Dubs have more cash to splash
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office show the average disposable income in Dublin was €18,620 a year. This compared to a national average of €15,593.
Sligo also proved to be an affluent county in the CSO survey.
With an average disposable income of €15,695, Sligo fared better than Cork with €15,525, and Wicklow with €15,506.
The statistics show those living in the midlands were the worst off, with disposable incomes 13.7% below the national average.
Disposable income is the money people have to spend after they have paid taxes and PRSI.
The counties outside Dublin that had the highest levels of disposable income per person were: Kildare, Limerick, Galway, Sligo, Louth, Cork and Wicklow.
Those with the lowest disposable incomes included: Kerry, Tipperary South, Kilkenny, Carlow, Wexford, Laois, Offaly, Roscommon, Longford, Leitrim, Mayo and Donegal.
The CSO survey also revealed that people living in the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) region fared worst with disposable incomes that were 9.6% below the State average.
The figures have also thrown up a number of contradictions. They show while workers living in the southern and eastern regions had the highest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person, or created the most wealth, their earnings were below the national average.
ESRI senior economist Danny McCoy said that this apparent contradiction exists because a lot of the goods produced in the south west and south east are manufactured by multi-national companies.
“While their output may be high a lot of these jobs are not well paid and a lot of the profits are also repatriated back to their native countries,” Mr McCoy said.
