What percentage of Irish workers work from home?

Census 2022 showed approximately 14% of workers in Ireland working fully from home and a further 18% in hybrid arrangements — a total of about 32% working from home at least some of the time. This is up from approximately 11% in the 2016 census. The highest rates are in Dublin (driven by professional services and tech) and in rural counties like Leitrim and Roscommon (driven by remote worker relocation).

Which parts of Ireland are best for remote workers?

For remote workers relocating within Ireland, Leitrim, Roscommon, Sligo, and west Galway offer the strongest combination of low housing costs, natural amenity, and improving broadband. Carrick-on-Shannon, Roscommon town, and Westport saw the strongest residential demand growth between 2016 and 2022. For those staying within reach of Dublin, Laois, Offaly, Westmeath, and Longford offer low housing costs with motorway access. Census 2022 maps remote work rates, employment, and population change at electoral division level for all of Ireland.

Has remote working increased rural population in Ireland?

Yes — Census 2022 showed population growth in rural western counties that had been declining for decades. Leitrim, Roscommon, and parts of Mayo and Galway recorded their first net population growth in many years. The National Broadband Plan rollout and employer acceptance of remote working are the primary enablers. Towns like Carrick-on-Shannon and Roscommon town saw particularly strong residential demand growth between 2016 and 2022.

Remote Work · Census 2022

Working from home in Ireland — Census 2022

The proportion of the Irish workforce working from home tripled between Census 2016 and Census 2022 — from ~11% to ~32%. Dublin leads at 31%, but Leitrim at 24% shows the bigger story: rural counties growing again for the first time in decades. The data is below.

Niall Thomas · 4 min read

Remote work in Census 2022 — key national figures

WFH Growth

+180%

Home working 2016 → 2022

Hybrid Workers

~18%

Part home / part office

Fully Remote

~14%

Always worked from home

Rural WFH Boost

3× avg

Growth in west vs east

Source: CSO Census 2022 — Place of Work, School or College Census of Anonymised Records; home-working figures at county level.

Working from home rate by electoral division, Census 2022 Switch to education → Switch to unemployment →

Remote work rates by county — Census 2022

Approximate share of workers who worked some or all of their hours from home in Census 2022.

County	Approx. WFH Rate	Context
1. Dublin	~31%	Professional services hub
2. Wicklow	~28%	Dublin commuter belt
3. Kildare	~25%	Dublin commuter belt
4. Leitrim	~24%	Rural remote adoption
5. Roscommon	~23%	Rural remote adoption
6. Galway	~22%	Tech sector & rural spread
7. Clare	~21%	Shannon business park area
8. Cork	~21%	Tech & pharma employers

What remote work has changed

Rural repopulation: The electoral divisions with the fastest population growth in Census 2022 relative to 2016 include areas in Leitrim, Roscommon, and west Galway where remote workers have relocated. This is the first time in decades that some of these areas have grown.
Commuter belt redefined: The practical commuting zone for Dublin workers has expanded. In 2016, a Portlaoise or Mullingar commute was unusual. By 2022, the combination of flexible working and improved broadband infrastructure makes living 100km from Dublin genuinely viable for many professions.
Housing market impact: The towns that saw the strongest remote-work in-migration between 2016 and 2022 also saw the largest increases in house prices and demand for larger homes (home offices). Carrick-on-Shannon, Roscommon town, and Strokestown are examples of this pattern.
Urban office district impact: Dublin's docklands and city centre EDs saw reduced daytime population intensity — reflected in higher retail vacancy rates in adjacent areas. The Census does not directly capture this but employment and occupancy data at ED level shows the pattern.
Sectoral concentration: Remote working in Ireland is heavily concentrated in professional services, tech, financial services, and pharma — the higher-income sectors. Retail, construction, agriculture, and hospitality workers cannot work from home. This creates a clear socioeconomic split visible in the Pobal deprivation scores of high-WFH EDs versus low-WFH EDs.

Where remote workers are choosing to live

The data shows two distinct patterns. The first is in the commuter belt — Wicklow, Kildare, Meath, and Louth workers who previously commuted daily but now only need to travel to Dublin two or three days a week. They remain in their existing homes or move slightly further out.

The second pattern is longer-distance relocation — workers who moved from Dublin or other cities to the west, northwest, or midlands. These workers chose areas with strong natural amenity (Leitrim, Sligo, Galway Bay), affordable housing, and increasingly adequate broadband. The National Broadband Plan rollout was a necessary precondition for this shift.

Explore work patterns on the map

IrelandInsights maps Census 2022 employment data for every electoral division. Switch to employment metrics to see how work patterns vary between EDs and counties.

Employment rate map Education level map Leitrim population growth Unemployment map

Explore remote-work counties

Leitrim Roscommon Sligo Mayo Donegal Galway Wicklow Kildare Meath Clare

← Rural Ireland · Commuter towns →

Dublin and Leitrim are the two counties with the highest WFH rates for entirely different reasons — Dublin because of professional services density, Leitrim because of inward relocation. That contrast will be the story to watch in Census 2027.

Data: CSO Census 2022 · Place of Work, School or College — Census of Anonymised Records · cso.ie/census