Rothesay is easy to get around without a car: on the way to work, 35% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Cost of living is a strength too: homes sell for a median £89,600, about 2.1 times local household income. Its weakest subject is health (D) — men here can expect to live to 74.6, women to 82.3. Hazard risk is higher than most: 9% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: commuting, Census 2022 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Rothesay has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Rothesay is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Rothesay has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rothesay.
Work & commute
Benefit claims run higher in Rothesay, 6.3% of 16 to 64s, than in Argyll and Bute’s towns or across Scotland’s towns
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 33% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 62% of commuters went by car. About just over three quarters of its commuters stay in Rothesay for work. Jobs per working resident: 1. 84% of commuters travelled under 5 km, above Argyll and Bute’s towns (64%) and Scotland’s towns (44%) alike.
Scottish Government · school statistics and leavers’ results · The grade uses the secondaries its children go to; Scotland publishes no primary results by school.See all 2 schools →
Health
More people in Rothesay live with a disability than in Argyll and Bute’s towns or across Scotland’s towns: 33%
Just over one in ten residents described their health as bad or very bad, above Argyll and Bute’s towns (7.5%) and Scotland’s towns (7.2%) alike. Asked at the census, just over two thirds of residents of Rothesay said they were in good or very good health. Women here live to 82.3 on average and men to 74.6 (2020–24).
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.
HousingCost of living grade A−
More households in Rothesay live in social housing than in Argyll and Bute’s towns or Scotland’s towns: 33%
52% of households own their home, lower than both Argyll and Bute’s towns (62%) and Scotland’s towns (60%). Private renters make up just over one in ten households. Rothesay is the second cheapest of the 5 towns in Argyll and Bute, at £89,600.
£90Kmedian sale
Median sale price · 2023 to 2025, at early-2025 prices
Rothesay£90K
Typical UK town£277K
52%
of households own their home · Scotland 60%
11%
rent privately · Scotland 13%
£869
average private rent a month, Argyll and Bute council area
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.
History
Rothesay has 151 listed buildings, 7 of them in the top category
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Listed buildings per head: 359 for every 10,000 residents of Rothesay. Conservation areas cover 41% of the town’s land, higher than both Argyll and Bute’s towns (8%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). Category B covers 61 of them, Category A 7.
151listed buildings
Listed buildings by grade · Historic Environment Scotland
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Who lives here
Rothesay skews older, with 32% of residents 65 or over, more than in Argyll and Bute’s towns and across Scotland’s towns
Graduates make up 25% of adults. 7.9% of residents are 15 to 24, below Argyll and Bute’s towns (9.3%) and Scotland’s towns (12%) alike. Children under 15 make up 13% of residents. Rothesay has a median age of 55.2.
55.2median age
RothesayArgyll and ButeScotland
Ages · share of residents
32%
Under 1515–2425–4445–6465+
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications23%
Apprenticeship9%
Highers or similar9%
Degree level25%
Women and men · all residents
52% women, 48% men
WomenScotlandMen
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
Graham Watson: The original uploader was Salty1977 at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0 · George Leslie Hunter: Notknown, Public domain · Jane Ross: James Boyes from UK, CC BY 2.0 · Sheina Marshall: unknown, maybe Frederick Russell, or his wife, Gweneth Russell, Public domain · George Lyon: Keith Edkins, CC BY-SA 3.0
Rothesay’s neighbours
The nearest towns and villages, from National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities. See them on the map →
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.
Questions about Rothesay
Is Rothesay expensive to live in?
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £89,600, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 214th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
How many listed buildings are there in Rothesay?
That is 14.7 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A buildings include Ardencraig Road, Tor House, Including Boundary Wall, Gatepiers and Gates. It also has 3 scheduled monuments.
Does Rothesay flood?
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Are schools in Rothesay good?
Rothesay has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
About Rothesay
Town in Argyll and Bute, Scotland
Rothesay is a locality of 4,206 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
Population
4,206 (Census 2022)
Council
Argyll and Bute
Nation
Scotland
Area
1.1 sq mi (2.8 km²)
NRS code
S52000547
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.
