Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Population 3,588: a town in Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland.
Cheap to live in, with trade-offs. Overall, Saintfield earns an A−: better than 77% of UK towns, and #3 of 10 in Newry, Mourne and Down and #28 of 63 in Northern Ireland. Cost of living is its strong suit (A+) — homes sell for a median £219,000, about 4 times local household income. Safety is another plus: police record 11.6 violent and sexual offences per 1,000 residents a year, and 4.8 home and vehicle crimes. Pupils here do less well than most: GCSE results beat a fifth of Northern Ireland towns.
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).
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Northern Ireland), ordered by how far Saintfield is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Saintfield does most differently from other towns.
The Historic Environment Division lists 45 buildings inside Saintfield’s settlement, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →45 listed buildings in Saintfield.
First Presbyterian Church: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Second Presbyterian Church: Photo: Eric Jones · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Saintfield.
Only one of the 10 towns in Newry, Mourne and Down costs more to buy into than Saintfield, whose median sale is £219,000. Social housing holds 7% of households, below Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (17%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (20%) alike. What’s more, 16% of households are private tenants.
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 Saintfield, 2022 to 2024, brought to early-2025 prices and weighted by sales.
Saintfield’s one primary and one secondary have 910 pupils between them. Both of its schools are shown below. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 434 | – |
| Saintfield High SchoolLargest post-primary schoolPost-primary | Post-primary | 476 | B− |
The 12 months to August 2026 brought 55 recorded crimes inside Saintfield’s settlement, and 18 reports of anti-social behaviour. For its size, Saintfield records less crime per resident than 95% of the 1,308 UK towns of 2,500 to 10,000 people. Anti-social behaviour, shown but not graded, came to 9.8 reports per 1,000, below Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (31.8) and Northern Ireland’s towns (20.7) alike. Also worth knowing: of all the crimes, 44% 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 25% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 10% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, lower than both Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (15%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (18%). Nearly one in ten commuters who live in Saintfield also work there. This Newry, Mourne and Down town counts 0.7 jobs per working resident.
NISRA Census 2021, method of travel to work · OGL
22% of residents in Saintfield live with a disability. At the census, 82% of people in Saintfield called their health good or very good, above Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (77%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (77%) alike. Life expectancy here is 82.9 for women and 79.5 for men (2022–24).
| Census 2021 | Saintfield | Newry, Mourne and Down | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 77% | 77% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.7% | 8.6% | 8.7% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 22% | 26% | 26% |
NISRA Census 2021, general health and disability · NISRA life expectancy by district electoral area, 2022–24 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Its heritage register entries (45 listed buildings) are all Grade B. Saintfield has one scheduled monument.
HED list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
People 65 and over make up 20% of the town, higher than both Newry, Mourne and Down’s towns (18%) and Northern Ireland’s towns (17%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up 9.7% of residents. Saintfield has a median age of 43.7 years.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Northern Ireland, 51% of residents are women.
| Saintfield | Newry, Mourne and Down | Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 19% | 19% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 26% | 27% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 26% |
| 65+ | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| No qualifications | 15% | 26% | 25% |
| A levels or similar | 16% | 15% | 16% |
| Degree level | 43% | 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
5 notable people were born in Saintfield.
Francis Hutcheson: Allan Ramsay, Public domain
Town in Newry, Mourne and Down, Northern Ireland
Saintfield is a settlement of 3,588 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saintfield | 3,588 | — | A− | A+ | A | C |
| Ballygowan | 3,138 | 3.6 | A | A+ | A | C+ |
| Ballynahinch | 6,164 | 4.6 | B− | A+ | C | C− |
| Carryduff | 7,173 | 4.7 | A+ | A+ | A | B |
| Comber | 9,529 | 7.2 | A | A+ | A− | C |
| Killyleagh | 2,787 | 8.2 | B+ | A+ | B | C− |
| Metropolitan Castlereagh | 58,763 | 8.2 | A+ | A+ | A− | C |
| Lisburn | 51,447 | 10 | A− | A+ | B− | C− |
People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
That is 5.1 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Northern Ireland publishes no primary results. 1 post-primary school is 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 £219,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. On cost of living it is the 48th 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.
