House Price-to-Income Ratio Ireland — 5.81x National (2024)
Ireland's median house price is now 5.81x 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 2024. 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 2015–2024
Ireland's national price-to-income ratio from 2015 to 2024, shown against the 5x "severely unaffordable" threshold:
2024 league table by county
Each county's ratio for 2024, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wicklow | 6.92x | €414,097 | €59,827 | 2,596 |
| Dublin | 6.68x | €440,000 | €65,822 | 19,308 |
| Kildare | 6.15x | €370,044 | €60,121 | 3,387 |
| Meath | 5.99x | €339,207 | €56,669 | 2,602 |
| Galway | 5.89x | €315,000 | €53,497 | 2,661 |
| Louth | 5.84x | €290,000 | €49,652 | 1,765 |
| Kilkenny | 5.80x | €295,000 | €50,886 | 1,057 |
| Wexford | 5.67x | €265,000 | €46,746 | 2,226 |
| Cork | 5.51x | €315,725 | €57,273 | 7,068 |
| Westmeath | 5.49x | €280,000 | €50,960 | 1,155 |
| Laois | 5.26x | €265,000 | €50,339 | 1,221 |
| Kerry | 5.25x | €242,000 | €46,139 | 1,470 |
| Waterford | 5.22x | €263,452 | €50,441 | 1,766 |
| Carlow | 5.17x | €247,250 | €47,834 | 666 |
| Limerick | 5.07x | €274,008 | €54,051 | 2,114 |
| Clare | 5.01x | €265,000 | €52,879 | 1,268 |
| Offaly | 4.93x | €237,000 | €48,121 | 873 |
| Monaghan | 4.70x | €207,000 | €44,045 | 461 |
| Sligo | 4.41x | €220,000 | €49,875 | 748 |
| Tipperary | 4.38x | €214,975 | €49,115 | 1,596 |
| Cavan | 4.24x | €200,000 | €47,173 | 830 |
| Mayo | 4.20x | €200,000 | €47,575 | 1,413 |
| Donegal | 4.03x | €175,000 | €43,445 | 1,523 |
| Longford | 3.82x | €172,250 | €45,056 | 480 |
| Roscommon | 3.73x | €182,000 | €48,826 | 802 |
| Leitrim | 3.64x | €171,806 | €47,235 | 493 |
Key counties 2015–2024
Trend lines for seven counties that feature most in housing debate. All move upward — they differ only in how fast.
Where affordability deteriorated fastest, 2015–2024
Some counties saw prices rise far faster than incomes since 2015. In Longford, prices rose +197.0% while incomes rose +30.3% — widening its price-to-income ratio by +127.4%. The table below breaks down price and income growth for every county over the same period.
| County | 2015 price | 2024 price | Price change | 2015 income | 2024 income | Income change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longford | €58,000 | €172,250 | +197.0% | €34,576 | €45,056 | +30.3% |
| Roscommon | €65,000 | €182,000 | +180.0% | €36,220 | €48,826 | +34.8% |
| Westmeath | €100,000 | €280,000 | +180.0% | €37,754 | €50,960 | +35.0% |
| Clare | €100,563 | €265,000 | +163.5% | €39,632 | €52,879 | +33.4% |
| Cavan | €76,932 | €200,000 | +160.0% | €35,200 | €47,173 | +34.0% |
| Offaly | €92,500 | €237,000 | +156.2% | €36,101 | €48,121 | +33.3% |
| Laois | €105,000 | €265,000 | +152.4% | €37,749 | €50,339 | +33.4% |
| Leitrim | €70,000 | €171,806 | +145.4% | €35,214 | €47,235 | +34.1% |
| Waterford | €107,715 | €263,452 | +144.6% | €37,122 | €50,441 | +35.9% |
| Limerick | €115,000 | €274,008 | +138.3% | €39,555 | €54,051 | +36.6% |
| Sligo | €95,500 | €220,000 | +130.4% | €37,129 | €49,875 | +34.3% |
| Galway | €136,000 | €315,000 | +131.6% | €39,056 | €53,497 | +37.0% |
| Kerry | €110,132 | €242,000 | +119.7% | €35,374 | €46,139 | +30.4% |
| Louth | €129,000 | €290,000 | +124.8% | €37,090 | €49,652 | +33.9% |
| Wexford | €117,000 | €265,000 | +126.5% | €34,242 | €46,746 | +36.5% |
| Mayo | €90,000 | €200,000 | +122.2% | €35,166 | €47,575 | +35.3% |
| Tipperary | €100,000 | €214,975 | +115.0% | €36,773 | €49,115 | +33.6% |
| Kilkenny | €135,000 | €295,000 | +118.5% | €37,247 | €50,886 | +36.6% |
| Carlow | €118,000 | €247,250 | +109.5% | €35,343 | €47,834 | +35.3% |
| Monaghan | €100,000 | €207,000 | +107.0% | €32,536 | €44,045 | +35.4% |
| Donegal | €86,301 | €175,000 | +102.8% | €32,137 | €43,445 | +35.2% |
| Cork | €160,000 | €315,725 | +97.3% | €40,726 | €57,273 | +40.6% |
| Meath | €189,000 | €339,207 | +79.5% | €41,992 | €56,669 | +35.0% |
| Wicklow | €242,145 | €414,097 | +71.0% | €42,433 | €59,827 | +41.0% |
| Kildare | €223,000 | €370,044 | +65.9% | €43,302 | €60,121 | +38.8% |
| Dublin | €269,000 | €440,000 | +63.6% | €46,026 | €65,822 | +43.0% |
Top 10 counties — largest % increase in price-to-income ratio
| County | 2015 ratio | 2024 ratio | % change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longford | 1.68x | 3.82x | +127.4% |
| Roscommon | 1.79x | 3.73x | +108.4% |
| Westmeath | 2.65x | 5.49x | +107.2% |
| Clare | 2.54x | 5.01x | +97.2% |
| Cavan | 2.19x | 4.24x | +93.6% |
| Offaly | 2.56x | 4.93x | +92.6% |
| Laois | 2.78x | 5.26x | +89.2% |
| Leitrim | 1.99x | 3.64x | +82.9% |
| Waterford | 2.90x | 5.22x | +80.0% |
| Limerick | 2.91x | 5.07x | +74.2% |
See the full 2024 league table for all 26 counties
Top 10 counties — largest absolute point increase
| County | 2015 ratio | 2024 ratio | Point change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westmeath | 2.65x | 5.49x | +2.84x |
| Laois | 2.78x | 5.26x | +2.48x |
| Clare | 2.54x | 5.01x | +2.47x |
| Galway | 3.48x | 5.89x | +2.41x |
| Offaly | 2.56x | 4.93x | +2.37x |
| Louth | 3.48x | 5.84x | +2.36x |
| Waterford | 2.90x | 5.22x | +2.32x |
| Wexford | 3.42x | 5.67x | +2.25x |
| Kilkenny | 3.62x | 5.80x | +2.18x |
| Limerick | 2.91x | 5.07x | +2.16x |
See the full 2024 league table for all 26 counties
Explore the live map
The charts above are snapshots. The map is the full dataset. Click to open an interactive choropleth of the price-to-income ratio. Hover any county to see that year's ratio, the median sale price, and the mean earnings behind it. Use the year picker in the panel to switch between 2015 and 2024.
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=-0.591. 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: 2026-08-29. 2024 earnings is the latest CSO publication; 2024 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?
Longford has seen the largest increase in Ireland's price-to-income ratio since 2015, rising 127.4% (from 1.68x to 3.82x), followed by Roscommon (+108.4%) and Westmeath (+107.2%).
Has housing affordability deteriorated more outside Dublin?
Yes. Dublin's ratio rose 14.4% between 2015 and 2024 — the smallest increase of any county — while the average across all 26 counties was 68%. Dublin remains among Ireland's least affordable counties today (6.68x, ranked 2 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 35.5% nationally between 2015 and 2024, but house prices rose 127% on average — and much more steeply in some counties. In Longford, prices rose 197% while incomes grew only 30.3%.
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