an emergency department. Fáilte Ireland calls it the City of the Tribes, with its medieval stone walls. The trade-off: big-city rents, no airport with passenger flights, and about twelve hundred and seventy millimetres of rain.
The trade-off: big-city rent, rising fastest, and no airport with passenger flights.
More about the area: Galway City Council.
Ennis
Ennis is the county town of Clare, almost twenty-eight thousand people. New rents in the Ennis area average thirteen hundred and ninety euros, about six hundred less than Galway. Its great advantage is Shannon Airport, in the same county. This summer Shannon had daily flights to Boston, New York and Chicago, with US preclearance. The train to Dublin takes about three hours, with a change in Limerick. Here is the trade-off: Ennis has an injury unit, open from eight in the morning to eight at night, for things like broken bones and burns, but no emergency department. For an emergency, the hospital is University Hospital Limerick. The town grew up around a Franciscan friary founded by the O’Briens; by thirteen seventy-five it had three hundred and fifty friars.
The trade-off: no emergency department in town; Limerick is the nearest.
More about the area: Clare County Council, and our guide to living in County Clare.
Westport
Westport is the smallest of our seven, six thousand eight hundred and seventy-two people, on Clew Bay in County Mayo. It is also the oldest: almost one person in five is sixty-five or over. New rents in the Westport area average twelve hundred and twelve euros, the lowest of the seven. Croagh Patrick, the holy mountain, is eight kilometres from town, and the Great Western Greenway runs forty-nine kilometres from Westport to Achill. Five or six direct trains a day reach Dublin in about three and a quarter hours. The nearest airport, Knock, flies to Britain and Europe, not to America. The nearest emergency department is at Mayo University Hospital, in Castlebar. And the rain: about fourteen hundred and fifty millimetres a year, fifty-seven inches, nearly twice Dublin’s.
The trade-off: the rain, and the distance from a hospital and an airport.
More about the area: Mayo County Council.
Sligo
Sligo, in the north-west, has twenty thousand six hundred people. This is Yeats country: the poet is buried at Drumcliffe, under Benbulben. New rents in the two Sligo areas average about thirteen hundred euros. Sligo University Hospital, in the town, has an emergency department. Direct trains to Dublin take about three hours. The trade-off is distance: like Westport, its nearest airport is Knock, so a flight to America starts with a trip to Dublin or Shannon. Rain: about twelve hundred and forty millimetres a year.
The trade-off: distance. Three hours to Dublin, no US flights nearby.
More about the area: Sligo County Council, and our guide to living in County Sligo.
Dundalk
Dundalk is the commuter town: forty-three thousand people, with Dublin and Belfast each about an hour away by train. Trains to Dublin leave every hour on weekdays, and Dublin Airport is the nearest airport. New rents in the two Dundalk areas are about sixteen hundred euros. It is the second driest of our seven, about eight hundred and sixty-five millimetres a year. Fáilte Ireland points to Dundalk Bay, the Cooley Mountains and Carlingford Lough. The trade-off: Louth County Hospital in Dundalk has an injury unit, open nine to eight, and the emergency department is in Drogheda.
The trade-off: an injury unit in town; the emergency department is in Drogheda.
More about the area: Louth County Council, and our guide to living in County Louth.
The seven side by side
| Place | New rent a month | People (2022) | Train to Dublin | Flying to America | Emergency department | Rain a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin | €2,301 | 1,263,219 | — | Dublin Airport, US preclearance | Several in the city | 750 mm (30 in) |
| Cork | €1,903 | 222,526 | 2 h 30, direct | Change in London, Amsterdam or Paris | In the city | 1,099 mm (43 in) |
| Galway | €2,004 | 85,910 | 2 h 30, direct | From Shannon or Dublin | In the city | 1,273 mm (50 in) |
| Ennis | €1,390 | 27,923 | 3 h, change at Limerick | Shannon: daily in summer | Limerick (injury unit in town) | 1,272 mm (50 in) |
| Westport | €1,212 | 6,872 | 3 h 15, direct | Knock: none; go via Dublin or Shannon | Castlebar | 1,450 mm (57 in) |
| Sligo | €1,286–1,298 | 20,608 | 3 h, direct | Knock: none; go via Dublin or Shannon | In the town | 1,238 mm (49 in) |
| Dundalk | €1,567–1,665 | 43,112 | 1 h, hourly | Dublin Airport | Drogheda (injury unit in town) | 865 mm (34 in) |
Rent: RTB Rent Index, Q1 2026, new tenancies (city council area, or the local electoral area for towns). People: CSO Census 2022, town and suburbs. Trains: Irish Rail timetables valid from 14 December 2025. Airports: their own websites. Hospitals: HSE. Rain: Met Éireann 1991–2020 averages, 1 km grid at the town centre.
Which one fits you
If the flight home matters most, Dublin and Ennis are the easy ones. If you want an emergency department in town, choose a city, or Sligo. If you want the lowest rent and the sea, Westport, and pack a good coat. And if you want to keep one foot near Dublin, Dundalk. If you are one of the many Americans buying homes in rural Ireland, Ennis and Westport are the two worth a closer look.
Sources
- Rent: Residential Tenancies Board, Rent Index Q1 2026 (new tenancies)
- Population: Central Statistics Office, Census 2022 (towns and their suburbs)
- Trains: Irish Rail timetables
- Emergency departments and injury units: HSE
- Rain: Met Éireann, 1991–2020 averages (1 km rainfall grid)
- Dublin Airport: U.S. Preclearance
- Shannon Airport: flights to New York, Boston and Chicago
- Cork Airport
- Ireland West Airport Knock: destinations
Checked against each source on 14 October 2026.
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