Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A Band D home pays £1,686 in council tax. Home to 2,527 people, this town lies in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Newmachar’s strongest is cost of living (A+) — the median home sold for £200,400, 3.8 years of area income. It is hard to get around without a car: on the way to work, 8% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for schools and B for health. Natural hazards are less of a worry than in most UK towns (A).
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Newmachar without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Newmachar is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Newmachar without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 2 things Newmachar does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 1 building inside Newmachar’s locality, 1 of them in the second category.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Newmachar.
Four in five households own their home, above Aberdeenshire’s towns (70%) and Scotland’s towns (60%) alike. The social rented sector houses 13% of households. 91 sales in Newmachar’s data zones from 2023 to 2025 make up the median of £200,400.
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.
The one school in town appears below. The town’s primary school has 334 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Machar SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 334 | – |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 27% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Driving is how 86% of commuters got to work at the census. Unemployment benefit claims came to 1.6% of 16 to 64s in 2026, below both Aberdeenshire’s towns (2.1%) and Scotland’s towns (2.8%). Jobs per working resident: 0.2. Of the commuters living in Newmachar, 2% work in the town itself.
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.
Newmachar has 1 listed building inside its locality on Historic Environment Scotland’s list: 1 Category B.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
A disability affects 17% of people in Newmachar. At the census, 4% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, lower than both Aberdeenshire’s towns (4.5%) and Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Men in Newmachar can expect to live to 80.5, women to 84.6 (2020–24).
| Census 2022 | Newmachar | Aberdeenshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 85% | 83% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4% | 4.5% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 17% | 20% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
One measure of family life: 17% of residents are under 15. Young adults of 15 to 24 are just over one in ten residents, above Aberdeenshire’s towns (9.7%) but below Scotland’s towns (12%). At 43.1, the median resident of Newmachar sits in the middle of the age range.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Newmachar | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 9.7% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 25% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 27% | 27% |
| 65+ | 20% | 21% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 10% | 16% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 11% | 10% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 12% | 10% | 11% |
| Degree level | 31% | 29% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Aberdeenshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Newmachar is a locality of 2,527 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Newmachar | 2,527 | — | — | A+ | — | B |
| Dyce | 6,998 | 4.4 | — | A− | — | C |
| Blackburn | 2,985 | 5.5 | — | A+ | — | A |
| Kintore | 4,545 | 6.5 | — | A+ | — | A |
| Oldmeldrum | 3,181 | 6.9 | — | A+ | — | C+ |
| Inverurie | 15,115 | 7.4 | — | A+ | — | C+ |
| Kingswells | 4,776 | 7.6 | — | C | — | B+ |
| Ellon | 10,138 | 8.1 | — | 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.
Band D council tax in Newmachar 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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £200,400, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 34th 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.