Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 2,931 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. A Band D home pays £1,686 in council tax.
Aboyne’s best grade is for cost of living: homes sell for a median £281,700, about 5.4 times local household income. Residents are healthier than most: life expectancy is 82.3 for men and 85.9 for women. The weak point is hazard risk — 2.9% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. 29 buildings are listed here, 2 at Category A.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Aboyne without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
The 3 things Aboyne does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Aboyne is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Aboyne without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects still get grades, below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 29 buildings inside Aboyne’s locality, 2 of them in the top category, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Aboyne.
Social housing holds 17% of households. Aboyne is the most expensive of the 23 towns in Aberdeenshire: its median sale is £281,700. Private tenants account for 7% of households. 73% of households own their home, above both Aberdeenshire’s towns (70%) and Scotland’s towns (60%).
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.
Both of the town’s schools appear below. Aboyne’s one primary and one secondary have 858 pupils between them. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aboyne Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 227 | – |
| Aboyne AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 631 | A− |
Asked at the census, 85% of residents of Aboyne said they were in good or very good health. 19% of residents have a disability, below both Aberdeenshire’s towns (20%) and Scotland’s towns (24%).
| Census 2022 | Aboyne | Aberdeenshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.3% | 4.5% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 19% | 20% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · Census health answers are raw, so younger towns score better on them; for the Health Grade we use age-adjusted figures like life expectancy and early deaths.
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 29% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
16% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, close to Aberdeenshire’s towns (17%) and below Scotland’s towns (27%). Driving is how just over three quarters of commuters got to work at the census. Working from home was the norm for 29% of workers at the census.
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.
At the top of the list, 2 are Category A and 9 Category B. Per 10,000 residents, Aboyne counts 99 listed buildings, above Aberdeenshire’s towns (18) and Scotland’s towns (22) alike. One scheduled monument lies in the town.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
People aged 15 to 24 are 8.6% of the population. The age that splits Aboyne in two is 49.7. Under 15: 17% of residents. Just over two in five adults hold a degree, above Aberdeenshire’s towns (29%) and Scotland’s towns (32%) alike.
51% women, 49% men
About an even split. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Aboyne | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 9.7% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 25% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 27% | 27% |
| 65+ | 28% | 21% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 12% | 16% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.4% | 10% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 9.2% | 10% | 11% |
| Degree level | 42% | 29% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Aberdeenshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
29 listed buildings in Aboyne, 2 of them in the top category.
Aboyne, Rhu-Na-Haven Road, Rhu-Na-Haven, And Garden Ornaments, Including Statuary, Urns, Paving, Walls and Rustic Timber Ancillary Structure: Photo: paddy heron · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aboyne, Bridgeview Road, Aboyne Bridge, Over River Dee: Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aboyne, Station Square, Former Station Buildings: Photo: Stanley Howe · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Aboyne, Huntly Arms Hotel: Photo: Colin Smith · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
3 notable people were born in Aboyne.
Hollie Davidson: Stefano Delfrate, CC BY-SA 2.0
The nearest towns and villages, from National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities. See them on the map →
That is 4.1 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A buildings include Aboyne, Ballater Road, St Thomas's Episcopal Church, Including Boiler House, Lych Gate, Gatepiers and Boundary Walls. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Band D council tax in Aboyne is £1,686 for 2026–27, less than in 91% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
GCSE results beat 79% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8). Aboyne has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Aboyne is a locality of 2,931 people, in the Aberdeenshire 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
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.