Photo: Vanhercke Christiaan · CC BY-SA 2.0How Na h-Eileanan Siar stacks up
No area grew more slowly since 2011: in Na h-Eileanan Siar, the population has fallen 6.4% since 2011. Alongside homes within reach (a typical home costs 3.8 times household income) and good health, it has a reliance on the car (only 11% of commuters walk, cycle or ride) and weaker school results. 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
84th of 90D7/100 Schools are a real weak spot. 62% of school leavers have five or more awards at National 5 level or better, against 67% across Scotland (5th lowest of 32 Scottish council areas).
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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar has one graded town 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.
Cost of living
9th of 98A92/100 Your money goes far here. At £158,800 for a typical home and £41,700 of household income, prices run 3.8 times income, the 13th lowest ratio of 98 areas. Typical prices are up 28% on five years ago.
The middle home sold for £158,800 over the past year, 9th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £739 a month (12th lowest); Band D council tax £1,506 (3rd 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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar has one graded town 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.
Health
19th of 98A−81/100 Good health overall. Na h-Eileanan Siar ranks 7th longest for healthy life expectancy, at 64.0 years.
Life expectancy at birth: 78.8 years, 12th 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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar has one graded town 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.
Jobs & income
48th of 98B−52/100 About average for incomes. Na h-Eileanan Siar ranks 7th lowest for household income, at £41,700 a year before tax. Its claimant rate, 1.9%, ranks 5th lowest, while household income ranks 7th lowest.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 1.9% of working-age adults (5th lowest), weighed with income 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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar 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
97th of 98D−1/100 The car is close to essential. Na h-Eileanan Siar ranks 6th lowest for getting to work without a car: 11% of commuters walk, cycle or ride.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 29% 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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar has one graded town 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.
Flood risk
35th of 87B60/100 A bit less exposed than most. Na h-Eileanan Siar ranks 14th lowest of 32 Scottish council areas for flood risk: 1.6% of town homes are in harm’s way.
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.
Na h-Eileanan Siar has one graded town 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.
Growth
98th of 98D−0/100 Among the slowest-growing areas. No area grew more slowly since 2011 than Na h-Eileanan Siar: the population has fallen 6.4% since 2011.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, -0.9% (the slowest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Na h-Eileanan Siar 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 Na h-Eileanan Siar compares to its neighbours
Against its one neighbour, Highland, Na h-Eileanan Siar comes out ahead on cost of living and health and falls behind on schools, jobs and income and getting about.
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | Highland | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | D 728th official | C− 1722nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A 9213th official | B+ 6555th official · 100% in top towns |
| Health | A− 817th official | B− 4512th official · 5% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | B− 5292nd official | B 5870th official |
| Getting about | D− 193rd official | B− 5339th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | B 6014th official | B+ 7412th official · 38% in top towns |
| Growth | D− 098th official | C− 2279th 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.