Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
This large town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland has a population of 22,013. Band D council tax is £1,752.
Prices are modest for what you get: the median home sold for £200,600, 3.5 years of area income. It is strong on schools as well: school leavers’ results beat 90% of Scottish towns. Residents’ health trails most towns: life expectancy 77.6 for men, 83.2 for women. Hazard risk is higher than most (C−): 3.4% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Kirkintilloch 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 Kirkintilloch is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Kirkintilloch 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.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Kirkintilloch does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 30 buildings inside Kirkintilloch’s locality, 3 of them in the top category, and 5 scheduled monuments.
Explore the history →30 listed buildings in Kirkintilloch, 3 of them in the top category.
Old Parish Church of St. Mary, Now a Museum.: Photo: Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Forth and Clyde Canal: Kirkintilloch - Auchinstarry Farm: Photo: JThomas · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · Bandstand at Peel Park: Photo: Richard Sutcliffe · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Townhead and Luggiebank Road, Police Station: Photo: Richard Sutcliffe · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Kirkintilloch.
9% of households rent privately. Only one of the 7 towns in East Dunbartonshire costs less to buy into than Kirkintilloch, whose median sale is £200,600. Owners make up two thirds of households, between East Dunbartonshire’s towns (82%) and Scotland’s towns (60%). Social renters account for nearly a quarter of households.
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.
St Ninian's High School’s results beat 89% of schools in Scotland like it. Kirkintilloch’s six primaries and three secondaries have 3,108 pupils between them. Below are two of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holy Trinity Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 325 | – |
| St Ninian's High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 888 | A |
A quarter of residents in Kirkintilloch live with a disability. At the census, 77% of people in Kirkintilloch called their health good or very good, below East Dunbartonshire’s towns (82%) and close to Scotland’s towns (78%).
| Census 2022 | Kirkintilloch | East Dunbartonshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 82% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.1% | 5.6% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 25% | 21% | 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.
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 31% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 29%, higher than East Dunbartonshire’s towns (25%) yet lower than Scotland’s towns (44%). There are 0.7 jobs in Kirkintilloch for each resident in work. About 18% of its commuters stay in Kirkintilloch for work. By car: that was how just over three quarters of commuters travelled at the census.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Kirkintilloch’s listed buildings include Luggie Water Aqueduct and Bridge, Category A. At the top of the list, 3 are Category A and 16 Category B. 5 scheduled monuments lie in the town.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Those aged 15 to 24 account for one in ten residents. People 65 and over make up a fifth of the town, about level with Scotland’s towns (19%) and below East Dunbartonshire’s towns (24%). Residents of Kirkintilloch have a median age of 43.7. Under 15: 17% of residents.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Kirkintilloch | East Dunbartonshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 17% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 9.4% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 21% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 28% | 27% |
| 65+ | 20% | 24% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 17% | 12% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.4% | 6.9% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 32% | 43% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · East Dunbartonshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Kirkintilloch. Best known first.
FortAntonine Wall3.8 km outside town, to the northeast
CastleBedlay Castle2.9 km outside town, to the southeastMuseumMuseumThe Mousdale Fondation2.6 km outside town, to the southwestPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
33 notable people were born in Kirkintilloch.
Archibald Scott Couper: Irvine, James C., Public domain · William Wallace: Evers, Joost / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Theresa Breslin: Victuallers, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gregg Wylde: Andrew Hendo, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Tom Johnston: Bassano Ltd, Public domain
Large town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Kirkintilloch is a locality of 22,013 people, in the East Dunbartonshire 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirkintilloch | 22,013 | — | — | A | — | C− |
| Lenzie | 8,278 | 1.3 | — | B+ | — | A |
| Milton of Campsie | 3,843 | 2 | — | A | — | C |
| Chryston | 3,257 | 2.7 | — | B | — | C− |
| Moodiesburn | 6,706 | 2.7 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Lennoxtown | 4,162 | 3.4 | — | A | — | D |
| Stepps | 7,643 | 3.5 | — | A | — | C− |
| Bishopbriggs | 23,759 | 3.6 | — | A | — | B− |
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.
GCSE results beat 90% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8).
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Its Category A buildings include Luggie Water Aqueduct and Bridge.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £200,600, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 168th 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.