Census 2022 asked for the first time how many bedrooms each home has. These charts and maps show the answer by county, and how many people typically live in homes of each size.
More people in Ireland live in three-bedroom homes than in any other kind. Census 2022 found 1,776,574 people in 655,422 three-bed homes, about 35% of everyone living in a private household.
The census, taken on 3 April 2022, asked about bedrooms for the first time. So there is no earlier figure to compare with. But it gives the first full count of home sizes for every county.
The three-bed home is the norm
Of the 1,836,728 occupied homes in the State, about a third have three bedrooms. A quarter have four. About one in six has two, and fewer than one in sixteen has just one.
One home in eleven (9.5%) did not answer the bedroom question. The shares in this article are of all homes, including those, so the true share for each size is a little higher.
Big homes in the west, small homes in Dublin
Homes are largest in the west and the north-west. In Galway, 45.0% of homes have four or more bedrooms. Roscommon (44.5%), Cavan (44.3%) and Mayo (43.8%) are next.
Dublin is the exception, at 22.4%. Within it, Dublin City has the most one- and two-bed homes of anywhere, at 43.4% of homes. Only 13.2% of homes in Dublin City have four or more bedrooms.
Galway County alone has the highest share of big homes, at 50.7%. More than one home in eight there (13.3%) has five bedrooms or more.
One-bed homes are scarce outside Dublin
There were 101,644 one-bedroom homes in the State in 2022. More than a third of them (36,229) were in Dublin City, where one home in six has a single bedroom.
Outside Dublin, one-bed homes are rare. They make up 4.9% of homes in Cork and Wicklow, and only 2.9% in Roscommon. In Clare and Laois the figure is 3.0%.
Most people in Ireland live in small homes.
Four in ten people (40.8%) live in a home with four or more bedrooms. Only about one person in 32 lives in a one-bed home.
How many people live in each size of home
Bigger homes hold more people, but not by as much as you might expect. A one-bed home has 1.55 people on average.
A four-bed home has 3.23. A five-bed home has 3.67, fewer than four people for five bedrooms.
| Bedrooms | Homes | People | People per home |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 101,644 | 157,051 | 1.55 |
| 2 | 291,785 | 603,995 | 2.07 |
| 3 | 655,422 | 1,776,574 | 2.71 |
| 4 | 471,449 | 1,524,654 | 3.23 |
| 5 | 113,041 | 415,108 | 3.67 |
| 6 or more | 29,404 | 114,266 | 3.89 |
| All homes | 1,836,728 | 5,036,617 | 2.74 |
Houses and apartments
The type of home makes a big difference. More than half of detached houses (55.3%) have four or more bedrooms. Half of all semi-detached and terraced houses have three.
Apartments are much smaller. Of 190,197 flats in purpose-built blocks, 74.0% have one or two bedrooms. Two-bed is the most common apartment size, at just over half of all purpose-built flats.
| Type of home | Homes | Most common size | People per home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Detached house | 756,660 | 4 bedrooms | 2.90 |
| Semi-detached house | 466,261 | 3 bedrooms | 2.89 |
| Terraced house | 372,849 | 3 bedrooms | 2.64 |
| Purpose-built flat | 190,197 | 2 bedrooms | 2.16 |
| Flat in a converted building | 49,102 | 1 bedroom | 1.99 |
| Bed-sit | 1,659 | 1 bedroom | 1.69 |
Household size by county
The average household in Ireland had 2.74 people in 2022, almost the same as in 2011 (2.73). Meath and Fingal had the largest households, at 3.02 people each. Sligo had the smallest, at 2.54.
Leitrim (2.55), Kerry (2.57) and Mayo (2.59) also have small households. Of the 30 areas in the CSO table, Dublin City has the smallest, at 2.48 people.
That fits its housing: 43.4% of homes in Dublin City have only one or two bedrooms. Its average has risen from 2.40 in 2011.
So Mayo and Roscommon have some of the biggest homes but some of the smallest households. Both also have old populations: in Mayo, 19.8% of people are aged 65 or over. In Meath, which has the largest households, 22.7% of people are children under 15.
Homes, just over, with fewer than half a person per room
Source: cso.ieCrowded homes and spare rooms
The CSO also measures persons per room: the number of people in a home divided by its number of rooms. In 58,869 homes there was more than one person per room.
Homes where the main householder was aged 35 to 39 were the most likely to have more than one person per room. At the other end, over 860,000 homes had fewer than half a person per room.
What this means for you
- If you are looking to rent or buy, the county map shows where larger homes are more common.
- If you have a spare room, Revenue's Rent-a-Room relief lets you earn some rent from a lodger tax free, up to a limit.
- If you are on a social housing list and your household has grown, contact your local council to update your details. Citizens Information explains how the lists work.
- Your own area's figures are free on data.cso.ie.
About these figures
- The bedroom question was new in Census 2022, so there is no trend to show.
- Shares are of all occupied homes, including the 9.5% that did not state bedrooms.
- Dublin combines Dublin City, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. Cork and Galway each combine city and county.
- Household size counts people in private households, not in nursing homes, hospitals or other communal homes.
The next census, according to the CSO. It will be the first chance to see whether the mix of home sizes has changed since 2022.
- CSO: Census 2022 Profile 2, Housing in Ireland, Occupied Dwellings
- CSO: Table F2003, Private households and persons by number of bedrooms, type of household and administrative county, 2022
- CSO: Table FY004B, Average number of persons per private household by county and city, 2011 to 2022
- Revenue: Rent-a-Room relief
- CSO: Census 2027
