If you’re considering a move this year, Garrington Property Finders' Best Places to Live in Scotland 2024 guide can help you identify places that offer the optimum blend of quality of life and strong value.
Garrington's data analysts have identified more than 160 cities, towns, and villages across Scotland that all score highly in at least one of four selection criteria – natural beauty, wellbeing, employment and connectivity plus value for money.
Top of this year’s ranking is Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, with three towns near Edinburgh making the top 15, including two in West Lothian.
This Best Places to Live 2024 index has been updated and expanded to factor in the price correction seen in some areas of Scotland during 2023. Despite the price inflation recorded at a national level, prices in several popular locations fell – making them even better value.
Garrington’s Best Places to Live in Scotland 2024 report is an impartial, objective ranking based on publicly available data. Their data team ranked 161 Scottish locations according to 12 separate criteria, including proximity to National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, air quality, crime figures, availability of high-paying jobs, transport and broadband connections.

5. Neilston
Neilston in East Renfrewshire came fifth in the overall ranking, where the sverage family home costs £291,000. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps

6. Ellon
Ellon is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately 16 miles north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan, which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the eastern coast of Scotland. Places of interest within the town include Ellon Castle Gardens, recently brought back to life by volunteers and open to the public. It is in the ancient region of Formartine. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps

7. Milngavie
Milngavie is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about ten kilometres from Glasgow city centre. The town is a popular retirement location, with a high number of elderly people living there. The average family home here costs £276,000. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps

8. Ayr
Ayr is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. With a population of 46,982, Ayr is the 15th largest settlement in Scotland and second largest town in Ayrshire by population. Towards the south of the town is the birthplace of Scottish poet Robert Burns in the suburb of Alloway, pictured. Ayr has been a popular tourist resort since the expansion of the railway in 1840 owing to the town's fine beach and its links to golfing and Robert Burns. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps