Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Council tax at Band D comes to £1,682. The town, home to 6,000 people, lies in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here: on the way to work, 19% walk, cycle or take a bus or train. Health is its weak spot: men here can expect to live to 75.9, women to 80.2. Homes sell for a median £171,100, about 4.4 years of what households in the West Dunbartonshire council area earn. Pupils here do less well than most (D): school leavers’ results beat 13% of Scottish towns. Natural hazards weigh more here: 5.2% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding.
Figures: commuting, Census 2022 · life expectancy and incomes, ONS · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, SEPA. Without street-level crime figures from Police Scotland, Balloch and Haldane has no Safety Grade, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Balloch and Haldane is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Without street-level crime figures from Police Scotland, Balloch and Haldane has no Safety Grade, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The 3 things Balloch and Haldane does most differently from other towns.
Historic Environment Scotland lists 13 buildings inside Balloch and Haldane’s locality, 2 of them in the top category.
Explore the history →13 listed buildings in Balloch and Haldane, 2 of them in the top category.
Balloch Castle: Photo: Frombowen · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Loch Lomond, Drumkinnon Bay, Winch House Including Slipway: Photo: Kenneth Mallard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Balloch, Balloch Road Bridge: Photo: Phil Champion · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jamestown Parish Church of Scotland with Boundary Wall Railings and Gatepiers: Photo: David P Howard · CC BY-SA 2.0
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Balloch and Haldane.
At the census, nearly one in ten residents said their health was bad or very bad, below West Dunbartonshire’s towns (9%) but above Scotland’s towns (7.2%). Three quarters of people in Balloch and Haldane rate their own health good or very good. Disability touches 27% of the town’s population.
| Census 2022 | Balloch and Haldane | West Dunbartonshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 75% | 75% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.2% | 9% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 27% | 28% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · A young population flatters these answers, which are not age-adjusted; the Health Grade instead uses measures that allow for age, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
One of its 3 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. Balloch and Haldane’s two primaries have 394 pupils between them.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Balloch Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 261 | – |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 29% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
Short trips to work, under 5 km: 32%, lower than both West Dunbartonshire’s towns (37%) and Scotland’s towns (44%). Unemployment benefit claims reached 3.9% of 16 to 64s in 2026. Of the commuters living in Balloch and Haldane, 8% work in the town itself. The town counts 0.9 jobs per working resident.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
Balloch and Haldane is the most expensive of the 8 towns in West Dunbartonshire: its median sale is £171,100. 31% live in social housing, between West Dunbartonshire’s towns (34%) and Scotland’s towns (24%). Owners make up 63% of households.
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.
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
One garden or designed landscape lies in the town. Balloch and Haldane’s listed buildings include Loch Lomond, Drumkinnon Bay, Winch House Including Slipway, Category A. Relative to its size, Balloch and Haldane keeps 22 listed buildings per 10,000 residents, about level with Scotland’s towns (22) and above West Dunbartonshire’s towns (8).
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
Degrees are held by 24% of adults, above West Dunbartonshire’s towns (22%) but below Scotland’s towns (32%). Young adults of 15 to 24 are 9.7% of the population. The age that splits Balloch and Haldane in two is 48.6.
52% women, 48% men
About 91 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Balloch and Haldane | West Dunbartonshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 16% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 9.7% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 20% | 24% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 31% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 23% | 20% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 21% | 21% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 9.2% | 9.8% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 11% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 24% | 22% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · West Dunbartonshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Balloch and Haldane. Best known first.
Town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Balloch and Haldane is a locality of 6,000 people, in the West Dunbartonshire 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balloch and Haldane | 6,000 | — | — | B | — | D |
| Alexandria | 6,260 | 0.8 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Bonhill | 8,608 | 1.5 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Dumbarton | 21,027 | 3.8 | — | B+ | — | D− |
| Helensburgh | 14,128 | 5.9 | — | B | — | C+ |
| Port Glasgow | 14,260 | 6.4 | — | A | — | D− |
| Bowling and Old Kilpatrick | 4,761 | 7 | — | B+ | — | C |
| Bishopton | 10,048 | 7.2 | — | B− | — | A− |
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.
Surface water isn’t included. Check a specific address on GOV.UK’s flood risk service.
GCSE results trail 87% of towns in England (Department for Education, Attainment 8). Balloch and Haldane has 3 state schools; places are handled by the local council.
Band D council tax in Balloch and Haldane is £1,682 for 2026–27, less than in 92% of UK towns (council, county, police and fire). Your own bill depends on your home’s band; check it on GOV.UK.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £171,100, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 264th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
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.