Disposable income highest in Dublin and Cork, CSO figures show

Dublin’s figure was 14% higher than the national average of €28,370 and was also a rise of 1.3% on the capitals’ figure from 2022.

County Cork had the second-highest level of disposable income per person in 2023.

The Central Statistics Office published new figures for the year on Wednesday, looking at a county-by-county breakdown of income and regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Unsurprisingly, Co Dublin continued to have the highest disposable income per person nationally at €32,393 in 2023, followed by Co Cork at €29,876 and Co Limerick at €29,491.

Dublin’s figure was 14% higher than the national average of €28,370 and was also a rise of 1.3% on the capital’s figure from 2022.

Disposable income is the amount of money left for an individual to spend after receiving social benefits and paying tax and social charges.

Just six counties had a figure higher than the national average, with Carlow, Limerick, Tipperary, and Galway joining Dublin and Cork.

Co Longford recorded the lowest disposable income per person nationally in 2023 at €22,251, which was 22% below the national average.

The county with the second-lowest disposable income per person was Co Laois at €22,257, followed by Co Donegal at €23,271.

The CSO noted that Dublin and Cork, as well as surrounding counties, benefit largely from “the presence of key economic sectors, for example, the Information & Communication sector in Dublin and the Manufacturing sector in Cork.” 

By contrast, the border counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim, Monaghan, and Sligo, as well as the Midlands counties, consistently remain “significantly below” the national average for household disposable income, the CSO said.

They added that they are “largely dependent on the Public Administration sector to generate wealth and employment in their respective regions.” Similarly, Dublin city and county recorded the highest GDP in the state in 2023 at €248.3bn, followed by the southwestern region of Cork and Kerry with €123.3bn.

Additionally, over a third (35%) of all persons employed in the State work in Dublin City and County, followed by Cork City and County, which account for 12% of all persons employed.

Galway accounted for approximately 6% of employees.

The highest proportion of workers reside in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick, in that order.

Meanwhile, the largest per capita recipient of social benefits was Carlow, with €8,267 per person, followed by Donegal at €8,184 and Tipperary at €8,086 per person.