Busby’s story
2 listed buildings, 2 of them in the second category
Historic Environment Scotland lists them inside Busby’s locality.
Explore the history →
BusbyEast Renfrewshire
Council tax at Band D comes to £1,620. 3,351 residents make their home in this town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland.
7 places within 12 milesMap →
Photo: Stephen Sweeney · CC BY-SA 2.0
Population
3,351
Census 2022 · East Renfrewshire council
Median home
£187K
183 sales in 3 years
Median age
41.9
19% are 65+ · East Renfrewshire 22%
Degree level
40%
of residents 16+ · Scotland 32%
Walk, cycle, bus
21%
of commuters · Scotland 27%
Is Busby a good place to live?
Busby’s strongest subject is schools: school leavers’ results beat 99% of Scottish towns. It is strong on cost of living as well (A) — homes sell for a median £187,100, about 3.1 times local household income. Health outcomes fall short of most towns: life expectancy is 78.8 for men and 83.9 for women. Natural hazards weigh more here (C−): 3.3% 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. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Busby without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How Busby grades
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Busby is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Busby without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
SchoolsSchools rank among the strongest comparedA+Open →Cost of livingRent £1,168 a monthAOpen →Hazard riskNear the bottom of the towns comparedC−Open →WalkabilityBased on walking, cycling and transit to everyday placesA−Open →HealthResidents’ health trails most townsCOpen →
SafetyNo street-level crime data–
Jobs & incomeNo small-area income data in Scotland–
How TownRatings grades towns →
What makes Busby stand out
The 3 things Busby does most differently from other towns.
Band D council tax
Council tax
£1,620 Band D
34% 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.
Secondary results, Scottish towns
Schools
Secondary results beat 99%
of Scottish towns, on school leavers’ results (5+ awards at National 5 or better)
Scottish Government, secondaries in or within 3 km.
Median sale, £ thousands
Housing
32% below the typical town in England and Wales’s £277K
Data-zone medians, 2023 to 2025, at early-2025 prices.
The data
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Busby.
SchoolsA+
Results at Busby’s schools are among the best in Scotland
A+School Grade
Below is one of its 2 schools, and why it was picked. Busby’s two primaries have 617 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Joseph's Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 368 | – |
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 →
HousingCost of living grade A
The estimated median home in Busby sells for £187K, against £241K in East Renfrewshire’s towns and £174K in Scotland’s towns
£187Kmedian sale
Busby is the cheapest of the 10 towns in East Renfrewshire: its median sale is £187,100. Owners make up nearly three quarters of households, below East Renfrewshire’s towns (82%) but above Scotland’s towns (60%). Private tenants account for 7% of households.
Median sale price · 2023 to 2025, at early-2025 prices
Busby£187K
Typical UK town£277K
74%
of households own their home · Scotland 60%
7%
rent privately · Scotland 13%
£1,168
average private rent a month, Greater Glasgow council area
£1,620
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.
Work & commute
In Busby, 21% of commuters go on foot, by bike or by public transport, against 18% in East Renfrewshire’s towns and 27% in Scotland’s towns
21%walk, cycle or ride
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 34% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
About 2% of its commuters stay in Busby for work. Nearly a quarter of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Unemployment benefit claims came to 2.5% of 16 to 64s in 2026, between East Renfrewshire’s towns (1.4%) and Scotland’s towns (2.8%).
How commuters got to work · March 2022
Driving75%
Train9%
On foot7%
Bus5%
Bicycle1%
24%
of commuters travel under 5 km · Scotland 44%
34%
worked mainly from home in March 2022
2.5%
of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits (2026)
A−
Walkability: more walkable than 81% of UK towns
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Health
Good or very good health: 82% of Busby’s residents
82%good or very good healthCHealth Grade
Just over a fifth of residents have a disability, above East Renfrewshire’s towns (20%) but below Scotland’s towns (24%). At the census, 6.3% of people here described their health as bad or very bad. Men in Busby can expect to live to 78.8, women to 83.9 (2020–24).
General health, self-reported
Good or very good 82%Fair 12%Bad or very bad 6%
| Census 2022 | Busby | East Renfrewshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 82% | 83% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.3% | 5.3% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 22% | 20% | 24% |
78.8
life expectancy at birth, men (2020–24)
83.9
life expectancy at birth, women
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
History
Much of Busby is a conservation area: 13% of its land, more than in East Renfrewshire’s towns and across Scotland’s towns
2listed buildings
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Historic Environment Scotland’s list names 2 listed buildings in Busby: 2 Category B. Relative to its size, Busby keeps 6 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, above East Renfrewshire’s towns (5) but below Scotland’s towns (22).
Listed buildings by grade · Historic Environment Scotland
Category A0
Category B2
Category C0
Among them · Category B
0
scheduled monuments
0
gardens and designed landscapes
6
listed buildings per 10,000 residents · typical town in England and Wales 24
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Who lives here
Children make up 19% of Busby, above East Renfrewshire’s towns and Scotland’s towns
41.9median age
Two in five adults hold a degree, between East Renfrewshire’s towns (44%) and Scotland’s towns (32%). Busby has a median age of 41.9 years. The share aged 15 to 24 is 12%.
BusbyEast RenfrewshireScotland
Ages · share of residents
12%
Qualifications · residents 16 and older
No qualifications14%
Apprenticeship6%
Highers or similar12%
Degree level40%
Women and men · all residents
53% women, 47% men
About 88 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Busby | East Renfrewshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 19% | 18% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 22% | 21% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 28% | 27% |
| 65+ | 19% | 22% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 12% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.7% | 6% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 12% | 12% | 11% |
| Degree level | 40% | 44% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · East Renfrewshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Keep exploring
Everything we know about Busby
14pages on Busby
The big questions
SafetyNot graded · 0% live in Scotland’s most crime-deprived fifthCost of livingAMedian home £187K · rent £1,168 a monthSchoolsA+2 state schoolsHealthCLife expectancy 78.8 (men), 83.9 (women)Work & commute48% of working residents work in the townFlood & hazardsC−3.3% of homes at high or medium flood risk
Out and about
Nearby attractions
All attractions →Holmwood House and 13 more in and around Busby
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Busby. Best known first.
Museum · National Trust for ScotlandHolmwood House2.8 km outside town, to the north
MuseumNational Museum of Rural Life2 km outside town, to the east
CastleMearns Castle2.4 km outside town, to the southwest
CastleCathcart Castle3.1 km outside town, to the north
CastlePolnoon Castle4.3 km outside town, to the south
CastleMains Castle4 km outside town, to the eastPlaces: © OpenStreetMap contributors · Wikidata
Photos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Photo credits (6)
- Holmwood House: Zeddy at English Wikipedia, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- National Museum of Rural Life: Gordon McKinlay, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Mearns Castle: wrobison, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Cathcart Castle: David MacGibbon (1831-1902), and Thomas Ross, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Polnoon Castle: Rosser1954 Roger Griffith, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Mains Castle: John McLeish, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Famous people from Busby
10 notable people were born in Busby.
About Busby
Town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland
Busby is a locality of 3,351 people, in the East Renfrewshire 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
- 3,351 (Census 2022)
- Council
- East Renfrewshire
- Nation
- Scotland
- Area
- 0.4 sq mi (1.1 km²)
- NRS code
- S52000108
Busby’s neighbours
The nearest towns and villages, from National Records of Scotland’s 2022 localities. See them on the map →
ClarkstonStamperlandNetherleeGiffnockThornliebankNewton MearnsEagleshamBusby
How the neighbours grade
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Busby | 3,351 | — | — | A | — | C |
| Clarkston | 9,486 | 0.8 | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Stamperland | 3,497 | 0.9 | — | A | — | B+ |
| Netherlee | 4,493 | 1.5 | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Giffnock | 11,963 | 1.8 | — | B+ | — | B+ |
| Thornliebank | 4,084 | 2.4 | — | A | — | C− |
| Newton Mearns | 28,447 | 2.5 | — | B+ | — | A− |
| Eaglesham | 3,475 | 2.8 | — | 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.
Questions about Busby
Are schools in Busby good?
GCSE results beat 99% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8). Busby has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
How much is council tax in Busby?
Band D council tax in Busby is £1,620 for 2026–27, less than in 94% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Does Busby flood?
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Is Busby expensive to live in?
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £187,100, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 121st 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.