Is Scottish Borders a good place to live?

Scottish Borders has an overall liveability score of 66 out of 100 (good) on TrackPostcode.UK, based on 95% of categories currently loaded. It scores best on cost of living and housing. The score combines cost, affordability, safety, weather and more from open government data.

Scottish Borders records about 409 crimes per 10,000 people a year (2025/2026), giving Scottish Borders a safety score of 61 out of 100. Figures are from Scottish Government statistics; Police Scotland does not publish street-level data to police.uk.

Scottish Borders averages 1,095 sunshine hours and about 1,975 mm of rain a year, giving an outdoor score of 22 out of 100. Summer highs average 18.3°C and winter lows 0.6°C. Based on the Met Office Eskdalemuir station, 33 km away.

Average private rent in the Scottish Borders area is about £709 a month (Jun-26, ONS), giving Scottish Borders a cost-of-living score of 88 out of 100. Use the affordability calculator to estimate what you could comfortably afford here.

The average property price in Scottish Borders is about £191,555 (2026-06, HM Land Registry). Prices changed +4.6% over the year. See the affordability section for how that compares to local earnings.

Scottish Borders scores 61 out of 100 for safety - good - measured from annual recorded crime per 10,000 residents across the Scottish Borders council area (Scottish Government statistics). That puts it in the top 20% of every area in our index. A safety score is a comparison with other areas rather than a guarantee about a street. The figure covers the whole council, so it says nothing about differences between its towns.

The average property in Scottish Borders costs about £191,555, which is 4.9 times earnings against assumed full-time earnings of £39,039 a year (ONS ASHE), giving an affordability score of 90 out of 100. Mainstream lenders usually cap borrowing at around four to four and a half times income, so a ratio above that generally means a larger deposit, a second income or a cheaper property than the local average. With a ten per cent deposit, repaying the rest costs about £1,111 a month at 6% over 25 years, £402 more than the £709 average local rent. The affordability calculator on this page estimates it from your own salary and savings.

About 97.8% of premises in Scottish Borders can get superfast broadband of 30 Mbit/s or more, and 68.6% can get a gigabit-capable connection, giving a broadband score of 78 out of 100 (Ofcom Connected Nations). These are council-area availability figures - the share of premises able to order each service, not the speed any single line achieves - so check the exact address with the Ofcom broadband checker before committing to it.

78.6% of 16 to 64 year olds in Scottish Borders are in work (NOMIS latest, retrieved Sep 2026, ONS Annual Population Survey via NOMIS), giving an employment score of 64 out of 100. UK local authorities typically range from about 62% to 82%. This is a whole-authority figure, so it describes the local labour market rather than any one town within it.

The intermediate zone around this point records 5.73 on Average highest SCQF qualification score of school leavers (2022/23-2024/25), giving an education score of 61 out of 100. Each nation publishes its own attainment measure and they are not interchangeable, so education scores compare within England, Scotland or Wales and not across them. Scottish attainment is resolved to the intermediate zone around this point, which is finer than the council average used in England and Wales.

For the 1 km grid square containing Scottish Borders, fine particulates (PM2.5) average 4.32 µg/m³ against a World Health Organization guideline of 5 and nitrogen dioxide averages 1.49 µg/m³ against a guideline of 10 (2024, Defra Pollution Climate Mapping, Crown copyright). That gives an environment score of 100 out of 100; an area meeting both guideline levels scores 100. These are modelled background concentrations for the square, not a reading taken at the roadside.

Within about two kilometres of this point there are 1 dentist. That gives a healthcare score of 6 out of 100. Facilities are counted from OpenStreetMap and the score describes how close services are, not waiting times, capacity or clinical quality.

The nearest railway station is Galashiels Rail Station, about 10.2 km away, and there are 0 bus, tram or metro stops within an 800 metre walk, giving a transport score of 14 out of 100. Stops come from the DfT NaPTAN dataset and are counted for this exact point, so the figure measures access rather than how frequently anything runs.

Scottish Borders is in the Scottish Borders local authority, Scotland. It falls within the Selkirkshire ward and the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk parliamentary constituency. Cost of living, housing, affordability, employment, broadband and crime figures in this report are published at local-authority level, so every postcode and town inside Scottish Borders shares them. Education comes from the surrounding intermediate zone, and weather, amenities, healthcare, transport and air quality are measured for this point.

Scottish Borders scores 69 out of 100 on our remote workers profile, which is weighted towards broadband, cost of living, environment and weather. That is 3 points above its general score of 66, because this profile weights the twelve categories differently. Every area we score is ranked on this basis at /best-places-for-remote-workers/.

Scottish Borders scores 65 out of 100 on our families profile, which is weighted towards schools, safety, housing and healthcare. That is close to its general score of 66, so the weighting neither flatters nor penalises this area. Every area we score is ranked on this basis at /best-places-for-families/.

Scottish Borders sits in the bottom 44% of the 539 UK areas we have scored. The median area in the index scores 67 out of 100. It is furthest above the benchmark for its nation on education, employment and safety. It is furthest below on transport, weather and healthcare. Categories are compared against the area's own nation where the samples allow it, because crime and school attainment are measured differently either side of the border.

Of the areas we have scored within about 50 miles of Scottish Borders, the highest are Galashiels (74 out of 100, about 6 miles away), Hawick (68 out of 100, about 8 miles away) and Edinburgh (68 out of 100, about 32 miles away). Scottish Borders itself scores 66. Distances are straight-line from this point, and each of those names links to its own full report.

Across the twelve category scores, the closest matches elsewhere in Britain are Brecon (Powys, Wales), Caernarfon (Gwynedd, Wales) and Launceston (Cornwall, South West, England). Similarity is the average gap across every category both areas have data for, with immediate neighbours excluded, so these are places that score alike rather than places that look alike or sit nearby.

Weather, local amenities, healthcare access, transport access and air quality are measured for this exact point. Cost of living, affordability, housing, employment, broadband and crime come from official statistics for the Scottish Borders council area, so nearby postcodes and towns in the same council share those figures. Education comes from the surrounding intermediate zone of roughly 2,500 to 6,000 residents. The "How detailed is this report" section explains each level.