Photo: Rob Farrow · CC BY-SA 2.0How Orkney Islands stacks up
People in Orkney Islands can expect long, healthy lives: healthy life expectancy at birth is 73.5 years, the longest of any Scottish council area. Alongside strong schools, it has slow growth. 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
11th of 90A89/100 Strong results in the classroom. Orkney Islands’s school leavers rank 5th highest of 32 Scottish council areas: 74% have five or more awards at National 5 level.
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.
Orkney Islands 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
49th of 98B−51/100 About average on cost. It trails both of its neighbours on affordability. At £202,600 for a typical home and £43,300 of household income, prices run 4.7 times income, the 46th lowest ratio of 98 areas. Typical prices are up 23% on five years ago.
The middle home sold for £202,600 over the past year, 38th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £739 a month (12th lowest); Band D council tax £1,669 (13th 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.
Orkney Islands 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
1st of 98A+99/100 Long, healthy lives. No Scottish council area can expect more years in good health than Orkney Islands: healthy life expectancy at birth is 73.5 years. Among its neighbours it does best on health, with Shetland Islands second.
Life expectancy at birth: 81.0 years, 5th longest.
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.
Orkney Islands 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
43rd of 98B57/100 Incomes a notch above average. Incomes and work tell different stories: 16th lowest household income, but the 2nd lowest share claiming out-of-work benefits (1.6%). Orkney Islands ranks 16th lowest for household income, at £43,300 a year before tax. Highland and Shetland Islands both do better on incomes.
Claimant rate: 1.6% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 2nd lowest. Counted half 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.
Orkney Islands 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
42nd of 98B58/100 Slightly easier on foot than average. About 2 in 10 commuters leave the car at home here (48th highest). Among its neighbours it does best on walkability, with Highland second.
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.
Orkney Islands 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
1st of 87A+100/100 Little to fear from rivers and the sea. No Scottish council area has fewer homes at risk of flooding than Orkney Islands: 0.1% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding. Among its neighbours it does best on flood risk, with Shetland Islands second.
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.
Orkney Islands 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
73rd of 98C26/100 Growing slower than most areas. It leads its neighbours on growth, ahead of Highland. NRS estimates put 22,000 people here in 2024, +2.7% on 2011 (25th slowest).
Since the 2021 Census: -0.1%, 5th slowest.
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Orkney Islands 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 Orkney Islands compares to its neighbours
Orkney Islands beats every neighbour on health, getting about and flood risk; on cost of living and jobs and income, every neighbour beats it.
| Orkney Islands | Highland | Shetland Islands | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | A 895th official | C− 1722nd official · 0% in top towns | A 924th official |
| Cost of living | B− 5146th official | B+ 6555th official · 100% in top towns | B+ 7425th official |
| Health | A+ 991st official | B− 4512th official · 5% in top towns | A+ 962nd official |
| Jobs & income | B 5783rd official | B 5870th official | A− 7556th official |
| Getting about | B 5848th official | B− 5339th official · 0% in top towns | D− 284th official |
| Flood risk | A+ 1001st official | B+ 7412th official · 38% in top towns | A 923rd official |
| Growth | C 2674th official | C− 2279th official | D 593rd 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.