Elections to Ballymena Borough Council were held on 21 May 1997 on the same day as the other Northern Irish local government elections. The election used four district electoral areas to elect a total of 24 councillors.
<small>Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes.</small>
|- class="unsortable" align="centre" !rowspan=2 align="left"|Ward ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! % <br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> ! %<br /> !Cllrs<br /> !rowspan=2|Total<br />Cllrs<br /> |- class="unsortable" align="center" !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">UUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">DUP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">SDLP</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="" | <span style="color:black;">Alliance</span> !colspan=2 bgcolor="white"| <span style="black;">Others</span> |- |align="left"|Ballymena North |bgcolor="40BFF5"|36.8 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |22.0 |1 |16.8 |1 |7.8 |1 |16.6 |1 |7 |- |align="left"|Ballymena South |36.6 |3 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|40.9 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |17.6 |1 |0.0 |0 |4.9 |0 |7 |- |align="left"|Bannside |32.9 |2 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|50.7 |bgcolor="#D46A4C"|3 |16.4 |0 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |5 |- |align="left"|Braid |bgcolor="40BFF5"|47.7 |bgcolor="40BFF5"|3 |32.7 |1 |19.6 |1 |0.0 |0 |0.0 |0 |5 |- |- class="unsortable" class="sortbottom" style="background:#C9C9C9" |align="left"| Total |38.3 |11 |36.7 |8 |17.5 |3 |2.0 |1 |5.5 |1 |24 |-
1993: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Alliance, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1993-1997 Change: No change
1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP, 1 x SDLP, 1 x Independent Unionist<br /> 1997: 3 x DUP, 3 x UUP, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: UUP gain from Independent Unionist
1993: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP<br /> 1997: 3 x DUP, 2 x UUP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: No change
1993: 3 x UUP, 2 x DUP<br /> 1997: 3 x UUP, 1 x DUP, 1 x SDLP<br /> 1993-1997 Change: SDLP gain from DUP