Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The average domestic rates bill is £1,177 a year. Population 3,537: a town in Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland.
Homes are affordable (A+): the median home sold for £173,600, 3.6 years of area income. Taken together, its subjects give Whitehead a B+ overall, better than nearly two thirds of UK towns. Its place in the ranking is #5 of 8 in Mid and East Antrim and #42 of 63 in Northern Ireland. Crime is low: 18.3 violent or sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, plus 5.1 home and vehicle crimes. The trade-off is schools (D−).
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry (LPS), 2022 to 2024 at early-2025 prices · 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 Whitehead 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 Whitehead is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The Historic Environment Division lists 23 buildings inside Whitehead’s settlement, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Whitehead.
Below is its only school. Its one primary school teaches 368 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehead Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 368 | – |
Social housing holds 13% of households, below both Mid and East Antrim’s towns (16%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (20%). 18% of households are private tenants. It is the 3rd most expensive of 8 towns of 2,500+ in Mid and East Antrim.
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 Whitehead, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Life expectancy here is 83.6 for women and 78.1 for men (2022–24). 27% of residents have a disability, near Mid and East Antrim’s towns (27%) and higher than Northern Ireland’s towns (26%).
| Census 2021 | Whitehead | Mid and East Antrim | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 76% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.2% | 8.3% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 27% | 27% | 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.
Over the year to August 2026, 108 offences were reported in Whitehead, along with 86 incidents of anti-social behaviour. Of all the crimes, 61% were violence and sexual offences.
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 22% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
Each working resident is matched by 0.4 jobs in Whitehead. 22% of workers worked mainly from home, higher than both Mid and East Antrim’s towns (15%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (18%). Work in town: just over a tenth of resident commuters.
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.
Whitehead has 65 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents. One scheduled monument lies in the town.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
Degrees are held by 37% of adults, above both Mid and East Antrim’s towns (27%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (32%). Half of Whitehead is older than 50.2, half younger.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Whitehead | Mid and East Antrim | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 8.8% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 25% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 28% | 26% |
| 65+ | 26% | 20% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 26% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 14% | 16% | 16% |
| Degree level | 37% | 27% | 32% |
NISRA Census 2021 · Mid and East Antrim and Northern Ireland: all residents of their settlements · Women and men: whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Whitehead. Best known first.
23 listed buildings in Whitehead.
Whitehead Railway Station: Photo: Gareth James · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · St Patrick's Church of Ireland: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Methodist Church: Photo: Kenneth Allen · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Presbyterian Church: Photo: Eric Jones · 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitehead | 3,537 | — | B+ | A+ | B+ | C− |
| Carrickfergus | 28,141 | 4.3 | B | A+ | B+ | C− |
| Greenisland | 5,383 | 7.4 | A− | A+ | A− | C+ |
| Bangor | 64,596 | 7.4 | B+ | A+ | B+ | C |
| Larne | 18,853 | 8.4 | B | A+ | C+ | C− |
| Holywood | 10,757 | 9.3 | A | A | B+ | C+ |
| Metropolitan Newtownabbey | 67,599 | 11 | B+ | A+ | B | C− |
| Donaghadee | 7,325 | 11 | B+ | A+ | A− | C+ |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Northern Ireland publishes no primary results. Places are handled by the Education Authority.
That is 2.7 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale in 2022 to 2024, at early-2025 prices, was £173,600, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. On cost of living it is the 36th most affordable of 63 Northern Ireland towns.
Town in Mid and East Antrim, Northern Ireland
Whitehead is a settlement of 3,537 people, in the Mid and East Antrim 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.