Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,259 in Fife, Scotland.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Burntisland has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below. Its strongest subject is cost of living (A): the 179th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns: median sale £170,300, 3.8 years of area income; rent £868 a month. Its weakest is health (D): life expectancy 77.8 for men, 79.4 for women.
The 3 things Burntisland does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Burntisland is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Burntisland has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 139 buildings inside Burntisland’s locality, 2 of them in the top category, and 1 scheduled monument.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Burntisland.
Owners make up 69% of households, above both Fife’s towns (63%) and Scotland’s towns (60%). Social renters account for a fifth of households. The median, £170,300, rests on 360 sales in Burntisland’s data zones from 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.
Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Burntisland Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 428 | – |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 35% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, 24% went to work on foot, by bike or by public transport, between Fife’s towns (20%) and Scotland’s towns (27%). Driving is how nearly three quarters of commuters got to work at the census. 11% of commuters who live in Burntisland also work there. Unemployment benefit claims reached 4% of 16 to 64s in 2026.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
6.3% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, below both Fife’s towns (7.2%) and Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Disability touches a quarter of Burntisland’s population.
| Census 2022 | Burntisland | Fife | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 78% | 77% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.3% | 7.2% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 25% | 26% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · Self-reported health favours young towns, since these answers ignore age; the Health Grade leans on age-adjusted measures such as life expectancy and early deaths.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
At the top of the list, 2 are Category A and 48 Category B. Of Burntisland’s land, 13% lies in conservation areas, above Fife’s towns (0%) and Scotland’s towns (1%) alike. The national list protects one ancient monument here.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Ages in Burntisland split evenly at 46.9: half are older, half younger. People 65 and over make up nearly a quarter of the town, above both Fife’s towns (20%) and Scotland’s towns (19%). Children under 15 count for 16% of the people here.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Burntisland | Fife | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 16% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.4% | 13% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 24% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 30% | 27% | 27% |
| 65+ | 23% | 20% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 14% | 17% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.8% | 8.2% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 10% | 12% | 11% |
| Degree level | 31% | 27% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Fife and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Burntisland. Best known first.
CastleRossend Castlein town
CastleAberdour Castle2.9 km outside town, to the west
Abbey or prioryInchcolm Abbey4.6 km outside town, to the southwestMuseumMuseumBurntisland Heritage Exhibitionin townMuseumMuseumMuseum of Communicationin townAttractionAttractionThe Ecology Centre1.2 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
139 listed buildings in Burntisland, 2 of them in the top category.
Rossend Castle with Boundary Walls and Railings: Photo: Kevin Rae · CC BY-SA 2.0 · High Street, Town Hall: Photo: Robert Struthers · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Forth Place, Railway Station: Photo: Paul McIlroy · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Seaforth Place, Royal Hotel with Steps and Railings: Photo: Bill Harrison · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph
11 notable people were born in Burntisland.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burntisland | 6,259 | — | — | A | — | D |
| Kinghorn | 2,944 | 2.3 | — | A | — | C |
| Kirkcaldy and Dysart | 51,135 | 4.9 | — | A | — | D |
| Dalgety Bay and Hillend | 9,452 | 5.1 | — | A− | — | B+ |
| Lochgelly | 7,157 | 5.3 | — | A | — | D− |
| Crossgates | 2,993 | 5.5 | — | A | — | C− |
| Cowdenbeath and Lumphinnans | 11,979 | 5.6 | — | A | — | D− |
| Cardenden and Auchterderran | 5,266 | 5.6 | — | 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.
That is 9.1 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A buildings include East Leven Street, Burntisland Parish Church (Church of Scotland). It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Band D council tax in Burntisland is £1,574 for 2026–27, less than in 97% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £170,300, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 179th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Town in Fife, Scotland
Burntisland is a locality of 6,259 people, in the Fife 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
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.