Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A Band D home pays £1,686 in council tax. Population 34,005: a large town in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Buying a home costs less than in most towns: the median home sold for £133,800, 3.4 years of area income. Walkability is a strength too: on the way to work, 18% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Health is a weak point (D−): life expectancy is 74.2 for men and 79.1 for women. Its schools fall short: school leavers’ results beat 13% of Scottish towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy, ONS. Irvine has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Irvine 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 Irvine is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Irvine has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 128 buildings inside Irvine’s locality, 4 of them in the top category, and 1 scheduled monument.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1890.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Irvine. Best known first.
MuseumScottish Maritime Museumin town
CastleEglinton Castle500 m outside town, to the northwest
Abbey or prioryKilwinning Abbey2 km outside town, to the northwest
CastleDundonald Castle1.6 km outside town, to the southeast
CastleKerelaw Castle4.3 km outside town, to the northwest
CastleAuchans900 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Irvine.
9.6% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, about level with North Ayrshire’s towns (9.3%) and above Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Disability touches 29% of Irvine’s population. Asked at the census, nearly three quarters of residents of Irvine said they were in good or very good health.
| Census 2022 | Irvine | North Ayrshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 74% | 74% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 9.6% | 9.3% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 29% | 29% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · 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.
Irvine’s ten primaries and one secondary have 3,287 pupils between them. Below are two of its 11 schools, each with why it was picked.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elderbank Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 359 | – |
| Irvine Royal AcademyLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 712 | D |
Social housing holds 31% of households, above both North Ayrshire’s towns (28%) and Scotland’s towns (24%). Irvine is the second most expensive of the 11 towns in North Ayrshire, at £133,800. Private rents average £656 a month across the Ayrshires council area.
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.
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 27% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Among 16 to 64s, 3.9% claimed unemployment benefits in 2026. 37% of commuters travelled under 5 km, higher than North Ayrshire’s towns (32%) yet lower than Scotland’s towns (44%). There are 1 jobs in Irvine for each resident in work.
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.
Category B covers 46 of them, Category A 4. Conservation areas cover 3% of Irvine’s land, higher than both North Ayrshire’s towns (0%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). The national list protects one ancient monument in the town.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Retirement age and beyond: a fifth of residents are 65 or older. 16% are under 15, above both North Ayrshire’s towns (15%) and Scotland’s towns (15%). The 15-to-24 age group makes up 10% of residents. The age that splits Irvine in two is 43.8.
52% women, 48% men
About 92 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Irvine | North Ayrshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 15% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 10% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 24% | 22% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 29% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 20% | 23% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 21% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8.9% | 8.9% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 9.4% | 10% | 11% |
| Degree level | 21% | 23% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · North Ayrshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
128 listed buildings in Irvine, 4 of them in the top category.
Bridgegate, Trinity Church, Latterly Community Centre, With Hall, Approach Wall, Piers and Railings: Photo: Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Gottries Road, Linthouse Building, Scottish Maritime Museum: Photo: Rosser1954 · Public domain · The Heckling Shop, excluding flat-roofed link block,10 Glasgow Vennel, Irvine: Photo: Raibeart MacAoidh · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Geograph · 174 Harbour Street, Harbour Master's Office, Including Boundary Walls and Outbuildings: Photo: Mark S · CC BY-SA 2.0
197 notable people were born in Irvine.
Nicola Sturgeon: Scottish Government, CC BY 2.0 · Billy Gilmour: Mattythewhite, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Naismith: @cfcunofficial (Chelsea Debs), CC BY-SA 2.0 · Kris Boyd: Alex Lister, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Roy Aitken: Rob Bogaerts for Anefo, CC0 · Jack McConnell: Roger Harris, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Irvine | 34,005 | — | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Dreghorn | 3,362 | 1.5 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Kilwinning | 16,224 | 3.2 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Dundonald | 2,579 | 3.7 | — | A | — | C− |
| Crosshouse | 2,609 | 3.9 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Stevenston | 8,658 | 4.3 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Kilmaurs | 2,702 | 4.7 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Troon | 15,271 | 4.9 | — | A+ | — | 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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £133,800, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 105th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
GCSE results trail 87% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8).
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
Band D council tax in Irvine is £1,686 for 2026–27, less than in 91% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Large town in North Ayrshire, Scotland
Irvine is a locality of 34,005 people, in the North Ayrshire 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.