Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,982 in Argyll and Bute, Scotland.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Dunoon has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 28% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is health (D): life expectancy 76 for men, 79.5 for women. The median home sold for £134,300 in the last three years, 3.2 times what households in the Argyll and Bute council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Dunoon 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 Dunoon is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Dunoon has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 27 buildings inside Dunoon’s locality, 1 of them in the top category, and 2 scheduled monuments.
The archive holds 4 old photos and postcards going back to 1890.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dunoon.
At the census, 32% of people here had a disability, above Argyll and Bute’s towns (27%) and Scotland’s towns (24%) alike. Of the 5 towns in Argyll and Bute, Dunoon has the second-largest share in bad or very bad health: 9.5%. Self-reported good health: 73% of the town’s residents.
| Census 2022 | Dunoon | Argyll and Bute | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 73% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.5% | 7.5% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 32% | 27% | 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.
Dunoon’s three primaries and one secondary have 1,218 pupils between them. Two of its 4 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kirn Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 293 | – |
| Dunoon Grammar SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 743 | C |
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.
Unemployment benefit claims came to 4.1% of 16 to 64s in 2026, above Argyll and Bute’s towns (3.2%) and Scotland’s towns (2.8%) alike. Jobs per working resident: 0.8. Work in town: 66% of resident commuters.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Private rents average £869 a month across the Argyll and Bute council area. Behind the median of £134,300: 496 sales in Dunoon’s data zones, 2023 to 2025. 14% rent privately, above Argyll and Bute’s towns (13%) and close to Scotland’s towns (13%).
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 heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Of Dunoon’s 27 listed buildings on Historic Environment Scotland’s list, Category A counts 1 and Category B 20. Conservation areas cover 5% of the town’s land, between Argyll and Bute’s towns (21%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). The national list protects 2 ancient monuments here.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Under 15: 14% of residents. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 8.6% of residents, below both Argyll and Bute’s towns (9.3%) and Scotland’s towns (12%). The middle age in Dunoon is 51.7. 28% of adults hold a degree.
51% women, 49% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Dunoon | Argyll and Bute | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 15% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 8.6% | 9.3% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 21% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 29% | 26% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 18% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.4% | 8.4% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 28% | 31% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Argyll and Bute and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Dunoon. Best known first.
MuseumCastle House Museum Dunoonin town
CastleCastle Levan3.5 km outside town, to the east
CastleArdgowan Castle4.3 km outside town, to the southeast
PierDunoon Pier100 m outside town, to the southCastleCastleCraigownie Castle4.2 km outside town, to the northeastCastleCastleDunselma1.4 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
27 listed buildings in Dunoon, 1 of them in the top category.
St. John's Church of Scotland. Hanover Street and Argyll Street: Photo: Ian S · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dunoon Castle: Photo: William Miller · Public domain · Statue of "Highland Mary": Photo: marsupium photography · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kilbride Bridge, Over Balgie Burn: Photo: Thomas Nugent · CC BY-SA 2.0
16 notable people were born in Dunoon.
Sylvester McCoy: Patrick Subotkiewiez, CC BY 2.0 · Stewart Houston: The original uploader was Thebot at Ukrainian Wikipedia., Public domain · Virginia Bottomley: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · Neil MacFarlane: Socheid, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunoon | 7,982 | — | — | A− | — | D |
| Gourock | 10,072 | 3.8 | — | A | — | C |
| Inverkip | 3,542 | 4.1 | — | B | — | B |
| Greenock | 42,870 | 5.9 | — | A | — | D− |
| Helensburgh | 14,128 | 8.5 | — | B | — | C+ |
| Rothesay | 4,206 | 9.6 | — | A− | — | D |
| Port Glasgow | 14,260 | 10 | — | A | — | D− |
| Largs | 10,916 | 11 | — | 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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £134,300, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 225th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Dunoon is a locality of 7,982 people, in the Argyll and Bute 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.