Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Private rents average £656 a month. 2,579 people live in this town in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
Dundonald’s strongest is cost of living — homes sell for a median £296,100, about 6.6 times local household income. Health is its weak spot: men here can expect to live to 78.3, women to 81. Its remaining grades are unremarkable: B for walkability and B for hazard risk. School results trail most towns: school leavers’ results beat 38% of Scottish towns.
Figures: prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · life expectancy, ONS · commuting, Census 2022 · flood risk, SEPA. Dundonald has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Dundonald is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Dundonald has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Every other subject still has a grade below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Dundonald does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 2 buildings inside Dundonald’s locality, 2 of them in the second category.
Explore the history →Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dundonald.
71% of households are owner-occupiers. Dundonald is the most expensive of the 6 towns in South Ayrshire: its median sale is £296,100. Private renters make up 4% of households, below South Ayrshire’s towns (11%) and Scotland’s towns (13%) alike.
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.
Its one school is below. The town’s primary school has 146 pupils.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dundonald Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 146 | – |
At the census, 28% of people here had a disability, near South Ayrshire’s towns (27%) and higher than Scotland’s towns (24%). Self-reported good health: 76% of Dundonald’s residents. Poor health, by residents’ own account, affects 7.8% of the town.
| Census 2022 | Dundonald | South Ayrshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 76% | 76% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 7.8% | 7.7% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 28% | 27% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · No age adjustment applies to these census answers, which flatter younger towns; the Health Grade’s measures, life expectancy and early deaths among them, do allow for age.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
Dundonald has 8 listed buildings for every 10,000 residents, below South Ayrshire’s towns (89) and Scotland’s towns (22) alike. Of the town’s land, 10% lies in conservation areas, higher than both South Ayrshire’s towns (7%) and Scotland’s towns (1%).
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 24% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
The census counted nearly a quarter of workers working mainly from home. 15% of commuters walked, cycled or took the bus or train at the census, below South Ayrshire’s towns (20%) and Scotland’s towns (27%) alike. Among 16 to 64s, 3.1% claimed unemployment benefits in 2026.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Residents of Dundonald have a median age of 49.4. 9.8% of residents are 15 to 24, about level with South Ayrshire’s towns (9.7%) and below Scotland’s towns (12%). Among adults, 30% have a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 94 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Dundonald | South Ayrshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 14% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.8% | 9.7% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 18% | 20% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 27% | 27% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 18% | 18% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 8% | 8% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 30% | 31% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · South Ayrshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Dundonald. Best known first.
CastleDundonald Castle100 m outside town, to the southwest
CastleAuchans400 m outside town, to the west
CastleCaprington Castle3.6 km outside town, to the northeast
CastleCraigie Castle4.6 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Town in South Ayrshire, Scotland
Dundonald is a locality of 2,579 people, in the South 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dundonald | 2,579 | — | — | A | — | C− |
| Dreghorn | 3,362 | 2.3 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Troon | 15,271 | 2.8 | — | A+ | — | C |
| Crosshouse | 2,609 | 3.1 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Irvine | 34,005 | 3.7 | — | A+ | — | D− |
| Kilmarnock | 47,073 | 4.7 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Kilmaurs | 2,702 | 4.9 | — | A+ | — | D |
| Hurlford and Crookedholm | 4,360 | 5.7 | — | 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.
Band D council tax in Dundonald is £1,695 for 2026–27, less than in 90% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
One state school is inside the town; places are handled by the local council.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
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.