Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Home to 4,061 people, this town lies in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. Council tax at Band D comes to £1,579.
Where it does best is cost of living — homes sell for a median £166,200, about 3.9 times local household income. Getting around on foot or by bus is easy: 28% of commuters get to work on foot, by bike or by public transport. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: men here can expect to live to 77.8, women to 80.6. Schools lag (C−): school leavers’ results beat 21% of Scottish towns. It also trails on hazard risk — 4.9% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the sea.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Castle Douglas without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Castle Douglas is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Castle Douglas without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Castle Douglas does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 21 buildings inside Castle Douglas’s locality, 1 of them in the top category.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1890.
Explore the history →21 listed buildings in Castle Douglas, 1 of them in the top category.
New Market Street Castle Douglas Cattle Mart: Photo: derek menzies · CC BY-SA 2.0 · St Andrew Street, Town Hall and Customs House: Photo: Andy Farrington · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 35 King Street, Imperial Hotel: Photo: LornaMCampbell · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Marle Street and Lochside Road, Lochside Theatre Former St Andrews Parish Church (Church of Scotland) with Retaining Walls, Railings, Piers and Lamp Standards: Photo: WeeHolly · CC BY-SA 4.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Castle Douglas.
Castle Douglas is the second most expensive of the 10 towns in Dumfries and Galloway, at £166,200. 14% rent privately, higher than both Dumfries and Galloway’s towns (12%) and Scotland’s towns (13%). Private rents average £641 a month across the Dumfries and Galloway 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.
Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 836 pupils in Castle Douglas. Both of the town’s schools appear below. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Castle Douglas Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 330 | – |
| Castle Douglas High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 506 | C− |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 24% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Driving is how 72% of commuters got to work at the census. Nearly a quarter of workers worked mainly from home, near Dumfries and Galloway’s towns (24%) and lower than Scotland’s towns (31%). For 51% of commuters, work was under 5 km away.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
26% of residents have a disability, close to Dumfries and Galloway’s towns (27%) and above Scotland’s towns (24%). Asked at the census, 76% of residents of Castle Douglas said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2022 | Castle Douglas | Dumfries and Galloway | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 76% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.5% | 7.7% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 26% | 27% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · Read these answers with age in mind: they aren’t adjusted, so younger places do better. The Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Castle Douglas’s listed buildings include New Market Street Castle Douglas Cattle Mart, Category A. It has 52 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Graduates make up 25% of adults. Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.8% of residents, about level with Dumfries and Galloway’s towns (9.9%) and below Scotland’s towns (12%). Half of Castle Douglas is older than 51, half younger. Under 15: 14% of residents.
53% women, 47% men
About 88 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.
| Castle Douglas | Dumfries and Galloway | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 15% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 9.9% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 22% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 28% | 27% |
| 65+ | 28% | 25% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 23% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.9% | 8.9% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 25% | 23% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Dumfries and Galloway and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Castle Douglas. Best known first.
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandThreave Castle1.5 km outside town, to the west
Garden · National Trust for ScotlandThreave Garden (NTS)800 m outside town, to the southwest
CastleBuittle Castle4.5 km outside town, to the eastFortFortAuld Kirk of Lochroan4.9 km outside town, to the northwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
9 notable people were born in Castle Douglas.
Nigel Biggar: ©House of Lords / photography by Roger Harris, CC BY 3.0 · David Clark, Baron Clark of Windermere: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 3.0 · William Wilson: Artist unknown, Public domain
Town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland
Castle Douglas is a locality of 4,061 people, in the Dumfries and Galloway 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Castle Douglas | 4,061 | — | — | A+ | — | C− |
| Dalbeattie | 4,134 | 4.3 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Kirkcudbright | 3,219 | 8.7 | — | 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.
That is 2.1 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A building is New Market Street Castle Douglas Cattle Mart.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Band D council tax in Castle Douglas is £1,579 for 2026–27, less than in 96% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £166,200, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 34th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
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.