Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town, home to 11,164 people, lies in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. A Band D home pays £1,686 in council tax.
Stonehaven’s best grade is for cost of living (A+) — a typical home costs £212,800 and rent runs £869 a month. Hazard risk is higher than most: 13.5% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Residents’ health trails most towns (C): life expectancy is 78.4 for men and 81.4 for women. 163 buildings are listed here, 5 at Category A.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, SEPA · life expectancy, ONS. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Stonehaven without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Stonehaven 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 Stonehaven is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Stonehaven without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 163 buildings inside Stonehaven’s locality, 5 of them in the top category, and 3 scheduled monuments.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1890.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Stonehaven. Best known first.
MuseumTolbooth Museumin town
CastleDunnottar Castle1.4 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleFetteresso Castle1 km outside town, to the west
CastleMuchalls Castle3.6 km outside town, to the northeastAttractionAttractionStonehaven Open Air Poolin townAttractionAttractionStonehaven and District War Memorial400 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Stonehaven.
71% of households own their home, near Aberdeenshire’s towns (70%) and higher than Scotland’s towns (60%). The private rented sector houses nearly one in ten households. 516 sales in Stonehaven’s data zones from 2023 to 2025 make up the median of £212,800.
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.
Of its 5 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason. Mackie Academy’s results beat 83% of schools in Scotland like it. Some 1,886 pupils attend Stonehaven’s three primaries and one secondary.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arduthie SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 396 | – |
| Mackie AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,129 | A− |
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.
There are 0.7 jobs in Stonehaven for each resident in work. A fifth of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, higher than Aberdeenshire’s towns (17%) yet lower than Scotland’s towns (27%). The car carried 74% of commuters at the census. Also worth knowing: about 26% of its commuters stay in Stonehaven for work.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
83% of Stonehaven’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, about level with Aberdeenshire’s towns (83%) and above Scotland’s towns (78%). Disability touches 21% of the town’s population.
| Census 2022 | Stonehaven | Aberdeenshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 83% | 83% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 4.3% | 4.5% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 21% | 20% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Stonehaven’s land, 10% lies in conservation areas, above both Aberdeenshire’s towns (0%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). At the top of the list, 5 are Category A and 45 Category B. The town has 3 scheduled monuments.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Degrees are held by 37% of adults. 10% of residents are 15 to 24, higher than Aberdeenshire’s towns (9.7%) yet lower than Scotland’s towns (12%). The median resident of Stonehaven is 47.2 years old. Children are 16% of the town.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Stonehaven | Aberdeenshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 17% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 9.7% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 25% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 27% |
| 65+ | 23% | 21% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 13% | 16% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.6% | 10% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 10% | 10% | 11% |
| Degree level | 37% | 29% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Aberdeenshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
163 listed buildings in Stonehaven, 5 of them in the top category.
Old Pier, Old Tolbooth of Stonehaven Including Boundary Walls and Gates: Photo: Panama1958 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Bath Street, Fetteresso (Church of Scotland): Photo: Stanley Howe · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Stonehaven Railway Station Including Signal Box: Photo: NemesisAT · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Arbuthnott Street, White Bridge: Photo: Watty62 · CC BY-SA 4.0
14 notable people were born in Stonehaven.
John Reith, 1st Baron Reith: Olive Edis, Public domain · Robert William Thomson: R. & E. Taylor (Firm) / After Thomas Dewell Scott, Public domain · Alexander Wood: Follower of Henry Raeburn, Public domain
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stonehaven | 11,164 | — | — | A+ | — | C |
| Newtonhill | 3,182 | 5.3 | — | A+ | — | A− |
| Portlethen | 8,965 | 7.4 | — | A+ | — | B− |
| Peterculter | 4,359 | 9.4 | — | A− | — | C+ |
| Milltimber | 3,049 | 9.8 | — | C− | — | B+ |
| Cove Bay | 7,926 | 11 | — | B+ | — | B− |
| Banchory | 7,582 | 12 | — | A+ | — | B+ |
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.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
That is 6 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A buildings include Arbuthnott Street, St James the Great Episcopal Church Including Boundary Walls, Gatepiers and Gates. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
GCSE results beat 87% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8).
Band D council tax in Stonehaven 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.
Town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Stonehaven is a locality of 11,164 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.