Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A Band D home pays £1,706 in council tax. A city in the Glasgow City council area, Scotland, home to 617,904 people.
Fewer journeys need a car (A+): on the way to work, 40% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Pupils here do better than most (B+): school leavers’ results beat 69% of Scottish towns. Its weakest subject is health (D−): life expectancy 74 for men, 78.7 for women. A median £186,000 buys a home here, 4.5 times what households in the Glasgow City council area earn in a year. Hazards are a real consideration: 1.4% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · flood risk, SEPA · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Glasgow without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
The 3 things Glasgow 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 Glasgow is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Glasgow without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 1,795 buildings inside Glasgow’s locality, 279 of them in the top category, and 13 scheduled monuments.
The archive holds 8 old photos and postcards going back to 1865 and a map from c. 1948.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Glasgow. Best known first.
Big drawMuseumKelvingrove Art Gallery and Museumin town · 1M visitors a year
MuseumGlasgow School of Artin town
Big drawMuseumRiverside Museumin town · 1.1M visitors a year (2015)
CathedralGlasgow Cathedralin town
Big drawArt galleryGallery of Modern Artin town · 596K visitors a year
CathedralSt Andrew's Cathedralin townPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Glasgow.
At the census, nearly one in ten residents said their health was bad or very bad, close to Glasgow City council area’s towns (9.3%) and above Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Disability touches just over a quarter of the town’s population. Asked at the census, 76% of residents of Glasgow said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2022 | Glasgow | Glasgow City council area | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 76% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.3% | 9.3% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 26% | 26% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Of its 193 schools, three are shown below, each with the reason. Glasgow Gaelic School’s results beat 97% of schools in Scotland like it. Its 139 primaries and 31 secondaries have 69,955 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillhead Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 595 | – |
| Holyrood Secondary SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 2,298 | B− |
| Glasgow Gaelic SchoolTop results in townAll-through | All-through | 580 | A+ |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 33% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Of the commuters living in Glasgow, 71% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 1.7. 57% of commuters drove, about level with Glasgow City council area’s towns (57%) and below Scotland’s towns (70%).
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.
No town in the Glasgow City council area has more listed buildings for its size than Glasgow. The town’s listed buildings include Alexandra Parade, Alexandra Park, Cast-Iron Fountain, Category A. Conservation areas cover just over a tenth of the town’s land, above Scotland’s towns (1%). At the top of the list, 279 are Category A and 1,226 Category B.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
17% rent privately, near Glasgow City council area’s towns (17%) and higher than Scotland’s towns (13%). Home ownership stands at 46% of households. Also worth knowing: 32,142 sales in the town’s data zones from 2023 to 2025 make up the median of £186,000.
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.
Aged 15 to 24: 15% of residents. At 36.2, the median resident of Glasgow sits in the middle of the age range. Just over a third of adults hold a degree, near Glasgow City council area’s towns (35%) and higher than Scotland’s towns (32%).
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Glasgow | Glasgow City council area | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 14% | 14% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 15% | 15% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 32% | 32% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 24% | 24% | 27% |
| 65+ | 14% | 14% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 20% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 5.3% | 5.3% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 35% | 35% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Glasgow City council area and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
1,795 listed buildings in Glasgow, 279 of them in the top category.
Kelvingrove Park, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum: Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Glasgow Cathedral, excluding scheduled monument SM90150, 70 Cathedral Square, Glasgow: Photo: Stinglehammer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 71, 97, 99 Gordon St, And 16, 18, 50 Hope St, Central Station & Hotel, (Former Caledonian Railway Station) with 229-263 (Odd Nos) & 194-240 (Even Nos) Argyle St, 15-19 (Odd Nos) & 12-24 (Even Nos) Mid: Photo: 瑞丽江的河水 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 33, 35 Dumbarton Road, Partick Sewage Pumping Station: Photo: Argymeg · CC BY-SA 4.0
3,720 notable people were born in Glasgow.
Alex Ferguson: Austin Osuide, CC BY 2.0 · William Ramsay: Elliott & Fry, Public domain · Andy Murray: Brendan Dennis, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Deborah Kerr: Allan warren, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Angus Young: MATT BECKER, CC BY-SA 3.0 · James McAvoy: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glasgow | 617,904 | — | — | B− | — | D− |
| Rutherglen | 31,185 | 3.5 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Bishopbriggs | 23,759 | 3.9 | — | A | — | B− |
| Netherlee | 4,493 | 3.9 | — | B+ | — | A+ |
| Giffnock | 11,963 | 4 | — | B+ | — | B+ |
| Thornliebank | 4,084 | 4.2 | — | A | — | C− |
| Stamperland | 3,497 | 4.5 | — | A | — | B+ |
| Renfrew | 23,812 | 5 | — | 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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £186,000, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 289th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Band D council tax in Glasgow is £1,706 for 2026–27, less than in 89% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
GCSE results beat 69% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8).
City in Glasgow City, Scotland
Glasgow is a locality of 617,904 people, in the Glasgow City 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.