Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Band D council tax is £1,682. A large town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, home to 21,027 people.
Walking, cycling and public transport work well here (A): nearly a quarter of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. It also does well on cost of living (B+): a typical home costs £154,300 and rent runs £790 a month. Where it falls short is hazard risk — 20.9% of homes face a high or medium risk of river or sea flooding. Residents’ health trails most towns (D−): men here can expect to live to 75.1, women to 79.5.
Figures: commuting, Census 2022 · prices, HM Land Registry, the last three years · flood risk, SEPA · life expectancy, ONS. Dumbarton has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
The 3 things Dumbarton does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Scotland), ordered by how far Dumbarton is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
Dumbarton has no Safety Grade, because Police Scotland doesn’t publish street-level crime, and so no overall grade. Its other subjects are graded below.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Historic Environment Scotland lists 49 buildings inside Dumbarton’s locality, 6 of them in the top category, and 2 scheduled monuments.
The archive holds 3 old photos and postcards going back to 1879.
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Dumbarton. Best known first.
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandDumbarton Castlein town
Castle · Historic Environment ScotlandNewark Castle4.5 km outside town, to the west
Museum · National Trust for ScotlandGeilston Garden4 km outside town, to the westCastleCastleKilmahew Castle3.2 km outside town, to the northwestCastleCastleDalmoak Castle600 m outside town, to the northwestCastleCastleDargavel House4.8 km outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Dumbarton.
8.1% of residents described their health as bad or very bad, between West Dunbartonshire’s towns (9%) and Scotland’s towns (7.2%). A disability affects 26% of people in Dumbarton. Self-reported good health: 77% of the town’s residents.
| Census 2022 | Dumbarton | West Dunbartonshire | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 77% | 75% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 8.1% | 9% | 7.2% |
| Activities limited (health or disability) | 26% | 28% | 24% |
Scotland’s Census 2022, general health and disability · Public Health Scotland life expectancy by intermediate zone, 2020–24 · OGL · Young towns look healthier on these answers, which aren’t adjusted for age; the Health Grade uses measures that are, such as life expectancy and early deaths.
Dumbarton’s seven primaries and two secondaries have 3,185 pupils between them. Of its 9 schools, two are shown below, each with the reason.
| School | Level | Pupils | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Patrick's Primary SchoolLargest primary schoolPrimary | Primary | 350 | – |
| Our Lady & St Patrick's High SchoolLargest secondary schoolSecondary | Secondary | 968 | C+ |
Scotland’s Census was taken on 20 March 2022, a year after England and Wales’s lockdown census; 31% of workers were mainly at home, and shares here are of those who travelled.
At the census, three quarters of commuters went by car. Short trips to work, under 5 km: 34%, below West Dunbartonshire’s towns (37%) and Scotland’s towns (44%) alike. Dumbarton counts 0.7 jobs per working resident. Of the commuters living in the town, 24% work in the town itself.
Scotland’s Census 2022 (NRS), method of travel and distance to work · DWP claimant count · OGL
10% rent privately, between West Dunbartonshire’s towns (8%) and Scotland’s towns (13%). Only one of the 8 towns in West Dunbartonshire costs more to buy into than Dumbarton, whose median sale is £154,300. Social housing holds 26% 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.
At the top of the list, 6 are Category A and 31 Category B. Of Dumbarton’s land, 9% lies in conservation areas, above both West Dunbartonshire’s towns (0%) and Scotland’s towns (1%). The national list protects 2 ancient monuments in the town.
Historic Environment Scotland list, October 2026 · OGL
The age that splits Dumbarton in two is 43.4. People aged 15 to 24 make up 11% of the town, near West Dunbartonshire’s towns (11%) and lower than Scotland’s towns (12%). Just over a quarter of adults hold a degree.
52% women, 48% men
About 93 men for every 100 women. Across Scotland, 51% of residents are women.
| Dumbarton | West Dunbartonshire | Scotland | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 16% | 16% | 15% |
| 15–24 | 11% | 11% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 25% | 24% | 26% |
| 45–64 | 28% | 29% | 27% |
| 65+ | 20% | 20% | 19% |
| No qualifications | 19% | 21% | 17% |
| Apprenticeship | 9.1% | 9.8% | 7.5% |
| Highers or similar | 12% | 11% | 11% |
| Degree level | 26% | 22% | 32% |
Scotland’s Census 2022 · West Dunbartonshire and Scotland: all residents of their towns · OGL
49 listed buildings in Dumbarton, 6 of them in the top category.
Church Street, Dumbarton Central Station: Photo: habiloid · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Dumbarton Castle: Photo: Otter · CC BY 3.0 · West Bridgend, Levenford House: Photo: Lairich Rig · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Maclean Place Former Prison Gateway Including Adjacent Walls, Windows and Carved Stone: Photo: Rosser1954 · CC BY-SA 4.0
121 notable people were born in Dumbarton.
David Byrne: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 · Jimmy McCulloch: Cropped version by Howcheng; original photograph by Jim Summaria., CC BY-SA 3.0 · Evan Williams: Evers, Joost / Anefo, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dumbarton | 21,027 | — | — | B+ | — | D− |
| Bonhill | 8,608 | 2.3 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Alexandria | 6,260 | 3.2 | — | A− | — | D− |
| Bishopton | 10,048 | 3.7 | — | B− | — | A− |
| Balloch and Haldane | 6,000 | 3.8 | — | B | — | D |
| Bowling and Old Kilpatrick | 4,761 | 4.4 | — | B+ | — | C |
| Port Glasgow | 14,260 | 4.4 | — | A | — | D− |
| Kilmacolm | 3,876 | 4.6 | — | B | — | B |
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.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £154,300, against £277,000 in the typical town in England and Wales. On cost of living it is the 258th most affordable of 296 Scottish towns.
Band D council tax in Dumbarton 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.
Large town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland
Dumbarton is a locality of 21,027 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
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.