Photo: Colin Park · CC BY-SA 2.0How Argyll and Bute stacks up
In Argyll and Bute, across its towns, 31% of residents live in one of the most walkable towns in the UK. It struggles most with 4.5% of town homes at flood risk and slow growth. 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
68th of 90C25/100 Schools trail most of Scotland. Even its best town, Helensburgh, ranks #605 of 2,331. Argyll and Bute’s school leavers rank 15th lowest of 32 Scottish council areas: 65% have five or more awards at National 5 level.
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. 5 Argyll and Bute towns.
Cost of living
45th of 98B55/100 A little more affordable than average. 43% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as Campbeltown and Rothesay, and almost none at the bottom. At £187,500 for a typical home and £42,400 of household income, prices run 4.4 times income, the 38th lowest ratio of 98 areas. Every neighbour scores higher, Highland, West Dunbartonshire and Stirling among them.
The middle home sold for £187,500 over the past year, 24th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £822 a month (29th lowest); Band D council tax £1,783 (31st 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. 5 Argyll and Bute towns.
Health
78th of 98C−21/100 Health trails most areas. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 58.8 years (men and women averaged). None of its towns makes the top quarter; Helensburgh comes closest, at #1,279 of 2,515.
Total life expectancy is 80.0 years (11th 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. 5 Argyll and Bute towns.
Jobs & income
55th of 98C+44/100 A little less money than most. Its claimant rate, 2.5%, ranks 19th lowest, while household income ranks 9th lowest. Households take in £42,400 a year on average (9th lowest), and 2.5% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits.
Claimant rate: 2.5% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 19th lowest. Counted half 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.
Argyll and Bute 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
14th of 98A87/100 Walkable with few exceptions. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (21st highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Rothesay ranks highest, at #73.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 33% 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. 5 Argyll and Bute towns.
Flood risk
86th of 87D−1/100 Flooding is the big risk here. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Helensburgh comes closest, at #1,019 of 2,452. SEPA puts 862 homes in its towns at high or medium flood risk, 4.5% of them. Highland, West Dunbartonshire and Stirling all do better on flood risk.
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. 5 Argyll and Bute towns.
Growth
92nd of 98D6/100 Barely growing. Argyll and Bute fell 1.3% from 2011 to 2024, against 4.6% for Scotland.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, -0.2% (4th slowest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Argyll and Bute 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 Argyll and Bute compares to its neighbours
Against Highland, West Dunbartonshire, Stirling, Perth and Kinross and Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute trails on cost of living and flood risk.
| Argyll and Bute | Highland | West Dunbartonshire | Stirling | Perth and Kinross | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | C 2518th official · 0% in top towns | C− 1722nd official · 0% in top towns | D− 231st official · 0% in top towns | A− 836th official · 25% in top towns | B+ 7011th official · 18% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B 5538th official · 43% in top towns | B+ 6555th official · 100% in top towns | B+ 6716th official · 68% in top towns | B+ 7141st official · 100% in top towns | B+ 6944th official · 100% in top towns |
| Health | C− 2121st official · 0% in top towns | B− 4512th official · 5% in top towns | D− 231st official · 0% in top towns | B 6315th official · 20% in top towns | A− 764th official · 17% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C+ 4490th official | B 5870th official | D− 398th official | A 8533rd official | B+ 6852nd official |
| Getting about | A 8721st official · 31% in top towns | B− 5339th official · 0% in top towns | A 8915th official · 37% in top towns | C+ 4247th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7130th official · 3% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D− 128th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7412th official · 38% in top towns | D 931st official · 13% in top towns | D 1430th official · 18% in top towns | B 5610th official · 18% in top towns |
| Growth | D 692nd official | C− 2279th official | D− 494th official | C+ 4062nd official | B− 4660th 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.