Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0How Fermanagh and Omagh stacks up
Fermanagh and Omagh leads every Northern Ireland council area on schools: 80% of pupils get five or more GCSEs at A*–C including English and maths. Overall it ranks 3rd of 65 graded areas, an A+.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole council area beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
2nd of 65A+98/100 Among the safest areas. Police recorded 14.8 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents over the past year, 37% below the figure for Northern Ireland (2nd lowest of 65 areas with police.uk figures).
All recorded crime (anti-social behaviour left out): 30 per 1,000 residents a year, 2nd lowest.
Source: police.uk street-level crime (Police Service of Northern Ireland), September 2025 to August 2026; Census 2021 residents.
Fermanagh and Omagh has three graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Schools
1st of 90A+100/100 Schools are a standout. No Northern Ireland council area gets more of its pupils to five good GCSEs including English and maths than Fermanagh and Omagh: 80% of pupils get five or more GCSEs at A*–C including English and maths. It leads its neighbours on schools, ahead of Mid Ulster.
Source: Department of Education school performance: pupils with five or more GCSEs at A*–C including English and maths, every post-primary school in the district. Ranked among Northern Ireland’s districts.
Fermanagh and Omagh has three graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Cost of living
6th of 98A+95/100 Among the most affordable areas. Northern Ireland’s official house price figures put the typical home at £196,700, or 3.8 years of average household income, against 3.9 across Northern Ireland. Homes are dear in pounds (34th lowest prices) but local incomes keep up: 11th lowest against income. Over five years, typical prices have risen 45%.
Typical sale price: £196,700 (1,066 sales, 34th lowest).
Average domestic rates bill £1,127 (Northern Ireland has rates, not council tax). Shown for context.
Source: NISRA and Land & Property Services median house prices, brought up to date with each district’s house price index; household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head and household size; ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026); domestic rates. Prices: NISRA/LPS median of all verified residential sales in 2024, brought to 2025Q3..2026Q2 prices with the LGD's LPS house price index; 5-year change = LPS index 2025Q3..2026Q2 vs 2020Q3..2021Q2.
Fermanagh and Omagh has three graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Health
36th of 98B64/100 A little healthier than average. Of a life expectancy of 81.8 years, 65.9 are expected in good health (5th longest among the Northern Ireland council areas). Among its neighbours it does best on health, with Mid Ulster second.
Total life expectancy is 81.8 years (2nd longest).
Source: ONS healthy life expectancy by district, 2022 to 2024 (a survey-based figure, converted to the scale of the England and Wales small-area figures), and NISRA life expectancy; men and women averaged. Ranked among Northern Ireland’s districts only.
Fermanagh and Omagh has three graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Jobs & income
18th of 98A−82/100 Incomes above most areas. Fermanagh and Omagh ranks 34th highest for household income, at £52,000 a year before tax. Incomes and work tell different stories: 34th highest household income, but the 13th lowest share claiming out-of-work benefits (2.3%).
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.3% of working-age adults (13th lowest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: Household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head and household size (Northern Ireland has no small-area income figures); claimant count (August 2026) by district.
Fermanagh and Omagh has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Getting about
98th of 98D−0/100 The car is close to essential. Fermanagh and Omagh trails every area on this measure: 8% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train. Both its neighbours, Derry City and Strabane and Mid Ulster, score higher.
Worked mainly from home at the 2021 Census: 16% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: NISRA Census 2021, method of travel to work by district; people working mainly from home left out.
Fermanagh and Omagh has three graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Flood risk
Not gradedNot graded: no flood-risk data for Northern Ireland yet. We have not yet loaded flood-risk maps for Northern Ireland, so its council areas, like its towns, have no flood-risk grade. Their overall grade weighs the other subjects.
Growth
67th of 98C32/100 Slower than most. Since 2011 it has grown 3.7%, the 29th slowest change of 98 areas.
Since the 2021 Census: +0.7%, 25th slowest.
Source: NISRA mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Fermanagh and Omagh has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
How Fermanagh and Omagh compares to its neighbours
Fermanagh and Omagh beats every neighbour on schools and health; on getting about, every neighbour beats it.
| Fermanagh and Omagh | Derry City and Strabane | Mid Ulster | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | A+ 973rd of 65 | C− 1655th of 65 | A+ 1001st of 65 |
| Safety | A+ 982nd official | C+ 3819th official · 9% in top towns | A+ 1001st official · 100% in top towns |
| Schools | A+ 1001st official | C− 168th official · 0% in top towns | A 883rd official · 62% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A+ 9511th official | A 9312th official · 100% in top towns | A+ 984th official · 100% in top towns |
| Health | B 645th official | D− 111th official · 0% in top towns | B− 521st official · 0% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A− 8234th official | C 2649th official | A+ 9514th official |
| Getting about | D− 098th official | D 1089th official · 0% in top towns | D− 397th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Growth | C 3270th official | C 2873rd official | B+ 7231st official |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.