1981 Antrim Borough Council election

Elections to Antrim Borough Council were held on 20 May 1981 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used three district electoral areas to elect a total of 15 councillors.

Election results
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.

Districts summary
!rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! %
 * - class="unsortable" align="centre"

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

! %

!Cllrs

!rowspan=2|Total Cllrs

!colspan=2 bgcolor="" | UUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | DUP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | SDLP !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | Alliance !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | IIP !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| Others
 * - class="unsortable" align="center"
 * align="left"|Area A
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|33.1
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|2
 * 19.2
 * 1
 * 21.7
 * 1
 * 2.4
 * 0
 * 21.8
 * 1
 * 1.8
 * 0
 * 5
 * align="left"|Area B
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|49.0
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|3
 * 27.6
 * 1
 * 15.4
 * 1
 * 8.0
 * 0
 * 0.0
 * 0
 * 0.0
 * 0
 * 5
 * align="left"|Area C
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|34.8
 * bgcolor="40BFF5"|2
 * 34.6
 * 2
 * 0.0
 * 0
 * 18.7
 * 1
 * 0.0
 * 0
 * 11.9
 * 0
 * 5
 * - class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9"
 * align="left"| Total
 * 38.0
 * 7
 * 28.1
 * 4
 * 10.7
 * 2
 * 10.9
 * 1
 * 6.6
 * 1
 * 5.7
 * 0
 * 15
 * }
 * 5.7
 * 0
 * 15
 * }
 * }

Area A
1977: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Independent, 1 x Independent Nationalist

1981: 2 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x IIP

1977-1981 Change: SDLP gain from Independent, Independent Nationalist joins IIP

Area B
1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1981: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP

1977-1981 Change: SDLP gain from Alliance

Area C
1977: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1981: 2 x UUP, 2 x DUP, 1 x Alliance

1977-1981 Change: DUP gain from UUP