Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 7,007 in Midlothian, Scotland. Private rents average £1,507 a month.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Loanhead has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 28% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is health (C−): life expectancy 76.9 for men, 82.3 for women. The median home sold for £262,500 in the last three years, 5.1 times what households in the Midlothian council area earn in a year.
The 3 things Loanhead 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 Loanhead is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, so Loanhead has no Safety Grade and, without it, no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 6 buildings inside Loanhead’s locality, 5 of them in the second category.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Loanhead. Best known first.
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandCraigmillar Castle4.1 km outside town, to the north
CastleRoslin Castle2.1 km outside town, to the south
CastleDalhousie Castle3.8 km outside town, to the southeast
Abbey or prioryNewbattle Abbey4.2 km outside town, to the east
CastleDalkeith Palace4.8 km outside town, to the northeast
Historic houseMelville Castle2.4 km outside town, to the eastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Loanhead.
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 32% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took 68% of commuters, about level with Scotland’s towns (70%) and below Midlothian’s towns (72%). 35% of commuters travelled under 5 km to work. Of the commuters living in Loanhead, 19% work in the town itself. Jobs per working resident: 2.4.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Some 507 pupils attend Loanhead’s two primaries. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paradykes Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 351 | – |
Loanhead’s share in bad or very bad health, 6.8%, is the second highest of the 7 towns in Midlothian. At the census, 25% of people here had a disability, higher than Midlothian’s towns (23%) and near Scotland’s towns (24%). Asked at the census, nearly four in five residents of Loanhead said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2022 | Loanhead | Midlothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 79% | 80% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.8% | 6.2% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 25% | 23% | 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.
For its size, Loanhead has the fewest listed buildings of the towns in Midlothian. This Midlothian town has one registered historic park or garden. Conservation areas cover 2% of the town’s land, about level with Scotland’s towns (1%) and below Midlothian’s towns (5%).
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Owners make up 72% of households, above Midlothian’s towns (66%) and Scotland’s towns (60%) alike. No town in Midlothian costs more to buy into than Loanhead, at £262,500, the highest of 7. Social renters account for nearly a fifth of households.
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.
15% are under 15, below Midlothian’s towns (18%) and Scotland’s towns (15%) alike. The share aged 15 to 24 is 9.9%. The age that splits Loanhead in two is 46. Among adults, 27% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Loanhead | Midlothian | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 18% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.9% | 10% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 27% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 26% | 27% |
| 65+ | 23% | 19% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 17% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 9.9% | 9.6% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 27% | 27% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · Midlothian and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
9 notable people were born in Loanhead.
Graeme Mercer Adam: unknown, Siebrand, Public domain
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loanhead | 7,007 | — | — | B− | — | C− |
| Bonnyrigg | 18,088 | 1.9 | — | B | — | C− |
| Danderhall | 3,389 | 3.1 | — | B | — | C− |
| Penicuik | 16,431 | 3.8 | — | B | — | C− |
| Dalkeith | 15,125 | 3.9 | — | B | — | C− |
| Mayfield | 14,259 | 4.1 | — | B+ | — | D |
| Edinburgh | 493,794 | 4.8 | — | B | — | C |
| Gorebridge | 8,900 | 4.8 | — | B+ | — | 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.
Loanhead has 2 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Band D council tax in Loanhead 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.
Town in Midlothian, Scotland
Loanhead is a locality of 7,007 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.