Longford has Leinster's lowest median income

County Longford has the lowest median gross household income in Leinster and one of the lowest in the country in 2022, according to a new report.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) released figures for household income in counties, local electoral areas and towns nationwide last week.

By local authority, the median gross household income in Longford by comparison was just €47,217, a significant 41% less than the median gross household income of (€84,991 in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown.

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The figures for the equivalent income levels in county Longford towns were Longford on €40,409, Edgeworthstown with €43,658, Ballymahon on €43,470, while a total of €42,952 was the median income in Lanesborough- Ballyleague.

The report also revealed that just under half of households, 47.5%, in 2022 had a had a gross household income of less than €60,000 and that figure increased to almost two thirds or 63.4%, of county Donegal households.

An assessment of the three Ulster counties assessed found Cavan was the local authority with the highest median gross household income of €52,321, while Donegal on €42,497 had the lowest.

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In Munster, Cork County was the local authority area with the highest median gross household income of €60,906, while Kerry had the lowest with €48,320.

The highest median gross household income by local authority in Connacht was county Galway County (€59,895), and the lowest was Leitrim (€45,267).

Longford Westmeath Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke (pictured) stated the the impact of the cost of living has been 'biting' for the last couple of years.

"It does not seem to be coming down at the same rate as what the prices went up and that obviously has an impact," she said.

"When you have a situation where somebody cannot rent a property in an area they want to live in and they begin to look further afield then that too places an additional pressure on the private rental market in that area."