House Price-to-Income Ratio Ireland — 6.06x National (2025)
Ireland's median house price is now 6.06x mean annual earnings — well past the 5x "severely unaffordable" threshold. This page tracks the ratio for all 26 counties, year by year from 2015 to 2025. It uses only publicly reproducible data: raw PPR transactions as the numerator and CSO NEA08 mean annual earnings as the denominator. Updated daily with the latest PPR filings.
National ratio 2015–2025
Ireland's national price-to-income ratio from 2015 to 2025, shown against the 5x "severely unaffordable" threshold:
2025 league table by county
Each county's ratio for 2025, coloured by band: red ≥8x, amber 7–8x, purple 6–7x, green <6x. The dashed line marks the 5x threshold.
| County | Ratio | PPR median | Mean earnings | PPR n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dublin | 6.95x | €467,000 | €67,241 | 19,239 |
| Wicklow | 6.78x | €418,502 | €61,755 | 2,385 |
| Louth | 6.47x | €330,396 | €51,074 | 2,057 |
| Kildare | 6.39x | €396,000 | €61,943 | 3,575 |
| Meath | 6.37x | €374,449 | €58,754 | 2,860 |
| Galway | 6.20x | €345,000 | €55,666 | 2,794 |
| Kilkenny | 5.94x | €315,810 | €53,129 | 1,077 |
| Wexford | 5.85x | €285,000 | €48,683 | 2,179 |
| Cork | 5.77x | €343,684 | €59,577 | 7,216 |
| Westmeath | 5.74x | €305,000 | €53,133 | 1,226 |
| Kerry | 5.68x | €272,500 | €47,963 | 1,334 |
| Laois | 5.62x | €295,154 | €52,543 | 1,227 |
| Waterford | 5.51x | €290,875 | €52,783 | 1,644 |
| Limerick | 5.44x | €306,000 | €56,239 | 2,241 |
| Carlow | 5.33x | €265,000 | €49,729 | 650 |
| Clare | 5.29x | €290,000 | €54,789 | 1,322 |
| Offaly | 5.26x | €265,000 | €50,340 | 789 |
| Monaghan | 5.17x | €235,000 | €45,423 | 470 |
| Cavan | 4.88x | €236,348 | €48,434 | 800 |
| Tipperary | 4.88x | €250,000 | €51,279 | 1,557 |
| Sligo | 4.58x | €240,000 | €52,380 | 856 |
| Mayo | 4.31x | €213,500 | €49,547 | 1,438 |
| Leitrim | 4.09x | €199,500 | €48,827 | 461 |
| Donegal | 3.97x | €180,000 | €45,309 | 1,445 |
| Roscommon | 3.82x | €195,000 | €51,017 | 764 |
| Longford | 3.67x | €173,000 | €47,151 | 493 |
Key counties 2015–2025
Trend lines for seven counties that feature most in housing debate. All move upward — they differ only in how fast.
Where affordability deteriorated fastest, 2015–2025
Some counties saw prices rise far faster than incomes since 2015. In Cavan, prices rose +207.2% while incomes rose +37.6% — widening its price-to-income ratio by +122.8%. The table below breaks down price and income growth for every county over the same period.
| County | 2015 price | 2025 price | Price change | 2015 income | 2025 income | Income change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan | €76,932 | €236,348 | +207.2% | €35,200 | €48,434 | +37.6% |
| Longford | €58,000 | €173,000 | +198.3% | €34,576 | €47,151 | +36.4% |
| Westmeath | €100,000 | €305,000 | +205.0% | €37,754 | €53,133 | +40.7% |
| Roscommon | €65,000 | €195,000 | +200.0% | €36,220 | €51,017 | +40.9% |
| Clare | €100,563 | €290,000 | +188.4% | €39,632 | €54,789 | +38.2% |
| Leitrim | €70,000 | €199,500 | +185.0% | €35,214 | €48,827 | +38.7% |
| Offaly | €92,500 | €265,000 | +186.5% | €36,101 | €50,340 | +39.4% |
| Laois | €105,000 | €295,154 | +181.1% | €37,749 | €52,543 | +39.2% |
| Waterford | €107,715 | €290,875 | +170.0% | €37,122 | €52,783 | +42.2% |
| Limerick | €115,000 | €306,000 | +166.1% | €39,555 | €56,239 | +42.2% |
| Louth | €129,000 | €330,396 | +156.1% | €37,090 | €51,074 | +37.7% |
| Kerry | €110,132 | €272,500 | +147.4% | €35,374 | €47,963 | +35.6% |
| Tipperary | €100,000 | €250,000 | +150.0% | €36,773 | €51,279 | +39.4% |
| Galway | €136,000 | €345,000 | +153.7% | €39,056 | €55,666 | +42.5% |
| Sligo | €95,500 | €240,000 | +151.3% | €37,129 | €52,380 | +41.1% |
| Wexford | €117,000 | €285,000 | +143.6% | €34,242 | €48,683 | +42.2% |
| Mayo | €90,000 | €213,500 | +137.2% | €35,166 | €49,547 | +40.9% |
| Monaghan | €100,000 | €235,000 | +135.0% | €32,536 | €45,423 | +39.6% |
| Kilkenny | €135,000 | €315,810 | +133.9% | €37,247 | €53,129 | +42.6% |
| Carlow | €118,000 | €265,000 | +124.6% | €35,343 | €49,729 | +40.7% |
| Donegal | €86,301 | €180,000 | +108.6% | €32,137 | €45,309 | +41.0% |
| Cork | €160,000 | €343,684 | +114.8% | €40,726 | €59,577 | +46.3% |
| Meath | €189,000 | €374,449 | +98.1% | €41,992 | €58,754 | +39.9% |
| Kildare | €223,000 | €396,000 | +77.6% | €43,302 | €61,943 | +43.0% |
| Dublin | €269,000 | €467,000 | +73.6% | €46,026 | €67,241 | +46.1% |
| Wicklow | €242,145 | €418,502 | +72.8% | €42,433 | €61,755 | +45.5% |
Top 10 counties — largest % increase in price-to-income ratio
| County | 2015 ratio | 2025 ratio | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cavan | 2.19x | 4.88x | +122.8% |
| Longford | 1.68x | 3.67x | +118.5% |
| Westmeath | 2.65x | 5.74x | +116.6% |
| Roscommon | 1.79x | 3.82x | +113.4% |
| Clare | 2.54x | 5.29x | +108.3% |
| Leitrim | 1.99x | 4.09x | +105.5% |
| Offaly | 2.56x | 5.26x | +105.5% |
| Laois | 2.78x | 5.62x | +102.2% |
| Waterford | 2.90x | 5.51x | +90.0% |
| Limerick | 2.91x | 5.44x | +86.9% |
See the full 2025 league table for all 26 counties
Top 10 counties — largest absolute point increase
| County | 2015 ratio | 2025 ratio | Point change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westmeath | 2.65x | 5.74x | +3.09x |
| Louth | 3.48x | 6.47x | +2.99x |
| Laois | 2.78x | 5.62x | +2.84x |
| Clare | 2.54x | 5.29x | +2.75x |
| Galway | 3.48x | 6.20x | +2.72x |
| Offaly | 2.56x | 5.26x | +2.70x |
| Cavan | 2.19x | 4.88x | +2.69x |
| Waterford | 2.90x | 5.51x | +2.61x |
| Kerry | 3.11x | 5.68x | +2.57x |
| Limerick | 2.91x | 5.44x | +2.53x |
See the full 2025 league table for all 26 counties
The charts above are snapshots. Use the year picker in the panel below to switch between 2015 and 2025 on the live map, which shows the ratio, the median sale price, and the mean earnings behind it for every county.
Explore the live map
The charts above are snapshots; the live map below is the full dataset for every county and electoral division. Hover any area for the underlying figures, switch geography levels, and compare with related metrics.
Methodology
Ratio = median sale price (Property Price Register) ÷ mean annual earnings (CSO NEA08), per county per year.
Price data: Property Price Register annual CSVs cover every recorded residential sale in Ireland. We take the unweighted median of all transactions in that county and year, with no further adjustment. Data refreshes daily from propertypriceregister.ie.
Earnings data: CSO dataset NEA08 "Mean Annual Earnings", all workers and all sectors. Data refreshes daily. CSO publishes annually with about a 6-month lag — for example, 2024 earnings appeared in mid-2025.
Why these figures may look lower than press coverage: most affordability commentary (CSO/ESRI/Central Bank) adjusts house prices for apartment mix and other factors. That adjustment typically produces ratios 20–25% higher for urban counties than our raw median. We use the unadjusted PPR because every input is publicly downloadable and reproducible. Both approaches are valid — they answer slightly different questions.
Reading the deterioration rankings: the correlation between a county's 2015 starting ratio and its % change was r=-0.879, and against absolute point change was r=-0.544. A negative correlation with % change means much of the "% change" story reflects counties that started from a lower base rather than a genuinely faster deterioration — a low-base effect. The absolute-change ranking is a fairer comparison for that reason, since it isn't inflated by a small starting denominator. These figures are based on a minimum sample size of 352 PPR transactions across the counties and years analysed.
Snapshot last refreshed: 2026-10-13. 2025 earnings is the latest CSO publication; 2025 PPR is YTD where applicable.
→ Explore Ireland's census + housing data on the live map
Frequently asked questions
Which Irish counties have seen the biggest deterioration in housing affordability since 2015?
Cavan has seen the largest increase in Ireland's price-to-income ratio since 2015, rising 122.8% (from 2.19x to 4.88x), followed by Longford (+118.5%) and Westmeath (+116.6%).
Has housing affordability deteriorated more outside Dublin?
Yes. Dublin's ratio rose 19% between 2015 and 2025 — the smallest increase of any county — while the average across all 26 counties was 77.1%. Dublin remains among Ireland's least affordable counties today (6.95x, ranked 1 of 26 by unaffordability), but its rate of deterioration has been the mildest in the country.
Why has housing affordability changed so much across Irish counties?
Primarily because house prices rose far faster than incomes. Average earnings grew a fairly consistent 40.8% nationally between 2015 and 2025, but house prices rose 148.7% on average — and much more steeply in some counties. In Cavan, prices rose 207.2% while incomes grew only 37.6%.
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