Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 32,643 people, this large town lies in the Belfast council area, Northern Ireland. The average domestic rates bill is £1,081 a year.
Buying a home costs less than in most towns (A+): the median home sold for £164,900, 3.6 years of area income. Add walkability to its strengths: a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Health lags: men here can expect to live to 76.8, women to 79.7. The overall grade comes out at A−, #29 of 63 in Northern Ireland. Nationally, it does better than just over three quarters of UK towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry (LPS), 2022 to 2024 at early-2025 prices · commuting, Census 2021 · life expectancy, ONS.
This town's Cost Grade uses house prices and the domestic rates bill: Northern Ireland has no council tax, and no rents are published for its council areas. This town's Health Grade uses NISRA's life expectancy for its district electoral area (2022 to 2024) and two Census 2021 measures, bad health and disability, adjusted for age. Healthy life expectancy and the early-death and hospital measures English towns use aren't published for small areas in Northern Ireland. This town's School Grade uses GCSE results at the post-primary schools its children travel to, grammar and non-grammar, compared with schools across Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland publishes no primary school results. Northern Ireland has no Jobs Grade (no small-area income, claimant or job-access data is published) and no Hazards Grade (its flood maps aren't open data).
The 3 things Metropolitan Lisburn does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Northern Ireland), ordered by how far Metropolitan Lisburn is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The Historic Environment Division lists 14 buildings inside Metropolitan Lisburn’s settlement, 1 of them in the top grade, and 2 scheduled monuments.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Metropolitan Lisburn. Best known first.
GardenBotanic Gardens5 km outside town, to the northeast
CathedralChrist Church Cathedral, Lisburn2.8 km outside town, to the south
MuseumLinen Centre and Museum2.9 km outside town, to the southMuseumMuseumUlster Museum4.7 km outside town, to the northeastArt galleryArt galleryThe Naughton Gallery at Queen's5 km outside town, to the northeast · 16K visitors a yearGardenGarden · National TrustTerrace Hill Garden2.8 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Metropolitan Lisburn.
33% of households live in social housing. No town in the Belfast council area costs less to buy into than Metropolitan Lisburn, at £164,900, the lowest of 2. Owners make up 55% of households.
NISRA / Land & Property Services ward sale prices and domestic rates · NISRA Census 2021 tenure · OGL · The figure is NISRA’s median sale price for the wards around Metropolitan Lisburn, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Some 3,731 pupils attend Metropolitan Lisburn’s nine primaries and one secondary. Of its 14 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christ The Redeemer Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 682 | – |
| St Colm's High SchoolLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary | Post-primary | 727 | D |
A disability affects 28% of people in Metropolitan Lisburn. 11% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, above both Belfast council area’s towns (10%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (8.7%). Asked at the census, three quarters of residents of Metropolitan Lisburn said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Metropolitan Lisburn | Belfast council area | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 75% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 11% | 10% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 28% | 27% | 26% |
NISRA Census 2021, general health and disability · NISRA life expectancy by district electoral area, 2022–24 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 18% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
75% of commuters drove, above Belfast council area’s towns (66%) but below Northern Ireland’s towns (79%). Metropolitan Lisburn counts 0.6 jobs per working resident.
NISRA Census 2021, method of travel to work · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Per 10,000 residents, Metropolitan Lisburn counts 4 listed buildings, lower than Northern Ireland’s towns (34). Its listed buildings include First Presbyterian Church (Non Subscribing), Grade A. Also worth knowing: at the top of the list, 1 are Grade A and 2 Grade B+.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
Of all the crimes, 49% were violence and sexual offences. 1,492 crimes and 815 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what the PSNI recorded inside Metropolitan Lisburn’s settlement in the 12 months to August 2026. Violent crime ran at 24.8 per 1,000 residents a year, above Northern Ireland’s towns (21.3). Among the 645 UK towns of 10,000 to 50,000 people, Metropolitan Lisburn has less crime per resident than 71% of them.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the NISRA settlement boundary · OGL · The police category of violence and sexual offences includes harassment and stalking.
28% of adults hold a degree, below Belfast council area’s towns (34%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (32%) alike. Retirement age and beyond: 13% of residents are 65 or older. The median resident of Metropolitan Lisburn is 35.3 years old. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 13% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
| Metropolitan Lisburn | Belfast council area | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 22% | 18% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 13% | 15% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 28% | 29% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 26% |
| 65+ | 13% | 14% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 24% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 16% |
| Degree level | 28% | 34% | 32% |
NISRA Census 2021 · Belfast council area and Northern Ireland: all residents of their settlements · Women and men: whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary · OGL
14 listed buildings in Metropolitan Lisburn, 1 of them Grade I.
Presbyterian Church: Photo: Albert Bridge · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Railway Bridge: Photo: Albert Bridge · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
The nearest settlements, from NISRA’s 2015 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan Lisburn | 32,643 | — | A− | A+ | C+ | D− |
| Lisburn | 51,447 | 3 | A− | A+ | B− | C− |
| Belfast | 293,298 | 4.3 | B | A+ | D | D− |
| Carryduff | 7,173 | 6.1 | A+ | A+ | A | B |
| Hillsborough and Culcavy | 3,754 | 6.6 | A+ | A | A+ | B− |
| Metropolitan Castlereagh | 58,763 | 6.7 | A+ | A+ | A− | C |
| Metropolitan Newtownabbey | 67,599 | 9 | B+ | A+ | B | C− |
| Crumlin | 5,366 | 9 | A | A+ | B | C |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale in 2022 to 2024, at early-2025 prices, was £164,900, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. On cost of living it is the 32nd most affordable of 63 Northern Ireland towns.
Against all UK towns, most of them smaller, it grades C+.
Northern Ireland has no council tax: homes pay domestic rates, set on the home’s capital value, and the rates also pay for water. The average bill in Belfast is about £1,081 a year for 2026–27, against England’s average council tax per home of £1,868. Your own bill depends on your home’s value; check it with Land & Property Services on nidirect.
Large town in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Metropolitan Lisburn is a settlement of 32,643 people, in the Belfast council area. TownRatings uses NISRA’s settlements (the 2015 Settlement Development Limits) as Northern Ireland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from NISRA geography and Census 2021
Sources: NISRA Census 2021, data zones best-fitted to the NISRA Settlement Development Limits 2015 (settlement totals from NISRA where it publishes them) · NISRA / Land & Property Services verified residential sales by ward, 2005 to 2024, new and existing dwellings (medians; the 2022 to 2024 headline brought to early-2025 prices with the LPS house price index, which runs to 2026) · Land & Property Services domestic rates paid by council, 2025-26, and Department of Finance rate poundages 2026-27 · data.police.uk street-level crime (Police Service of Northern Ireland), 36 months to August 2026, points inside the settlement boundary · NISRA life expectancy by district electoral area (2022 to 2024) and NISRA Census 2021 general health and disability, adjusted for age · ONS gross disposable household income by council (2022), scaled to household income on England and Wales’s councils · Department of Education examination performance at post-primary schools 2024/25 and school-level enrolment data 2025/26 · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
