Photo: Robin Webster · CC BY-SA 2.0How City of Edinburgh stacks up
Only one area has more people walking, cycling or riding to work: in City of Edinburgh, 53% of commuters walk, cycle or take the bus or train. Alongside fast growth (+11% since 2011) and strong schools, it has homes that cost 5.4 times household income. 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
25th of 90B+73/100 Strong results in the classroom. Among Scotland’s council areas it ranks 10th highest for school leavers’ results: 70% leave with five or more National 5 awards or better.
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.
City of Edinburgh has three 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.
Cost of living
71st of 98C28/100 Homes cost a lot of income here. A typical home sold for £282,100 over the past year, 5.4 times the average household’s income (30th highest of 98 areas). Over five years, typical prices have risen 15%.
The middle home sold for £282,100 over the past year, 28th highest of the areas.
Private rent £1,415 a month (10th highest); Band D council tax £1,626 (10th 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.
City of Edinburgh has three 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.
Health
23rd of 98A−77/100 Good health overall. City of Edinburgh ranks 8th longest for healthy life expectancy, at 63.5 years. It leads its neighbours on health, ahead of East Lothian.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.2 years, 10th 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.
City of Edinburgh has three 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.
Jobs & income
30th of 98B+70/100 Better off than most areas. Households take in £52,700 a year on average (30th highest), and 2.8% of working-age adults claim out-of-work benefits.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.8% of working-age adults (34th lowest), 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.
City of Edinburgh 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
2nd of 98A+99/100 Among the easiest places to get about without a car. About 5 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (2nd highest). It leads its neighbours on walkability, ahead of East Lothian.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 39% 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.
City of Edinburgh has three 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.
Flood risk
28th of 87B+69/100 Slightly lower flood risk than average. About 2 in 100 homes in its towns face a real risk of flooding from rivers or the sea (13th lowest).
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.
City of Edinburgh has three 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.
Growth
16th of 98A85/100 Growing faster than most. City of Edinburgh grew 11.3% from 2011 to 2024, against 4.6% for Scotland.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +5.2% (5th fastest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
City of Edinburgh 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 City of Edinburgh compares to its neighbours
Against Midlothian, West Lothian and East Lothian, City of Edinburgh leads on health and getting about.
| City of Edinburgh | Midlothian | West Lothian | East Lothian | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | B+ 7310th official | C− 2219th official · 0% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 100% in top towns | B− 4822nd official · 12% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 2869th official | D 1377th official · 0% in top towns | B 6154th official · 93% in top towns | C+ 3869th official · 48% in top towns |
| Health | A− 778th official | C 3413th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4316th official · 10% in top towns | B 5714th official · 15% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B+ 7030th official | B+ 7137th official | B 5953rd official | A 8725th official |
| Getting about | A+ 992nd official | B 6316th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3951st official · 0% in top towns | A 9111th official · 32% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B+ 6913th official | A+ 992nd official · 100% in top towns | A 945th official · 75% in top towns | C+ 3529th official · 31% in top towns |
| Growth | A 8520th official | A+ 992nd official | B− 5354th official | A 9110th 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.