Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A large town in Derry City and Strabane, Northern Ireland, home to 85,279 people. The average domestic rates bill is £1,121 a year.
Low prices, and some weak spots to weigh against them. Residents’ health trails most towns (D−): men here can expect to live to 76.6, women to 80.2. At C+ overall, Derry City is better than 40% of UK towns and ranks #59 of 63 in Northern Ireland. Safety lags: police record 43.4 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 16.1 home and vehicle crimes. Among UK towns and cities of 50,000 or more, it has less crime per resident than 50%. Where it does best is cost of living — the median home sold for £165,500, 3.4 years of area income.
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.
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 Derry City 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 Derry City is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The Historic Environment Division lists 409 buildings inside Derry City’s settlement, 12 of them in the top grade, and 7 scheduled monuments.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1850.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Derry City. Best known first.
CathedralSt. Eugene's Cathedralin town
CathedralSt Columb's Cathedralin town
MuseumTower Museumin town
MuseumFoyle Valley Railway Museumin townMuseumMuseumMuseum of Free Derryin townArt galleryArt galleryVoid Derryin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Derry City.
Owners make up 48% of households. It is the 3rd most expensive of 5 towns of 2,500+ in Derry City and Strabane.
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 Derry City, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Derry City’s 28 primaries and eight secondaries have 16,449 pupils between them. Foyle College’s results beat nearly nine in ten schools in Northern Ireland like it. Of its 44 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Patrick's Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 640 | – |
| St Columb's CollegeLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary | Post-primary | 1,217 | D |
| Foyle CollegeTop results in townPost-primary | Post-primary | 893 | A |
Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects just over a tenth of the town. At the census, nearly three quarters of people in Derry City called their health good or very good, about level with Derry City and Strabane’s towns (74%) and below Northern Ireland’s towns (77%). A disability affects 29% of people here.
| Census 2021 | Derry City | Derry City and Strabane | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 74% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 11% | 11% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 29% | 29% | 26% |
NISRA Census 2021, general health and disability · NISRA life expectancy by district electoral area, 2022–24 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy.
Town centres with shops, stations and nightlife record more crime per resident: police.uk counts crimes where they happen, not where victims live.
In the 12 months to August 2026, the PSNI logged 6,146 crimes and 2,592 reports of anti-social behaviour inside Derry City’s settlement. There were 31 anti-social behaviour reports per 1,000 residents (not graded), above both Derry City and Strabane’s towns (13.1) and Northern Ireland’s towns (20.7). Violence and sexual offences were 52% of the crimes.
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.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 16% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Derry City counts 1.3 jobs per working resident. 16% of commuters went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport at the census. The car carried 79% of commuters at the census.
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.
For its size, Derry City has 48 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. At the top of the list, 12 are Grade A and 20 Grade B+. Also worth knowing: the national list protects 7 ancient monuments here.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Children under 15 make up 20%, close to Derry City and Strabane’s towns (20%) and above Northern Ireland’s towns (19%). Half of Derry City is older than 38.6, half younger. People 65 and over make up 16% of the town.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
| Derry City | Derry City and Strabane | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 20% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 26% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 16% | 16% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 28% | 29% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 16% | 16% |
| Degree level | 30% | 29% | 32% |
NISRA Census 2021 · Derry City and Strabane and Northern Ireland: all residents of their settlements · Women and men: whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary · OGL
409 listed buildings in Derry City, 12 of them Grade I.
St. Columb's Cathedral: Photo: Simon Burchell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Guildhall, Shipquay Place: Photo: Jnoon9145 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Austins, 2-6 The Diamond, Ferryquay Street, Londonderry, Co.Londonderry, BT48 6HR: Photo: SeanMack · CC BY 3.0 · Star Factory: Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0
315 notable people were born in Derry City.
John Hume: Sharon Farmer, Public domain · Darron Gibson: Tomasz Przechlewski, CC BY 2.0 · Martin McGuinness: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sinnfeinireland/, CC BY 2.0 · James McClean: Michael Kranewitter, CC BY-SA 3.0 at · Shane Duffy: James Boyes from UK, CC BY 2.0 · Shane Ferguson: Will bcfc, CC BY-SA 3.0
The nearest settlements, from NISRA’s 2015 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Derry City | 85,279 | — | C+ | A+ | D | D− |
| Newbuildings | 2,837 | 3.6 | A− | A+ | A+ | C− |
| Eglinton | 3,571 | 5.7 | A− | A+ | A− | C |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 2 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Grade A buildings include Guildhall, Shipquay Place.
Against all UK towns, most of them far smaller, it grades D.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale in 2022 to 2024, at early-2025 prices, was £165,500, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. On cost of living it is the 20th most affordable of 63 Northern Ireland towns.
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 Derry City and Strabane is about £1,121 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 Derry City and Strabane, Northern Ireland
Derry City is a settlement of 85,279 people, in the Derry City and Strabane 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.