Northern Ireland
Belfast: house prices, jobs and local statistics
Belfast is a local government district in Northern Ireland. The average house price was £184,768 in July 2026, up 7.7% on a year earlier and up 30.3% on five years before. On the ONS figure for July 2026 it had the 315th highest average price of 360 council areas. 3.9% of residents aged 16 to 64 were claiming unemployment-related benefits in August 2026, against 3.9% across the UK. Median full-time pay for people living here was £40,588 a year in 2025 (Northern Ireland: £37,052).
- Census figures here cover England and Wales only: Northern Ireland's 2021 census is published by NISRA. Employee jobs by industry (BRES) cover Great Britain only.
- The health and education indicators shown for English councils are published for England only.
Belfast house prices
Average price, July 2026
£184,768
Northern Ireland: £202,487
Change over 1 year
+7.7%
Northern Ireland: +9.2%
Change over 5 years
+30.3%
Since July 2021
UK House Price Index, July 2026 (Northern Ireland districts are published quarterly): HM Land Registry, Registers of Scotland, Land and Property Services NI and the ONS. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. About the index.
Ten years of prices and sales in the house price explorerJobs, pay and unemployment in Belfast
Claimant rate, August 2026
3.9%
8,980 people aged 16 to 64. UK: 3.9%
Employment rate, 2025
67.8%
Northern Ireland: 74.3% · Labour Force Survey
Unemployment rate, 2025
2.1%
Northern Ireland: 2.1%
Economically inactive
30.7%
Northern Ireland: 24.1%
Median full-time pay, 2025
£40,588 a year
Northern Ireland: £37,052
Median weekly pay, 2025
£767
Northern Ireland: £713
The claimant count is people claiming unemployment-related benefits as a share of residents aged 16 to 64; the unemployment rate is the survey measure of people out of work and looking. Pay is for full-time employees who live in the area.
Claimant count: Office for National Statistics via Nomis. Survey rates (Labour Force Survey) and pay (ASHE): Source: NISRA : Website: www.nisra.gov.uk (Open Government Licence v3.0). Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Two years of claimant counts and ten of pay in the jobs explorerWhat Belfast does for a living
Businesses, 2026
11,485
The Business Register and Employment Survey covers Great Britain, so there are no employee-jobs figures for this area.
UK Business Counts 2026. Both via Nomis. Source: Office for National Statistics, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Every sector and business size in the industries explorerHow Belfast has changed
Residents
328,695 in 2001 → 352,390 in 2024 (+7.2%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: +14.2%
Average house price
£110,309 in 2005 → £184,768 in 2026 (+67.5%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: +67.6%
Median weekly pay
£391 in 2016 → £575 in 2025 (+46.9%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: +51.4%
Claimant count
7.1% in 2013 → 4.0% in 2025 (−43.7%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: −42.6%
Disposable income per head
£9,734 in 1997 → £21,429 in 2024 (+120.1%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: +158.4%
Healthy life expectancy, women
58.6 years in 2014 → 56.6 years in 2022 (−3.4%)
Northern Ireland over the same years: −1.8%
ONS Explore local statistics, each series from its official producer; Office for National Statistics content licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Money figures are in cash terms, not adjusted for inflation.
Every series, charted, in the trends explorerHow Belfast ranks among UK councils
29 official indicators are published for Belfast; 22 of them have a better and a worse direction and are ranked here. A rank of 1st is the best (lowest unemployment, highest pay, and so on).
Where it ranks best
- Gigabit broadband · Connectivity & access95.7% (January 2026) · 48th highest of 361
- Business births · Economy & work12.1% (2024) · 76th highest of 361
- High-growth businesses · Economy & work4.8% (2024) · 119th highest of 361
- Greenhouse gas emissions · Environment4.1 t per person (2024) · 145th lowest of 361
Where it ranks worst
- New homes · Housing4.0 per 1,000 (2025/26) · 11th highest of 11
- Preventable heart deaths · Health & wellbeing38.8 per 100,000 (2022 to 2024) · 11th lowest of 11
- Smokers · Health & wellbeing16.0% (2020 to 2024) · 354th lowest of 373
- Employment rate · Economy & work67.9% (2023) · 10th highest of 11
ONS Explore local statistics, latest figure for each indicator, ranked among council areas with a published figure; Office for National Statistics content licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0, each indicator’s producer named on its linked ONS page.
All 29 indicators in the area scorecardNearby council areas
About these figures
Belfast (N09000003) is a local government district in Northern Ireland, one of 361 council areas this site covers. Every figure on this page is read from the official source named beneath it and carries its own date; the page is rebuilt at most once a day. Survey figures carry sampling error, so small differences between neighbouring councils are often noise. For a single street or neighbourhood rather than the whole council area, search a postcode on the dashboard.
Sources
- HM Land Registry UK House Price Index (landregistry.data.gov.uk). Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right, OGL v3.0.
- Office for National Statistics via Nomis (nomisweb.co.uk): claimant count, Annual Population Survey, ASHE, BRES, UK Business Counts and Census 2021. Source: Office for National Statistics, OGL v3.0.
- ONS Explore local statistics (ons.gov.uk/explore-local-statistics), OGL v3.0.
- Source: NISRA : Website: www.nisra.gov.uk (Open Government Licence v3.0).
- Council area names and codes: mySociety, UK local authority names and codes (CC BY 4.0), from the ONS Register of Geographic Codes.