Photo: David Gearing · CC BY-SA 2.0How Stirling stacks up
Only two Scottish council areas have more homes at risk of flooding than Stirling: 4.8% of homes in its towns are at high or medium risk of flooding. Its strongest suits are well-off households and strong schools. 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
16th of 90A−83/100 Better results than most of Scotland. Among Scotland’s council areas it ranks 6th highest for school leavers’ results: 71% leave with five or more National 5 awards or better. Dunblane leads its towns at #44 of 2,331; 25% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
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. 7 Stirling towns.
Cost of living
29th of 98B+71/100 Affordable nearly everywhere. No area puts more of its town residents in the most affordable quarter of towns (100%). At £235,800 for a typical home and £52,100 of household income, prices run 4.5 times income, the 41st lowest ratio of 98 areas. Over five years, typical prices have risen 25%.
The middle home sold for £235,800 over the past year, 43rd highest of the areas.
Private rent £892 a month (41st lowest); Band D council tax £1,753 (30th 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. 7 Stirling towns.
Health
37th of 98B63/100 Slightly better health than average. People here can expect 60.2 years in good health, against 59.2 across Scotland (15th longest of 32 Scottish council areas). Bridge of Allan leads its towns at #363 of 2,515; 20% of town residents live in top-quarter towns.
Life expectancy at birth: 80.3 years, 9th 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. 7 Stirling towns.
Jobs & income
16th of 98A85/100 Incomes above most areas. Households take in £52,100 a year on average before tax, against £45,600 across Scotland (33rd highest of 98 areas). Its claimant rate, 2.3%, ranks 13th lowest, while household income ranks 33rd highest.
Out-of-work claimants in August 2026: 2.3% of working-age adults (13th 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.
Stirling 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
57th of 98C+42/100 A little more car-bound than average. Stirling ranks 47th highest for getting to work without a car: 20% of commuters walk, cycle or ride. Even its best town, Stirling, ranks #337 of 2,515.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 35% 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. 7 Stirling towns.
Flood risk
75th of 87D14/100 Rivers and the sea are a real risk. Cowie ranks #9 of 2,452 towns in the UK for flood risk. Stirling ranks 3rd highest of 32 Scottish council areas for flood risk: 4.8% of town homes are in harm’s way. Its biggest places pull the town measure down: Stirling and Bridge of Allan 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. 7 Stirling towns.
Growth
59th of 98C+40/100 Growing a little slower than average. Since 2011 it has grown 4.7%, the 37th slowest change of 98 areas.
Since the 2021 Census: +3.4%, 34th fastest.
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
Stirling 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 Stirling compares to its neighbours
Against Perth and Kinross, Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, North Lanarkshire and East Dunbartonshire, Stirling trails on flood risk.
| Stirling | Perth and Kinross | Clackmannanshire | Falkirk | North Lanarkshire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | A− 836th official · 25% in top towns | B+ 7011th official · 18% in top towns | D− 132nd official · 0% in top towns | A 877th official · 52% in top towns | B− 4617th official · 5% in top towns |
| Cost of living | B+ 7141st official · 100% in top towns | B+ 6944th official · 100% in top towns | B+ 6824th official · 88% in top towns | B+ 6626th official · 84% in top towns | A 886th official · 99% in top towns |
| Health | B 6315th official · 20% in top towns | A− 764th official · 17% in top towns | C− 2227th official · 6% in top towns | C 2517th official · 0% in top towns | D− 132nd official · 0% in top towns |
| Jobs & income | A 8533rd official | B+ 6852nd official | C+ 3679th official | C+ 4072nd official | C 2877th official |
| Getting about | C+ 4247th official · 0% in top towns | B+ 7130th official · 3% in top towns | C− 1977th official · 0% in top towns | C− 2274th official · 0% in top towns | C 2569th official · 0% in top towns |
| Flood risk | D 1430th official · 18% in top towns | B 5610th official · 18% in top towns | B 6321st official · 44% in top towns | C+ 3726th official · 27% in top towns | A+ 973rd official · 81% in top towns |
| Growth | C+ 4062nd official | B− 4660th official | D 1486th official | C− 2377th official | C− 2082nd 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.