Ireland is a nation of drivers. More than half of all workers (56%) drive themselves to work, while just 8.5% take the bus, train, DART or Luas. But the national average hides huge differences between counties, from Dublin City, where fewer than a third of workers drive, to parts of the west where two in three do.

Our interactive tool uses Census 2022 data to show how people in every county get to work, school and college, how long the journey takes, and what time they leave home. Pick any of Ireland’s 31 local authority areas and compare it with the national picture or with another county.

How to use the tool

Choose an area from the Area menu and what to compare it with from Compare with, then select Compare. The dashboard shows the biggest differences first, followed by eight key measures, detailed charts and a table ranking all 31 areas. Select any column heading in the table to sort it, or select a row to jump to that area.

What the data shows

The car still rules outside the cities. Roscommon and Galway County have the highest share of workers driving to work, at 67% each. At the other end, just 30% of workers in Dublin City drive. It’s the only area where fewer than four in ten drive.

Public transport is mostly a Dublin story. In Dublin City, 22% of workers take the bus, train, DART or Luas, followed by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 20% and Fingal at 18%. In many rural counties the figure is under 2%.

Walking and cycling thrive in compact cities. More than one in four workers in Dublin City (28%) walk or cycle to work. Galway City follows at 21%, then Cork City at 15%. Nationally the figure is 11%.

Meath has the longest commutes. A quarter of commuters in Meath (25%) spend 45 minutes or more getting to work, school or college, the highest of any area. Meath also has the longest estimated average journey, at 33 minutes against 28 nationally. A quarter of people in Meath leave home before 7am. Wicklow (24%), Kildare (23%) and Fingal (23%) also rank high for long journeys, reflecting the pull of Dublin on the surrounding counties.

The cities have the shortest trips. Only 7.5% of commuters in Cork City and 7.6% in Galway City face a journey of 45 minutes or more.

Working from home has taken hold. Across Ireland, 36% of workers worked from home at least some of the time in April 2022. In Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown the figure was 60%, the highest in the country, followed by Dublin City at 48%.

Car ownership follows the same pattern. More than a third of households in Dublin City (35%) have no car, compared with 14% nationally. Meath has the lowest share of car-free households, at 7.3%.

Use the tool above to see where your own county fits.

What the measures mean

The dashboard covers four areas of commuting:

• How people travel: the main way people get to work, school or college, shown separately for workers, students and everyone combined
• Journey time: from under 15 minutes to over an hour and a half
• Time leaving home: from before 6:30am to after 9:30am
• Car ownership: the number of cars per household, from none to four or more

Percentages exclude people who didn’t answer the question. The average journey time is estimated from the census time bands. “Students” includes schoolchildren.

About the data

All figures come from the Central Statistics Office’s Census of Population 2022, Small Area Population Statistics. The census was taken on 3 April 2022, as hybrid working was becoming a lasting part of working life. The data is published under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence.

The county flags shown in the tool use each county’s registered GAA colours, which serve as Ireland’s unofficial county flags.

Frequently asked questions

Which county has the longest commute in Ireland?
Meath. A quarter of its commuters (25%) travel for 45 minutes or more, and its estimated average journey is 33 minutes.

What share of Irish workers drive to work?
56% of workers drive themselves to work, according to Census 2022. Another 4% travel as car passengers.

How many people work from home in Ireland?
In April 2022, 36% of workers said they worked from home at least some of the time. About one in nine worked mainly from home.

Why are there 31 areas instead of 26 counties?
The census reports by local authority area. Dublin is split into four council areas, and Cork and Galway each have separate city and county councils.

Where do the county colours come from?
They’re the county colours registered with the GAA. Ireland has no official county flags, so these colours are used as county flags in practice.