Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 15,125 in Midlothian, Scotland.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Dalkeith has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 27% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is health (C−): life expectancy 77.9 for men, 82.5 for women. The median home sold for £239,700 in the last three years, 4.7 times what households in the Midlothian council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Dalkeith 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 Dalkeith is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Dalkeith has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 168 buildings inside Dalkeith’s locality, 8 of them in the top category, and 1 scheduled monument.
The archive holds 1 old photo or postcard going back to 1866.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Dalkeith. Best known first.
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandCraigmillar Castle4.8 km outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or prioryNewbattle Abbey300 m outside town, to the south
CastleDalkeith Palace100 m outside town, to the northwest
CastleDalhousie Castle2.1 km outside town, to the south
CastleFa'side Castle3.8 km outside town, to the northeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dalkeith.
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.
26% of commuters travelled under 5 km, close to Midlothian’s towns (28%) and below Scotland’s towns (44%).
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The grade uses the secondaries its children go to; Scotland publishes no primary results by school.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woodburn Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 654 | – |
| Dalkeith High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,057 | B− |
Women here live to 82.5 on average and men to 77.9 (2020–24). These answers aren’t adjusted for age, so young towns look healthier; the Health Grade uses age-adjusted measures, including life expectancy and early deaths.
| Census 2022 | Dalkeith | Midlothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 81% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.2% | 6.2% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 23% | 23% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Dalkeith has 168 listed buildings on Historic Environment Scotland’s list: 8 Category A, 81 Category B. For its size, Dalkeith has 111 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, above both Midlothian’s towns (16) and Scotland’s towns (22). Dalkeith’s listed buildings include Croft Street, Fairfield House, Hot House, Category A.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Our estimate of the median sale is £240K, close to Midlothian’s towns (£231K) and above Scotland’s towns (£174K). Private renters make up 8% of households.
Registers of Scotland data-zone sale prices · Scottish Government council tax · Scotland’s Census 2022 tenure · OGL
That puts Dalkeith below both Midlothian’s towns (10%) and Scotland’s towns (12%). Under-15s account for 18% of the population. The median resident of Dalkeith is 41.2 years old.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Dalkeith | Midlothian | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 18% | 18% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.3% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 27% | 27% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 27% | 26% | 27% |
| 65+ | 19% | 19% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.1% | 9.6% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 32% | 27% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Midlothian and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
168 listed buildings in Dalkeith, 8 of them in the top category.
Newmills Road, Dalkeith Lodge (Newbattle Abbey West Lodge), With Gateway and Adjoining Wall: Photo: Kim Traynor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Eskbank Road, St David's Church (Roman Catholic), With Boundary Walls and Gatepiers: Photo: Owen Proudfoot · CC BY-SA 2.0 · 176-180 (Even Nos) High Street, Dalkeith Tolbooth: Photo: Kim Traynor · CC BY-SA 3.0 · High Street, Duke's Gate, Town Lodge and Estate Walls: Photo: George Burgess · CC BY-SA 4.0
33 notable people were born in Dalkeith.
Peter Guthrie Tait: George Reid, Public domain · Ryan Porteous: Timmy96, CC0 · Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll: Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kirsty Smith: Steffen Prößdorf, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Lord Walter Kerr: Leslie Ward, Public domain · Danielle Rowley: Chris McAndrew, CC BY 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dalkeith | 15,125 | — | — | B | — | C− |
| Mayfield | 14,259 | 1.5 | — | B+ | — | D |
| Bonnyrigg | 18,088 | 2.3 | — | B | — | C− |
| Danderhall | 3,389 | 2.4 | — | B | — | C− |
| Musselburgh | 21,476 | 3.3 | — | B+ | — | C− |
| Gorebridge | 8,900 | 3.3 | — | B+ | — | D |
| Wallyford | 4,493 | 3.6 | — | B− | — | D |
| Loanhead | 7,007 | 3.9 | — | B− | — | C− |
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 4.6 times the typical town in England and Wales for its size. Its Category A buildings include Newmills Road, Dalkeith Lodge (Newbattle Abbey West Lodge), With Gateway and Adjoining Wall. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Band D council tax in Dalkeith is £1,816 for 2026–27, less than in 86% 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.
Town in Midlothian, Scotland
Dalkeith is a locality of 15,125 people, in the Midlothian 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.