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.
9. Linlithgow
Ninth on the list is West Lothian town Linlithgow. Linlithgow Palace remains the chief historic attraction of the town. The palace was the birthplace of James V and Mary, Queen of Scots, and has been described as Scotland's finest surviving late medieval secular building. In the courtyard of the Palace, an elaborately carved hexagonal fountain and well survives. The growing town has become a great place to live for people working in Edinburgh and Glasgow due to the town's train station serving both cities. | National World Photo: National World
10. Cradlehall
Cradlehall was originally the name given to the hall built by Major William Caulfield, later known as Cradlehall Farmhouse. Today it is a residential area in the east of Inverness, Scotland. In addition to housing, Cradlehall has a business park and a number of small businesses. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps
11. Clydebank
Eleventh on the list is Clydebank, a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas of the adjacent City of Glasgow immediately to the east. | Google Maps Photo: Google Maps
12. Peebles
Peebles is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 was 9,000. | National World Photo: National World