Halifax is now  the administrative centre of Calderdale. The Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale was formed by the amalgamation of the County Borough of Halifax, the Borough of Brighouse, the Borough of Todmorden, the Elland Urban District, the Hebden Royd Urban District, the Ripponden Urban District, the Sowerby Bridge Urban District and part of the Queensbury and Shelf Urban District.

Halifax was to continue much in this position throughout the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. But by the end of the 18th century it possessed one of the finest, if not the finest, cloth hall in England (the Piece Hall), several well- appointed merchants' houses, a well-developed central area and some cultural institutions - a public baths, assembly rooms, coffee houses and producers of luxury goods. However, it remained in one respect as the Rev. Pococke commented in 1750, for tho' it is so large a town it is no corporation, a pronouncement on its medieval origins (Cartwright 1888 p50).

From the beginnings of the 19th century, however, things began to change. If earlier travellers had been impressed by Halifax and the beauties of the Calder Valley, Anne Lister of the nearby Shibden Hall could write in 1837 that Halifax had become a large, smoke-canopied commercial town (Hanson 1920: 240). The development of the textile and engineering industries were responsible for this, the manufacture of worsteds being an important product. But of great importance too was the Crossley family's business, the manufacture of carpets to which they had successfully applied the power- loom and mass-production techniques. They were one of a small number of exceptionally wealthy entrepreneurial families who were crucial to the development of Halifax. The Crossleys were to use their wealth in improving the physical fabric of the town and in establishing the model industrial village of West Hill Park on the perimeter of the town. Halifax finally received self- governance, becoming a borough, in 1848, and its town hall, a Renaissance palace designed by Sir Charles Barry, dates from 1859-63. The town had been created a parliamentary borough in 1832, and was to become a county borough in 1888.

While Halifax retained a number of its 18th century buildings, notably the Piece Hall, a great deal more building and development took place in the 19th century. Of special note here are its shops, particularly its arcades and Borough Market (Leeming and Leeming 1895-8).

Along with other Central Pennine towns, Halifax has suffered economically from the decline of textiles and engineering. Tourism and leisure are now two of the pillars of its economy along with the Halifax Bank of Scotland (formerly Halifax Building Society) whose headquarters have a dominating presence in the town.