Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Council tax at Band D comes to £1,555. With 33,021 residents, it is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Motherwell’s best grade is for cost of living (A+) — homes sell for a median £135,700, about 3.1 times local household income. It is easy to get around without a car (A−): just over a fifth of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Health is its weak spot: life expectancy 74.3 for men, 78.2 for women. Elsewhere it is close to typical: B for schools and B for hazard risk.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy, ONS · flood risk, SEPA. Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Motherwell without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Motherwell 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 Motherwell is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Police Scotland publishes no street-level crime, which leaves Motherwell without a Safety Grade or an overall grade. The other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 29 buildings inside Motherwell’s locality, 1 of them in the top category.
Explore the history →Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Motherwell. Best known first.
CathedralMotherwell Cathedralin town
CastleDalzell Housein town
MuseumMotherwell Heritage Centrein town
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandBothwell Castle4.9 km outside town, to the west
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandCadzow Castle (ruin)2.2 km outside town, to the southwest
Museum · National Trust for ScotlandDavid Livingstone Museum3.9 km outside town, to the westPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Motherwell.
At the census, 8.9% of residents said their health was bad or very bad, close to North Lanarkshire’s towns (9%) and above Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Asked at the census, 76% of residents of Motherwell said they were in good or very good health. Disability touches just over a quarter of the town’s population.
| Census 2022 | Motherwell | North Lanarkshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 75% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.9% | 9% | 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 · 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.
Three of its 16 schools are below, each with the reason it’s listed. Motherwell’s nine primaries and three secondaries have 5,203 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knowetop Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 521 | – |
| Dalziel High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 1,003 | A |
| Our Lady's High School - MotherwellTop results in townSecondary | Secondary | 872 | A− |
9% rent privately, near North Lanarkshire’s towns (9%) and lower than Scotland’s towns (13%). Owners make up 53% of households. Private rents average £779 a month across the North Lanarkshire 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; 31% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
The car took just over three quarters of commuters, below North Lanarkshire’s towns (80%) but above Scotland’s towns (70%). Unemployment benefit claims reached 3.5% of 16 to 64s in 2026. Work in town: 18% of resident commuters. There are 1 jobs in Motherwell 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.
Conservation areas cover 4% of Motherwell’s land, above both North Lanarkshire’s towns (0%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). This North Lanarkshire town has one registered historic park or garden. It has 9 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
The share of residents under 15 is 17%. Motherwell has a median age of 42. Just over a quarter of adults hold a degree, higher than North Lanarkshire’s towns (23%) yet lower than Scotland’s towns (32%).
51% women, 49% men
About 96 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Motherwell | North Lanarkshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 17% | 16% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 12% | 12% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 26% | 25% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 18% | 18% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 20% | 21% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 7.7% | 8.4% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 26% | 23% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · North Lanarkshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
29 listed buildings in Motherwell, 1 of them in the top category.
Motherwell, Coursington Road, Our Lady of Good Aid, Roman Catholic Cathedral Including Presbytery, Boundary Wall, Gatepiers and Railings: Photo: Anne Burgess · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Motherwell Civic Centre complex, comprising Municipal Offices including 6-storey office block and adjoining ranges (excluding interiors), projecting circular council chamber (including interior and ex: Photo: Ross Watson · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Motherwell, Mill Road, The Old Mill Hotel (Formerly Motherwell Mill): Photo: Ian Dodds · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Motherwell, South Calder Water, Jerviston Railway Viaduct: Photo: Ross Watson · CC BY-SA 2.0
138 notable people were born in Motherwell.
Gary McAllister: Pangalau, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ian St John: Eric Koch for Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl · Onni Valakari: Peltimikko, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Doogie White: © Markus Felix (talk to me), CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mark Reynolds: Alasdair Middleton from Rothesay, Scotland, CC BY 2.0 · Michael Devlin: Анна Джалалян, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motherwell | 33,021 | — | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Carfin | 4,427 | 1.7 | — | A | — | D |
| New Stevenston | 6,298 | 1.8 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Bellshill | 19,488 | 2.2 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Holytown | 5,121 | 2.4 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Newarthill | 6,956 | 2.4 | — | A | — | D− |
| Wishaw | 30,190 | 2.7 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Hamilton | 55,171 | 3 | — | 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 £135,700, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 66th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Band D council tax in Motherwell is £1,555 for 2026–27, less than in 98% 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 62% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8).
Large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland
Motherwell is a locality of 33,021 people, in the North Lanarkshire 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.