Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0How Falkirk stacks up
In Falkirk, town by town, 52% of residents live in one of the best-for-schools towns in the UK (the top quarter), with just 13% at the other end. It struggles most with a reliance on the car (only 16% of commuters walk, cycle or ride) and slow growth (+2.3% since 2011). It has no overall grade yet: Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime we can reuse, so there is no Safety grade to weigh.
Each subject puts the official figure for the whole council area beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
Not gradedNot graded yet: no street-level crime for Scotland. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime that we can reuse, so Scottish council areas, like Scottish towns, have no Safety grade yet, and without one no overall grade. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation, due at the end of 2026, should bring newer crime figures by small area; we plan to grade Scottish safety on them.
Schools
13th of 90A87/100 Strong results in the classroom. Its best town is Maddiston, #202 of 2,331, and 52% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. Among Scotland’s council areas it ranks 7th highest for school leavers’ results: 71% leave with five or more National 5 awards or better.
Source: Scottish Government school leaver attainment, 2022/23 to 2024/25: leavers with five or more awards at SCQF level 5 (National 5) or better, every state secondary in the council area. Ranked among Scotland’s council areas.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 14 Falkirk towns.
Cost of living
34th of 98B+66/100 Somewhat affordable. Nearly every town does well here, Hallglen and Grangemouth among them. Registers of Scotland sales put the typical home at £181,500, or 4.1 years of average household income, against 4.4 across Scotland. Typical prices are up 31% on five years ago.
Typical sale price: £181,500 (2,813 sales, 17th lowest).
Private rent £892 a month (41st lowest); Band D council tax £1,715 (24th lowest), before water and sewerage charges. Shown for context.
Source: Registers of Scotland sales September 2025 to August 2026 (median estimated from monthly figures); household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head and household size; private rents for the wider Scottish broad rental area; council Band D 2026/27.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 14 Falkirk towns.
Health
74th of 98C25/100 Less healthy than most areas. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 59.0 years (men and women averaged). Even its best town, Brightons, ranks #1,221 of 2,515.
Total life expectancy is 78.2 years (9th shortest).
Source: National Records of Scotland healthy life expectancy and life expectancy by council area, 2022 to 2024, men and women averaged. A survey-based figure, so ranked among Scotland’s council areas only.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 14 Falkirk towns.
Jobs & income
59th of 98C+40/100 A little less money than most. At £44,300 a year, household incomes here are the 27th lowest of 98 areas. Incomes and work tell different stories: 27th lowest household income, but the 43rd lowest share claiming out-of-work benefits (3.0%).
Claimant rate: 3.0% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 43rd lowest. Counted half in the grade.
Source: Household income estimated from ONS household income (GDHI) per head, 2022, and household size (Scotland has no small-area income figures); DWP claimant count (August 2026) by council.
Falkirk has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
Getting about
77th of 98C−22/100 More car-dependent than most areas. Falkirk ranks 25th lowest for getting to work without a car: 16% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Falkirk, #491. It trails all of its neighbours on walkability.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 30% of workers (context; they are left out of the commuting share).
Source: Scotland’s Census 2022, method of travel to work by council area; people working mainly from home left out.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 14 Falkirk towns.
Flood risk
55th of 87C+37/100 A bit more flood risk than most. Falkirk ranks 7th highest of 32 Scottish council areas for flood risk: 3.1% of town homes are in harm’s way. 27% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 29% in a bottom-quarter one; Maddiston ranks highest.
Source: SEPA flood maps (rivers and the sea, high and medium likelihood), homes in every town of the council area. SEPA’s bands differ from England’s, so ranked among Scotland’s council areas.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 14 Falkirk towns.
Growth
76th of 98C−23/100 Slow growth. Falkirk grew 2.3% from 2011 to 2024, against 4.6% for Scotland.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +0.7% (25th slowest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Falkirk has no graded towns of 2,500 or more with this measure, too few to compare town by town (we need 5); its grade rests on the official figure.
How Falkirk compares to its neighbours
Against Stirling, North Lanarkshire and West Lothian, Falkirk trails on getting about.
| Falkirk | Stirling | North Lanarkshire | West Lothian | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | A 877th official · 52% in top towns | A− 836th official · 25% in top towns | B− 4617th official · 5% in top towns | A+ 963rd official · 100% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B+ 6626th official · 84% in top towns | B+ 7141st official · 100% in top towns | A 886th official · 99% in top towns | B 6154th official · 93% in top towns |
| Health | C 2517th official · 0% in top towns | B 6315th official · 20% in top towns | D− 132nd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4316th official · 10% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C+ 4072nd official | A 8533rd official | C 2877th official | B 5953rd official |
| Getting about | C− 2274th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4247th official · 0% in top towns | C 2569th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3951st official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C+ 3726th official · 27% in top towns | D 1430th official · 18% in top towns | A+ 973rd official · 81% in top towns | A 945th official · 75% in top towns |
| Growth | C− 2377th official | C+ 4062nd official | C− 2082nd official | B− 5354th official |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the county’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of its town residents living in a top-quarter town for the UK. Neighbour names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is an official figure for the whole county, its towns, villages and countryside together, built from the small areas and councils that make it up and ranked against the other counties. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the county’s graded towns of 2,500 or more, the share whose town is in the top quarter for the UK. Quarters are of people, not towns: the top quarter is the best-placed towns that together hold a quarter of everyone living in graded towns, so a county of big cities is not marked down just for being urban. A county can do well on one measure and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the area’s standing in one UK league of 98: the ceremonial counties of England (London counts as one), Wales’s eight preserved counties, and Scotland’s 32 and Northern Ireland’s 11 council areas, each called by its own name. The two measures’ percentiles are averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. Where a nation publishes its own kind of figure, the official figure is ranked within that nation: school results everywhere, health in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and flood risk in Scotland. Each area’s figures are set beside its own nation’s. 100 is the best county, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, jobs & income 12, getting about 8, growth 8, flood risk 6 (out of 100), over the subjects a county has. Counties with fewer than 5 graded towns (Rutland, Bristol) are graded on the official figures alone.
What it is not. A county figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a county is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out villages and towns under 2,500. Neither says anything about any one street.
Gaps. Wales publishes no school results that compare with England’s, so Welsh counties have no Schools grade. Greater Manchester Police publishes no street-level crime, so Greater Manchester has no Safety grade and, as for its towns, no overall grade. Nor does Police Scotland, so Scotland’s council areas have no Safety grade or overall grade yet. Scotland and Northern Ireland have no small-area income figures, so their household income is estimated from ONS household income per head. Flood risk has no county-wide official figure; it is the share of homes in the county’s towns at high or medium risk. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work
Sources: 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.