R.C. Church of St. Sophia · Category A listed · Photo: Dan · CC BY-SA 2.0
Galston’s story
Galston in pictures
Historic Environment Scotland lists 11 buildings inside Galston’s locality, 1 of them in the top category.
Explore the history →
GalstonEast Ayrshire
4,527 residents make their home in this town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Walking, cycling and public transport carry 13% of commuters.
7 places within 12 milesMap →
Photo: Roger Griffith · Public domain
Population
4,527
Census 2022 · East Ayrshire council
Median home
£98K
221 sales in 3 years
Median age
48.3
23% are 65+ · East Ayrshire 21%
Degree level
22%
of residents 16+ · Scotland 32%
Walk, cycle, bus
13%
of commuters · Scotland 27%
Is Galston a good place to live?
Galston’s strongest subject is cost of living — the median home sold for £97,800, 2.3 years of area income. Health is a weak point: life expectancy 75.8 for men, 83.7 for women. Schools lag (C): school leavers’ results beat 26% of Scottish towns. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: C+ for walkability and B− for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · commuting, Census 2022 · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Galston has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How Galston grades
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Galston is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Galston has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
Cost of livingHomes are very affordable for local incomesA+Open →HealthIn the bottom fifth of the towns comparedC−Open →SchoolsBased on how pupils do in exams and testsCOpen →WalkabilityBased on walking, cycling and transit to everyday placesC+Open →Hazard risk0.6% of homes at high or medium risk of flooding from rivers or the seaB−Open →
SafetyNo street-level crime data–
Jobs & incomeNo small-area income data in Scotland–
How TownRatings grades towns →
What makes Galston stand out
The 3 things Galston does most differently from other towns.
Median sale, £ thousands
Housing
65% below the typical town in England and Wales’s £277K
Data-zone medians, 2023 to 2025, at early-2025 prices.
Walk, cycle or public transport
Getting around
13% leave the car
of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport (Scotland’s towns 27%)
Band D council tax
Council tax
£1,717 Band D
31% below the typical town in England and Wales’s £2,472, 2026–27
The council’s Band D; water and sewerage are billed on top. Scottish Government.
Landmarks
11 listed buildings in Galston, 1 of them in the top category.
Photo credits
Barr Tower: Photo: Roger Griffith · Public domain · Galston Bridge: Photo: Raibeart MacAoidh · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Galston.
HousingCost of living grade A+
Buying in Galston costs less than in both East Ayrshire’s towns and Scotland’s towns, at an estimated median of £98K
£98Kmedian sale
Nearly one in ten households rent privately. Owners make up nearly two thirds of households, higher than both East Ayrshire’s towns (63%) and Scotland’s towns (60%). Private rents average £656 a month across the Ayrshires council area.
Median sale price · 2023 to 2025, at early-2025 prices
Galston£98K
Typical UK town£277K
66%
of households own their home · Scotland 60%
9%
rent privately · Scotland 13%
£656
average private rent a month, Ayrshires council area
£1,717
council tax, Band D, 2026–27
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.
SchoolsC
Exam results at Galston’s schools trail 74% of Scottish towns
CSchool Grade
Between them, two primaries teach 371 pupils in Galston. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galston Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 297 | – |
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
Lifespans in Galston run shorter than in 74% of UK towns
77%good or very good healthC−Health Grade
77% of Galston’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, about level with East Ayrshire’s towns (76%) and below Scotland’s towns (78%). Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 8.1% of the town. Disability touches a quarter of the town’s population.
General health, self-reported
Good or very good 77%Fair 15%Bad or very bad 8%
| Census 2022 | Galston | East Ayrshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 76% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.1% | 8.1% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 25% | 27% | 24% |
75.8
life expectancy at birth, men (2020–24)
83.7
life expectancy at birth, women
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
History
A town of 11 listed buildings, 1 of them in the top category
11listed buildings
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Galston’s listed buildings include R.C. Church of St. Sophia, Category A. Of the town’s land, 4% lies in conservation areas, higher than both East Ayrshire’s towns (3%) and Scotland’s towns (1%).
Listed buildings by grade · Historic Environment Scotland
Category A1
Category B6
Category C4
Among them · Category A
- R.C. Church of St. Sophia Category A
0
scheduled monuments
0
gardens and designed landscapes
24
listed buildings per 10,000 residents · typical town in England and Wales 24
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Work & commute
Commuters in Galston travel far: only 17% go under 5 km, fewer than in both East Ayrshire’s towns and Scotland’s towns
13%walk, cycle or ride
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 23% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 85% of commuters went by car. 3.6% of 16 to 64s claimed unemployment benefits in 2026, below East Ayrshire’s towns (3.8%) but above Scotland’s towns (2.8%). Home was the main workplace for 23% of workers at the census. Work in town: 7% of resident commuters.
How commuters got to work · March 2022
Driving85%
Bus6%
On foot6%
Train1%
17%
of commuters travel under 5 km · Scotland 44%
23%
worked mainly from home in March 2022
3.6%
of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits (2026)
C+
Walkability: more walkable than 42% of UK towns
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Who lives here
Older residents shape Galston: 23% are 65 or over, above East Ayrshire’s towns and Scotland’s towns
48.3median age
15% are under 15, below East Ayrshire’s towns (16%) and Scotland’s towns (15%) alike. Those aged 15 to 24 account for one in ten residents. Half the people of Galston are older than 48.3. Degrees are held by 22% of adults.
GalstonEast AyrshireScotland
Ages · share of residents
23%
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications21%
Apprenticeship11%
Highers or similar10%
Degree level22%
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 90 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Galston | East Ayrshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 24% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 23% | 21% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 22% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 11% | 8.7% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 9.9% | 10% | 11% |
| Degree level | 22% | 23% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · East Ayrshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Keep exploring
Everything we know about Galston
13pages on Galston
The big questions
SafetyNot graded · 13% live in Scotland’s most crime-deprived fifthCost of livingA+Median home £98K · rent £656 a monthSchoolsC2 state schoolsHealthC−Life expectancy 75.8 (men), 83.7 (women)Work & commute47% of working residents work in the townFlood & hazardsB−0.6% of homes at high or medium flood risk
Out and about
Nearby attractions
All attractions →Barr Castle and 4 more in and around Galston
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Galston. Best known first.
CastleBarr Castlein town
CastleLoudoun Castle900 m outside town, to the northeast
CastleNewmilns Tower2.7 km outside town, to the eastFortFortCastle Hill3.7 km outside town, to the eastFortFortJudge's Hill2 km outside town, to the northeastPlaces: © OpenStreetMap contributors · Wikidata
Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (3)
- Barr Castle: Rosser1954 Roger Griffith, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Loudoun Castle: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Newmilns Tower: Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
About Galston
Town in East Ayrshire, Scotland
Galston is a locality of 4,527 people, in the East Ayrshire 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
- 4,527 (Census 2022)
- Council
- East Ayrshire
- Nation
- Scotland
- Area
- 0.5 sq mi (1.4 km²)
- NRS code
- S52000268
Galston’s neighbours
The nearest towns and villages, from National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities. See them on the map →
NewmilnsHurlford and CrookedholmDarvelKilmarnockMauchlineKilmaursCrosshouseGalston
How the neighbours grade
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Galston | 4,527 | — | — | A+ | — | C− |
| Newmilns | 2,559 | 2.1 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Hurlford and Crookedholm | 4,360 | 2.8 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Darvel | 3,701 | 4 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Kilmarnock | 47,073 | 4.4 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Mauchline | 3,809 | 5.8 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Kilmaurs | 2,702 | 6.4 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Crosshouse | 2,609 | 6.6 | — | A+ | — | D− |
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 Galston
Is Galston expensive to live in?
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £97,800, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 18th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Are schools in Galston good?
Galston has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
How much is council tax in Galston?
Band D council tax in Galston is £1,717 for 2026–27, less than in 88% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
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.