Scotland
296 towns in 32 council areas. Glasgow and Edinburgh are the biggest. Pick a council area on the map or below.
Scotland’s biggest towns and cities
Every map includes its towns with cost of living, schools, health, flood risk, history and more.
BiggestGlasgowGlasgow City · 617,904 people
#2 by sizeEdinburghCity of Edinburgh · 493,794 people
#3 by sizeAberdeenAberdeen City · 192,968 people
#4 by sizeDundeeDundee City · 147,365 people
#5 by sizePaisleyRenfrewshire · 79,351 people
#6 by sizeEast KilbrideSouth Lanarkshire · 76,626 people
#7 by sizeDunfermlineFife · 56,053 people
#8 by sizeLivingstonWest Lothian · 55,798 peopleThe most affordable towns of 5,000+
Graded on house prices, rents and council tax against what households there earn.
Most affordableGirvanSouth Ayrshire · 6,317 peopleA+Cost of livingTypical home £95K
Most affordablePerthPerth and Kinross · 47,885 peopleA+Cost of livingTypical home £162K
Most affordableAnnanDumfries and Galloway · 8,697 peopleA+Cost of livingTypical home £110K
Most affordablePeterheadAberdeenshire · 19,793 peopleA+Cost of livingTypical home £117KAll 32 council areas
Explore every town in a council area.
What Scottish towns are graded on
Every subject compares a town with towns across the UK, from public data. Where Scotland publishes its figures differently, a subject waits until they line up.
Photos: Glasgow, Ian Hawfinch (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Edinburgh, Robin Webster (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Aberdeen, Bill Harrison (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dundee, M J Richardson (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Paisley, david cameron photographer (CC BY-SA 2.0) · East Kilbride, Thomas Nugent (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Dunfermline, Richard Webb (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Livingston, M J Richardson (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Girvan, Richard West (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Perth, Robin Fernandes (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Annan, Richard Dorrell (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Peterhead, Glitterandtrauma (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources: TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only · 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). 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.