Photo: Stephen Sweeney · CC BY-SA 2.0How West Dunbartonshire stacks up
West Dunbartonshire trails every area on jobs and income: households take in £38,800 a year on average. Alongside getting about without a car, it has real flood risk. 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
88th of 90D−2/100 Schools are a real weak spot. Among Scotland’s council areas it ranks 2nd lowest for school leavers’ results: 60% leave with five or more National 5 awards or better. No town here reaches the top quarter for the UK; its best is Faifley, #593. Argyll and Bute, Stirling and East Dunbartonshire all do better on schools.
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. 8 West Dunbartonshire towns.
Cost of living
33rd of 98B+67/100 A little more affordable than average. At £153,200 for a typical home and £38,800 of household income, prices run 4.0 times income, the 16th lowest ratio of 98 areas. 68% of town residents live in top-quarter towns such as Alexandria and Faifley, and almost none at the bottom. Typical prices are up 44% on five years ago.
The middle home sold for £153,200 over the past year, 6th lowest of the areas.
Private rent £940 a month (39th highest); Band D council tax £1,682 (16th 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. 8 West Dunbartonshire towns.
Health
96th of 98D−2/100 Among the least healthy areas. None of its towns makes the top quarter; Bowling and Old Kilpatrick comes closest, at #1,650 of 2,515. Of a life expectancy of 77.3 years, 53.1 are expected in good health (2nd shortest among the Scottish council areas). Every neighbour scores higher, Argyll and Bute, Stirling and East Dunbartonshire among them.
Total life expectancy is 77.3 years (5th shortest).
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. 8 West Dunbartonshire towns.
Jobs & income
95th of 98D−3/100 Among the lowest incomes anywhere. No area has poorer households than West Dunbartonshire: households take in £38,800 a year on average.
Claimant rate: 3.9% of 16 to 64-year-olds claim out-of-work benefits (August 2026), 17th highest. Counted half 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.
West Dunbartonshire 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
12th of 98A89/100 Easier to get about than most. Clydebank leads its towns at #92 of 2,515; 37% of town residents live in top-quarter towns. At the 2022 Census, 25% of people travelling to work went on foot, by bike or by public transport.
Worked mainly from home at the 2022 Census: 30% 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. 8 West Dunbartonshire towns.
Flood risk
79th of 87D9/100 Flooding is the big risk here. 13% of town residents live in a top-quarter town, 50% in a bottom-quarter one; Faifley ranks highest. West Dunbartonshire ranks 2nd highest of 32 Scottish council areas for flood risk: 6.7% of town homes are in harm’s way.
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. 8 West Dunbartonshire towns.
Growth
94th of 98D−4/100 Barely growing. The population fell 2.0% between 2011 and 2024, to 88,820, against 4.6% across Scotland (5th slowest). Argyll and Bute, Stirling and East Dunbartonshire all do better on growth.
From 2021 to 2024 alone, +0.4% (13th slowest).
Source: National Records of Scotland mid-year population estimates, 2011 and 2024.
West Dunbartonshire 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 West Dunbartonshire compares to its neighbours
Against Argyll and Bute, Stirling, East Dunbartonshire and Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire trails on schools, health and growth.
| West Dunbartonshire | Argyll and Bute | Stirling | East Dunbartonshire | Glasgow City | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | D− 231st official · 0% in top towns | C 2518th official · 0% in top towns | A− 836th official · 25% in top towns | A 942nd official · 72% in top towns | C− 1925th official |
| Cost of living | B+ 6716th official · 68% in top towns | B 5538th official · 43% in top towns | B+ 7141st official · 100% in top towns | B− 4958th official · 72% in top towns | B 5645th official |
| Health | D− 231st official · 0% in top towns | C− 2121st official · 0% in top towns | B 6315th official · 20% in top towns | A 926th official · 71% in top towns | C− 2025th official |
| Jobs & income | D− 398th official | C+ 4490th official | A 8533rd official | A+ 9617th official | D− 095th official |
| Getting about | A 8915th official · 37% in top towns | A 8721st official · 31% in top towns | C+ 4247th official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4445th official · 0% in top towns | A+ 983rd official |
| Flood risk | D 931st official · 13% in top towns | D− 128th official · 0% in top towns | D 1430th official · 18% in top towns | B+ 6516th official · 27% in top towns | A− 799th official |
| Growth | D− 494th official | D 692nd official | C+ 4062nd official | C+ 3863rd official | B+ 7132nd 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.