Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town in Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland, home to 6,164 people. The average domestic rates bill is £1,364 a year.
Low prices, and some weak spots to weigh against them. Its schools fall short: GCSE results beat 20% of Northern Ireland towns. Homes are affordable: homes sell for a median £166,500, about 3 times local household income. Put together, the subjects come to a B− overall, ranking #57 of 63 in Northern Ireland. That leaves it better than 47% of UK towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry (LPS), 2022 to 2024 at early-2025 prices.
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 Ballynahinch is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 2 things Ballynahinch does most differently from other towns.
The Historic Environment Division lists 10 buildings inside Ballynahinch’s settlement, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →10 listed buildings in Ballynahinch.
First Presbyterian Church: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Edengrove Presbyterian Church: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Ballynahinch.
19% rent privately, about level with Northern Ireland’s towns (19%) and below Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (23%). Home ownership covers three in five households. Social housing holds 18% 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 Ballynahinch, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Of its 6 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Ballynahinch’s three primaries and three secondaries have 2,608 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Patrick's Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 256 | – |
| Assumption Grammar SchoolLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary | Post-primary | 947 | B |
28% of residents have a disability, higher than both Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (26%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (26%). Life expectancy here is 82.9 for women and 79.5 for men (2022–24). Asked at the census, 76% of residents of Ballynahinch said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2021 | Ballynahinch | Newry, Mourne and Down | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 77% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.5% | 8.6% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 28% | 26% | 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.
Burglary and damage came to 12.4 per 1,000 residents a year, higher than both Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (9.7) and Northern Ireland’s towns (8.8). The 12 months to August 2026 brought 263 recorded crimes inside Ballynahinch’s settlement, and 196 reports of anti-social behaviour. Violence and sexual offences accounted for 55% of recorded crime.
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
For its size, Ballynahinch has the fewest listed buildings of the towns in Newry, Mourne and Down. One scheduled monument lies in the town.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 15% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
The car carried 86% of commuters at the census. About a fifth of its commuters stay in Ballynahinch for work. For every resident in work, Ballynahinch has 0.9 jobs.
NISRA Census 2021, method of travel to work · OGL
Ballynahinch has a median age of 40. People 65 and over make up nearly a fifth of the town, above Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (18%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (17%) alike. One measure of family life: 19% of residents are under 15.
51% women, 49% men
About 95 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
| Ballynahinch | Newry, Mourne and Down | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 19% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 19% | 18% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 25% | 26% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 15% | 16% |
| Degree level | 25% | 30% | 32% |
NISRA Census 2021 · Newry, Mourne and Down and Northern Ireland: all residents of their settlements · Women and men: whole data zones, which approximate the town’s boundary · OGL
Town in Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
Ballynahinch is a settlement of 6,164 people, in the Newry, Mourne and Down 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
The nearest settlements, from NISRA’s 2015 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ballynahinch | 6,164 | — | B− | A+ | C | C− |
| Saintfield | 3,588 | 4.6 | A− | A+ | A | C |
| Carryduff | 7,173 | 7.8 | A+ | A+ | A | B |
| Ballygowan | 3,138 | 8.1 | A | A+ | A | C+ |
| Hillsborough and Culcavy | 3,754 | 8.6 | A+ | A | A+ | B− |
| Downpatrick | 11,545 | 9.3 | B | A+ | D | C− |
| Killyleagh | 2,787 | 9.7 | B+ | A+ | B | C− |
| Lisburn | 51,447 | 10 | A− | A+ | B− | C− |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
On cost of living it is the 16th most affordable of 63 Northern Ireland towns.
Northern Ireland publishes no primary results. 3 post-primary schools are inside the town; places are handled by the Education Authority.
It has more crime per resident than most places its size: 69% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people report less.
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 Newry, Mourne and Down is about £1,364 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.
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.
