Photo: John H Darch · CC BY-SA 2.0How Scottish Borders stacks up
Scottish Borders trails every Scottish council area on flood risk: 7.6% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding. Alongside good health, it has slow growth (+2.9% since 2011). 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
34th of 90B63/100 Somewhat above-average schools. Among Scotland’s council areas it ranks 15th highest for school leavers’ results: 66% leave with five or more National 5 awards or better. Hawick and Galashiels weigh on the town measure; 55% of town residents live in bottom-quarter places.
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.
Measure: our Schools grade: primary and secondary results of the schools in and around each town. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,331 graded towns. 11 Scottish Borders towns.
Cost of living
22nd of 98A−78/100 Affordable, town after town. No area puts more of its town residents in the most affordable quarter of towns (100%). Registers of Scotland sales put the typical home at £188,500, or 4.3 years of average household income, against 4.4 across Scotland. Over five years, typical prices have risen 13%.
Typical sale price: £188,500 (2,014 sales, 25th lowest).
Private rent £708 a month (9th lowest); Band D council tax £1,619 (8th 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.
Measure: our Cost of living grade: prices and rents against local income, plus council tax. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 11 Scottish Borders towns.
Health
30th of 98B+70/100 Healthy, town after town. Healthy life expectancy at birth is 62.6 years (men and women averaged), 3.4 years more than the figure for Scotland. Among its neighbours it does best on health, with East Lothian second. 15% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 5% in a bottom-quarter one; Peebles ranks highest.
Total life expectancy is 80.8 years (7th 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.
Measure: our Health grade: ONS life and healthy life expectancy, Census health, and OHID indicators in England. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 11 Scottish Borders towns.
Jobs & income
56th of 98C+43/100 A little less money than most. Households take in £44,300 a year on average before tax, against £45,600 across Scotland (26th lowest of 98 areas). Its claimant rate, 2.9%, ranks 38th lowest, while household income ranks 26th lowest.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.9% of working-age adults (38th 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.
Scottish Borders 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
53rd of 98B−46/100 About average without a car. Scottish Borders ranks 43rd highest for getting to work without a car: 20% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. Burnfoot is the exception, #115 of 2,515; almost no one else lives in a top-quarter town.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 32% 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.
Measure: our Walkability grade: how many everyday places are within reach on foot. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,515 graded towns. 11 Scottish Borders towns.
Flood risk
69th of 87C−21/100 Rivers and the sea are a real risk. No Scottish council area has more homes at risk of flooding than Scottish Borders: 7.6% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Hawick and Galashiels sit in the bottom quarter for the UK.
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.
Measure: our Hazard risk grade: the share of homes at high or medium flood risk. The top quarter is the best-placed towns holding a quarter of the people in the UK’s 2,452 graded towns. 11 Scottish Borders towns.
Growth
69th of 98C30/100 Slower than most. NRS estimates put 117,190 people here in 2024, +2.9% on 2011 (27th slowest).
Since the 2021 Census: +0.1%, 8th slowest.
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Scottish Borders 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 Scottish Borders compares to its neighbours
Against Midlothian, East Lothian, South Lanarkshire, Dumfries and Galloway and West Lothian, Scottish Borders leads on health.
| Scottish Borders | Midlothian | East Lothian | South Lanarkshire | Dumfries and Galloway | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade | No overall grade |
| Safety | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded | Not graded |
| Schools | B 6315th official · 20% in top towns | C− 2219th official · 0% in top towns | B− 4822nd official · 12% in top towns | A− 799th official · 30% in top towns | C+ 3519th official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | A− 7832nd official · 100% in top towns | D 1377th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3869th official · 48% in top towns | A− 7926th official · 100% in top towns | A 9114th official · 100% in top towns |
| Health | B+ 709th official · 15% in top towns | C 3413th official · 0% in top towns | B 5714th official · 15% in top towns | C 3022nd official · 6% in top towns | C 2517th official · 0% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | C+ 4373rd official | B+ 7137th official | A 8725th official | B 5558th official | C 2991st official |
| Getting about | B− 4643rd official · 0% in top towns | B 6316th official · 0% in top towns | A 9111th official · 32% in top towns | C 2863rd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 3654th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | C− 2132nd official · 22% in top towns | A+ 992nd official · 100% in top towns | C+ 3529th official · 31% in top towns | A− 846th official · 51% in top towns | C− 2027th official · 17% in top towns |
| Growth | C 3072nd official | A+ 992nd official | A 9110th official | B− 5255th official | D− 197th 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.