Photo: Graham Robson · CC BY-SA 2.0How Angus stacks up
No area puts more of its town residents in the most affordable quarter of towns: 100% of Angus’s do. It struggles most with tighter household budgets. It has no overall grade yet: Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime we can reuse, so there is no Safety grade to weigh.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole council area beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
Not gradedNot graded yet: no street-level crime for Scotland. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime that we can reuse, so Scottish council areas, like Scottish towns, have no Safety grade yet, and without one no overall grade. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, due at the end of 2026, should bring newer crime figures by small area; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
Schools
62nd of 90C31/100 Results slightly under the middle for Scotland. Angus’s school leavers rank 6th lowest of 32 Scottish council areas: 62% have five or more awards at National 5 level. 68% of town residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Arbroath and Forfar.
Source: Scottish Government school leaver attainment, 2022/23 to 2024/25: leavers with five or more awards at SCQF level 5 (National 5) or better, every state secondary in the council area. Ranked among Scotland’s council areas.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 7 Angus towns.
Cost of living
23rd of 98A−77/100 Affordable with few exceptions. No area puts more of its town residents in the most affordable quarter of towns (100%). A typical home sold for £185,900 over the past year, 4.3 times the average household’s income (33rd lowest of 98 areas). Over five years, typical prices have risen 14%.
The middle home sold for £185,900 over the past year, 22nd lowest of the areas.
Private rent £825 a month (30th lowest); Band D council tax £1,599 (7th lowest), before water and sewerage charges. Shown for context.
Source: Registers of Scotland sales September 2025 to August 2026 (median estimated from monthly figures); household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head and household size; private rents for the wider Scottish broad rental area; council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 7 Angus towns.
Health
41st of 98B59/100 Slightly better health than average. People here can expect 62.5 years in good health, against 59.2 across Scotland (10th longest of 32 Scottish council areas). Arbroath and Forfar weigh on the town measure; 59% of town residents live in bottom-quarter places.
Life expectancy at birth: 79.9 years, 13th longest.
Source: National Records of Scotland healthy life expectancy and life expectancy by council area, 2022 to 2024, men and women averaged. A survey-based figure, so ranked among Scotland’s council areas only.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 7 Angus towns.
Jobs & income
80th of 98C−18/100 Money is tighter here. Households take in £43,300 a year on average (17th lowest), and 3.3% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits. Incomes and work tell different stories: 17th lowest household income, but the 39th highest share claiming out-of-work benefits (3.3%).
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 3.3% of working-age adults (39th highest), weighed with income in the grade.
Source: Household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head, 2022, and household size (Scotland has no small-area income figures); DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Angus has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Getting about
70th of 98C28/100 More car-dependent than most areas. One town stands apart: Montrose, #187 in the UK, while nearly every other town sits lower. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (36th lowest). Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire all do better on walkability.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 27% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022, method of travel to work by council area; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 7 Angus towns.
Flood risk
68th of 87C−22/100 More flood risk than most areas. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (14th highest). Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire all do better on flood risk. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Kirriemuir ranks highest, at #935.
Source: SEPA flood maps (rivers and the sea, high and medium likelihood), homes in every town of the council area. SEPA’s bands differ from England’s, so ranked among Scotland’s council areas.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 7 Angus towns.
Growth
90th of 98D8/100 Among the slowest-growing areas. The population fell 1.1% between 2011 and 2024, to 114,930, against 4.6% across Scotland (9th slowest). Every neighbour scores higher, Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire among them.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +0.0% (7th slowest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Angus has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
How Angus compares to its neighbours
Against Dundee City, Perth and Kinross and Aberdeenshire, Angus trails on getting about, flood risk and growth.
| Angus | Dundee City | Perth and Kinross | Aberdeenshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | C 3127th official · 11% in top towns | C− 1526th official | B+ 7011th official · 18% in top towns | A− 7612th official · 27% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A− 7733rd official · 100% in top towns | A+ 998th official | B+ 6944th official · 100% in top towns | A− 8222nd official · 100% in top towns |
| Health | B 5910th official · 11% in top towns | C− 1526th official | A− 764th official · 17% in top towns | A 915th official · 51% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C− 1882nd official | D− 296th official | B+ 6852nd official | A 9031st official |
| Getting about | C 2863rd official · 0% in top towns | A 937th official | B+ 7130th official · 3% in top towns | C+ 3786th official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C− 2219th official · 7% in top towns | B 5715th official | B 5610th official · 18% in top towns | B+ 7020th official · 50% in top towns |
| Growth | D 890th official | C− 1685th official | B− 4660th official | C+ 3863rd official |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.