Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
The town has 9,486 residents and lies in East Renfrewshire, Scotland. A Band D home pays £1,620 in council tax.
Health outcomes beat most towns: men here can expect to live to 84.1, women to 87.9. Pupils here do better than most: school leavers’ results beat 95% of Scottish towns. Buying the median home, at £334,400, takes 5.6 years of household income in the East Renfrewshire council area. Hazard risk is lower than in most UK towns (A).
Figures: life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Clarkston has no Safety Grade and, without it, 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 Clarkston is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Clarkston has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Clarkston does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 1 building inside Clarkston’s locality, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Clarkston.
A disability affects 15% of people in Clarkston. Its share in bad or very bad health, 3.1%, is the lowest of the 10 towns in East Renfrewshire.
| Census 2022 | Clarkston | East Renfrewshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 89% | 83% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 3.1% | 5.3% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 15% | 20% | 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.
Williamwood High School’s results beat 98% of schools in Scotland like it. Its two schools are below. Between them, one primary and one secondary teach 2,212 pupils in Clarkston.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carolside Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 548 | – |
| Williamwood High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,664 | A+ |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 38% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
38% of workers worked mainly from home, above both East Renfrewshire’s towns (35%) and Scotland’s towns (31%). About 3% of its commuters stay in Clarkston for work. This East Renfrewshire town counts 0.6 jobs per working resident.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
3% rent privately, lower than both East Renfrewshire’s towns (6%) and Scotland’s towns (13%). Private rents average £1,168 a month across the Greater Glasgow council area. Behind the median of £334,400: 420 sales in Clarkston’s data zones, 2023 to 2025.
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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Only one town in East Renfrewshire has fewer listed buildings for its size than Clarkston. One scheduled monument lies here.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
20% are under 15, above both East Renfrewshire’s towns (18%) and Scotland’s towns (15%). Ages in Clarkston split evenly at 44.7: half are older, half younger. People aged 15 to 24 are 12% of the population.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Clarkston | East Renfrewshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 20% | 18% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 19% | 21% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 28% | 27% |
| 65+ | 20% | 22% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 6.7% | 12% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 4.8% | 6% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 14% | 12% | 11% |
| Degree level | 54% | 44% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · East Renfrewshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Clarkston. Best known first.
Historic house · National Trust for ScotlandPollok House4.1 km outside town, to the northwest
Museum · National Trust for ScotlandHolmwood House2.3 km outside town, to the northeast
CastleMearns Castle1.7 km outside town, to the southwest
MuseumNational Museum of Rural Life2.9 km outside town, to the east
CastleCathcart Castle2.6 km outside town, to the northeast
CastleHaggs Castle4.5 km outside town, to the northPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland
Clarkston is a locality of 9,486 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clarkston | 9,486 | — | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Busby | 3,351 | 0.8 | — | A | — | C |
| Stamperland | 3,497 | 0.8 | — | A | — | B+ |
| Giffnock | 11,963 | 1.2 | — | B+ | — | B+ |
| Netherlee | 4,493 | 1.2 | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Thornliebank | 4,084 | 1.7 | — | A | — | C− |
| Newton Mearns | 28,447 | 1.9 | — | B+ | — | A− |
| Eaglesham | 3,475 | 3.2 | — | 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 95% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8). Clarkston has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
Band D council tax in Clarkston 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.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.