Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The average domestic rates bill is £1,244 a year. Population 5,628: a town in Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland.
What it saves you on housing, it gives back elsewhere. Its best grade is for cost of living: homes sell for a median £213,300, about 4.2 times local household income. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy 78.4 for men, 83.9 for women. The overall grade lands at A−, #2 of 7 in Causeway Coast and Glens and #15 of 63 in Northern Ireland. On that grade it does better than 85% of UK towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B− for safety and B− for walkability.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry (LPS), 2022 to 2024 at early-2025 prices · life expectancy, ONS · crime, police.uk, averaged Sep 2023 to Aug 2026 · commuting, Census 2021.
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).
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Northern Ireland), ordered by how far Ballycastle is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Ballycastle does most differently from other towns.
The Historic Environment Division lists 63 buildings inside Ballycastle’s settlement, 1 of them in the top grade, and 2 scheduled monuments.
Explore the history →63 listed buildings in Ballycastle, 1 of them Grade I.
Ballycastle Museum (former court house): Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · McKinley & Clarke: Photo: Victuallers · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 'McKeague', 53 Castle Street: Photo: Victuallers · CC BY-SA 3.0 · The House of McDonnell: Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ballycastle.
The social rented sector houses 17% of households. Private renters make up just over a fifth of households, near Causeway Coast and Glens’ towns (22%) and higher than Northern Ireland’s towns (19%). Owners make up 60% 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 Ballycastle, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Below are two of its 5 schools, each with why it was picked. Some 1,946 pupils attend Ballycastle’s three primaries and two secondaries.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Patrick's & St Brigid's Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 407 | – |
| Cross & Passion CollegeLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary | Post-primary | 878 | A− |
At the census, nearly one in ten residents said their health was bad or very bad, near Causeway Coast and Glens’ towns (8.4%) and lower than Northern Ireland’s towns (8.7%). Women here live to 83.9 on average and men to 78.4 (2022–24). Asked at the census, 76% of residents of Ballycastle said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Ballycastle | Causeway Coast and Glens | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 76% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.2% | 8.4% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 29% | 28% | 26% |
NISRA Census 2021, general health and disability · NISRA life expectancy by district electoral area, 2022–24 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy among them.
Graduates make up a third of adults. 19% are under 15, higher than Causeway Coast and Glens’ towns (18%) and near Northern Ireland’s towns (19%). Those 65 and older account for 21% of residents. Typical age in Ballycastle: 42.9, the median.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
| Ballycastle | Causeway Coast and Glens | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 18% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 23% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 21% | 20% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 23% | 26% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 15% | 16% | 16% |
| Degree level | 33% | 30% | 32% |
NISRA Census 2021 · Causeway Coast and Glens and Northern Ireland: all residents of their settlements · Women and men: whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Ballycastle’s listed buildings include Holy Trinity Church, Grade A. HED’s Historic Buildings Record names 63 listed buildings in the town: 1 Grade A, 3 Grade B+. Also worth knowing: it has 2 scheduled monuments.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 17% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Each working resident is matched by 0.9 jobs in Ballycastle. The car took 84% of commuters, near Causeway Coast and Glens’ towns (84%) and higher than Northern Ireland’s towns (79%). 42% of commuters who live in Ballycastle also work there.
NISRA Census 2021, method of travel to work · OGL
181 crimes and 143 reports of anti-social behaviour: that is what the PSNI recorded inside Ballycastle’s settlement in the 12 months to August 2026. Per 1,000 residents, 22.2 violent crimes are recorded each year. Burglary and damage came to 10 per 1,000 residents a year, lower than Causeway Coast and Glens’ towns (10.7) yet higher than Northern Ireland’s towns (8.8).
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
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Ballycastle. Best known first.
MuseumBallycastle Museumin town
CastleKinbane Castle2.9 km outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or prioryBonamargy Abbey200 m outside town, to the eastCastleCastleDunaneeny Castle200 m outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
11 notable people were born in Ballycastle.
Conleth Hill: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Keith O'Brien: Gavin Scott at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Hugh M‘Neile: Richard Smith, Public domain
Town in Causeway Coast and Glens, Northern Ireland
Ballycastle is a settlement of 5,628 people, in the Causeway Coast and Glens 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
That is 4.6 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Grade A building is Holy Trinity Church. It also has 2 scheduled monuments.
Northern Ireland publishes no primary results. 2 post-primary schools are inside the town; places are handled by the Education Authority.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale in 2022 to 2024, at early-2025 prices, was £213,300, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. On cost of living it is the 51st most affordable of 63 Northern Ireland towns.
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.