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Counties

Schools and pupils in each county, 2025/26. Select a county for its trends, planning areas, patrons and every school.

Compare all school planning areas

Counties
26
Every county has a page
Schools
3,067
with 2025/26 figures
Pupils
535,600
in 2025/26
Over 10 years
−1.8%
545,310 pupils in 2015/16

All counties

Change counts every school that reported in each year, including schools that have since closed. Select a column heading to sort.

Change over
Dublin 459 132,941 289.6 22.23 5,843
−1.7%
Cork 335 60,003 179.1 21.72 2,649
−2.8%
Galway 217 29,404 135.5 21.46 1,342
−1.2%
Kildare 101 29,000 287.1 23.56 1,204
−1.1%
Meath 113 25,663 227.1 23.04 1,080
−2.7%
Limerick 133 21,953 165.1 21.83 975
−1.6%
Donegal 171 18,871 110.4 21.47 857
−0.8%
Tipperary 151 18,173 120.4 21.25 828
−2.1%
Wexford 100 17,812 178.1 22.18 776
−3.5%
Wicklow 82 16,940 206.6 22.36 734
−4.0%
Louth 69 16,798 243.4 22.50 724
−0.3%
Kerry 130 15,569 119.8 21.25 713
−3.0%
Mayo 151 14,772 97.8 20.87 694
+2.4%
Waterford 73 13,577 186.0 21.63 613
−4.4%
Clare 109 12,914 118.5 21.09 596
−5.6%
Westmeath 73 11,117 152.3 21.98 492
0.0%
Laois 63 10,814 171.7 21.65 481
−3.1%
Kilkenny 68 10,483 154.2 22.53 453
−4.2%
Cavan 75 9,711 129.5 21.24 443
+0.5%
Offaly 67 9,295 138.7 20.89 422
−4.8%
Monaghan 62 7,958 128.4 22.62 341
+4.2%
Roscommon 87 7,953 91.4 20.55 377
+6.7%
Sligo 62 7,528 121.4 21.56 344
+1.9%
Carlow 42 7,242 172.4 21.79 320
−5.6%
Longford 37 5,201 140.6 20.45 246
+0.3%
Leitrim 37 3,908 105.6 22.30 171
+7.0%
Fewer pupils than 2015/16 More pupils than 2015/16

Teachers

Teachers in the 3,067 mainstream primary schools here, 2006/07 to 2025/26. Class teachers are counted every year; all teaching posts where they're known.

How we count teachers
Class teachers in 2025/26
23,718
Up 4,809 since 2006/07, while pupils rose 15%
Teaching posts in 2025/26
about 37,875
Estimate: 23,718 class teachers, 1,708 principals and deputies, 9,819 special education and 2,630 special class teachers
Teachers in 2015/16
31,764
The Department's last count of every teacher
Since 2024/25
234 / 347
234 schools gained a class teacher, 347 lost one

Class teachers since 2006/07

One for each mainstream class, every school year

How schools changed in each county

Each county's schools by their own change in pupils from 2015/16 to 2025/26. A county total can hold steady while many of its schools shrink and a few grow. Newer schools were still filling their classes in 2015/16 or opened since.

Schools by change since 2015/16
Dublin 195 47% 152 37% 67 16% 45
Cork 132 41% 111 35% 76 24% 16
Galway 93 45% 48 23% 65 32% 11
Kildare 38 40% 33 35% 23 24% 7
Meath 49 46% 35 33% 23 21% 6
Limerick 55 42% 38 29% 38 29% 2
Donegal 75 44% 48 28% 48 28% 0
Tipperary 54 36% 49 33% 46 31% 2
Wexford 39 40% 33 34% 25 26% 3
Wicklow 42 53% 23 29% 14 18% 3
Louth 25 37% 27 40% 15 22% 2
Kerry 48 37% 33 25% 49 38% 0
Mayo 54 39% 31 22% 55 39% 11
Waterford 34 48% 27 38% 10 14% 2
Clare 47 44% 31 29% 28 26% 3
Westmeath 29 40% 22 30% 22 30% 0
Laois 22 37% 19 32% 18 31% 4
Kilkenny 25 39% 27 42% 12 19% 4
Cavan 28 37% 24 32% 23 31% 0
Offaly 28 42% 24 36% 14 21% 1
Monaghan 18 29% 17 27% 27 44% 0
Roscommon 33 39% 17 20% 35 41% 2
Sligo 17 28% 21 35% 22 37% 2
Carlow 17 41% 16 39% 8 20% 1
Longford 15 41% 11 30% 11 30% 0
Leitrim 13 36% 12 33% 11 31% 1
Down 25% or moreDown 10 to 25%Within 10%Up 10 to 25%Up 25% or more

Percentages are shares of each county's schools with figures for both years; the columns sort by them.