Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Band D council tax is £1,748. The town, home to 7,926 people, lies in the Aberdeen City council area, Scotland.
Natural hazards are few (A). Homes are affordable: the median home sold for £185,900, 4.4 years of area income. Its weakest is schools (D) — school leavers’ results beat 12% of Scottish towns. Most journeys need a car (C+): on the way to work, 12% walk, cycle or take a bus or train.
Figures: flood risk, SEPA · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2022. Without street-level crime figures from Police Scotland, Cove Bay has no Safety Grade, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Cove Bay is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Without street-level crime figures from Police Scotland, Cove Bay has no Safety Grade, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Cove Bay does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 18 buildings inside Cove Bay’s locality, 1 of them in the second category.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Cove Bay.
Cove Bay’s two primaries have 635 pupils between them. Below is one of its 2 schools, and why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loirston SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 339 | – |
6% live in social housing, below Aberdeen City council area’s towns (22%) and Scotland’s towns (24%) alike. Households that own their home make up 84%. Private rents average £869 a month across the Aberdeen and Shire council area.
Registers of Scotland data-zone sale prices · Scottish Government council tax · Scotland’s Census 2022 tenure · OGL · The Scottish median is our estimate from data-zone sales, brought to early-2025 prices.
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 28% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
1.6% of people aged 16 to 64 were on unemployment benefits in 2026. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 36%, below Aberdeen City council area’s towns (58%) and Scotland’s towns (44%) alike. Work in town: 3% of resident commuters. There are 0.3 jobs in Cove Bay for each resident in work.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Historic Environment Scotland’s list names 18 listed buildings in Cove Bay: 1 Category B. For its size, Cove Bay has the second most listed buildings of the towns in the Aberdeen City council area.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Of the 6 towns in Aberdeen City council area, Cove Bay has the second-smallest share in bad or very bad health: 3.2%. At the census, 87% of people in Cove Bay called their health good or very good, above Aberdeen City council area’s towns (82%) and Scotland’s towns (78%) alike. Women here live to 82.8 on average and men to 79.6 (2020–24).
| Census 2022 | Cove Bay | Aberdeen City council area | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 87% | 82% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.2% | 5.2% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 15% | 20% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · The census answers take no account of age, so a young town looks healthier; the Health Grade relies on age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
Children under 15 make up 17%, higher than both Aberdeen City council area’s towns (15%) and Scotland’s towns (15%). Half of Cove Bay is older than 40.6, half younger. Nearly a third of adults hold a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Cove Bay | Aberdeen City council area | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 15% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 8.4% | 14% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 31% | 29% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 24% | 27% |
| 65+ | 15% | 17% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 9.8% | 13% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 12% | 6.9% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 10% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 32% | 38% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Aberdeen City council area and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Cove Bay. Best known first.
CathedralSt Mary's Cathedral4.1 km outside town, to the north
CathedralSt Andrew's Cathedral4.4 km outside town, to the north
MuseumAberdeen Art Gallery4.4 km outside town, to the north
CastleAberdeen Castle4.5 km outside town, to the north
MuseumAberdeen Maritime Museum4.2 km outside town, to the north
MuseumTolbooth Museum4.3 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in Aberdeen City, Scotland
Cove Bay is a locality of 7,926 people, in the Aberdeen City council area. TownRatings uses National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities as Scotland’s towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council area, so its figures cover the town itself. Localities split the big settlements into their towns, as ONS’s 2022 boundaries split conurbations in England and Wales.
Built from NRS geography and Census 2022
The nearest towns and villages, from National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cove Bay | 7,926 | — | — | B+ | — | B− |
| Portlethen | 8,965 | 3.2 | — | A+ | — | B− |
| Aberdeen | 192,968 | 3.8 | — | A− | — | C− |
| Milltimber | 3,049 | 5.3 | — | C− | — | B+ |
| Newtonhill | 3,182 | 5.3 | — | A+ | — | A− |
| Kingswells | 4,776 | 6.3 | — | C | — | B+ |
| Peterculter | 4,359 | 6.7 | — | A− | — | C+ |
| Dyce | 6,998 | 7.9 | — | A− | — | C |
No Scottish town has a Safety Grade or an overall grade yet: Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime. People: Census 2022. Miles: centre to centre.
Cove Bay has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £185,900, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 255th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Sources: Scotland’s Census 2022 (National Records of Scotland), output areas summed to the NRS 2022 locality · Registers of Scotland house price statistics, medians and quartiles of residential sales by 2022 data zone, 2004 to 2025 (the 2023 to 2025 headline brought to early-2025 prices with each council’s medians) · Scottish Government, Council Tax by band 2026-27; Scottish Water charges 2026-27 · Scottish Government, Recorded Crime in Scotland (crimes, offences and clear-up rates by council area, 2016-17 to 2025-26); Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2020v2 crime domain and SIMD crime indicators (2014/15, 2017/18), 2011 data zones with Census 2022 residents · ONS gross disposable household income by council (2022), scaled to household income on England and Wales’s councils, with Scotland’s Census 2022 households · DWP / ONS Claimant Count via Nomis (2022 data zones, January to August 2026), over residents aged 16 to 64 at Scotland’s Census 2022; council series since 2015 · Scottish Government school contact list (31 July 2026) and school summary statistics (pupil census, September 2025); School Information Dashboard leavers’ attainment by school, 2022-23 to 2024-25 (data.gov.scot) · 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.