Scottish Household Survey 2025 findings: Neighbourhoods and Communities

Summary of main points

This report draws on key data from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS, 2025) to explore key findings on neighbourhoods, communities, social isolation and loneliness, neighbourhood problems, and neighbourhood safety at a national level in Scotland. It also gives additional detail across various protected characteristics, and for people living in different places, such as urban and rural settings.

Neighbourhoods

• The latest data (2025) from SHS shows that across Scotland, the majority (94%) rate their neighbourhood as a good place to live, stable from 2024. Fifty-five percent of adults rated their neighbourhood as a ‘very good’ place to live, a slight increase from 54% in 2024. 
• There are differences in neighbourhood ratings between different areas, including urban and rural settings and by levels of deprivation. There are also differences for key subgroups of the population. 

Communities

• People are positive about the people based features of their communities, such as neighbourhood trust and giving and receiving help from neighbours. These measures have all remained stable from 2024.
• Eighty-three percent agreed they live in neighbourhoods where people are kind to each other. Seventy-six percent agreed they could turn to someone in the neighbourhood for advice or support.
• There has been a fall in agreement that there are welcoming places and opportunities to meet new people, from 56% in 2024 to 53% in 2025.
• There has been no change in agreement that there are places to meet and socialise in neighbourhoods (59% in 2025, stable from 60% in 2024).
• There remain ongoing differences based on where people live, including between people living in urban and rural settings, and more or less deprived areas. There are also inequalities for different subgroups of the population, such as for disabled people, by ethnicity, age and sex.

Social isolation and loneliness

• In 2025, 65% of adults in Scotland ‘met socially with friends, relatives, neighbours or work colleagues’ at least once a week. This is a decline from 68% in 2024. Over the longer term this has fallen from 73% in 2018, and appears to follow a longer term change in how frequently people are choosing to meet others socially.
• In 2025, 21% of people reported experiencing loneliness at least some of the time, this is stable from 20% in 2024.
• Some groups are more likely to experience loneliness. This includes the oldest and youngest age groups, those living in the most deprived areas, disabled people, and people living in single adult households (single adults, single parents and single pensioners).

Neighbourhood problems

• In 2025, 57% of adults personally experienced ‘any’ neighbourhood problems in the past 12 months, stable from 2023.
• The neighbourhood problems perceived as most common were ‘rubbish or litter lying around’ and ‘animal nuisance’.
• Since 2023, experiences of rubbish and litter have remained stable, whilst experiences of animal nuisance have improved. Other neighbourhood problems have worsened slightly.
• Experiences of neighbourhood problems are more common for those living in deprived areas, large urban areas, people who socially rent, young people and disabled people.

Neighbourhood safety

• In 2025, the majority of people (80%) said they felt ‘very’ or ‘fairly safe’ walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark. This is an increase from 78% in 2024.
• There is a clear association between how adults rate their neighbourhood and how safe they feel in their communities. Eighty-two percent of adults who rated their neighbourhood as ‘very’ or ‘fairly good', said they felt safe walking alone at night, compared with 36% of adults who rated their neighbourhood as ‘very poor’.
• Women, older people, and disabled people feel less safe in their neighbourhoods.