Clare people had more money in their pockets than ever before the onset of COVID-19.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show residents of this county were taking home more than €28,500 on average by the end of 2019.
The amount of money Clare people had the year before the pandemic was even greater than that of 2008 before the economic crash, when it stood at just over €27,000.
That ended up falling to a low of around €22,500 back in 2013 but has climbed steadily higher ever since in this county.
The CSO data shows people in Clare also had a higher level of disposable income than ever back in 2019, at just over €20,000.
However, that’s nearly 10 percent below the national average, with higher incomes in Dublin skewing that amount somewhat.
Average disposable income once rent was taken out was around €18,000 here, which interestingly rose less than disposable income on its own, which is perhaps a sign of increasing rent prices in Clare even at that point.
Total household income in Clare was over €3.5 billion.
These figures are likely to have decreased from 2020 onwards as a result of the severe economic difficulties caused by COVID-19 restrictions, as well as the rapid rise in the cost of living.
