Living in Stornoway

In Stornoway, unemployment is 2.3% (2023).

Stornoway is a city in the United Kingdom.

Last checked 2026-10-0716 sources

Median gross salary (region)2,902EUR/month31 Dec 2024Official source · www.ons.gov.uk

Average rent863.3EUR/month31 Aug 2026Regional figureOfficial source · ONS Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, Table 1, Rental price

Unemployment rate2.3%country median 3.4% — 32% belowOfficial source · www.ons.gov.uk

Recorded crime2,360incidents per 100,00031 Dec 2025District figureOfficial source · Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 4

PM2.5, annual mean3.14µg/m³31 Dec 2024Official source · uk-air.defra.gov.uk

Lower unemployment than 93% of United Kingdom cities that publish it and less recorded crime than 97% of United Kingdom cities that publish it.

Which United Kingdom-wide rules apply when you move to Stornoway?

National rules stay on the country page instead of being relabelled as city data.

Visa and entry rulesPassport-specific entry and national residence context.BenefitsCountry-wide eligibility and official application routes.Taxes in United KingdomNational rates and thresholds that apply in Stornoway.Healthcare eligibilityCountry-wide insurance and residence conditions.

Housing and cost

No city-level rent figure is published for Stornoway. The available city-level cost figures remain below.

What recurs every month2 published recurring costs, € per month

€ / month

Internet, 60 Mbps€24

Mobile plan, 10 GB€13

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Internet, 60 Mbps unlimited	24.02 EUR/month	30 Sept 2026	BT Full Fibre 150¹Official · national market
Mobile plan, 10 GB	12.87 EUR/month	30 Sept 2026	Three 100GB one-month data pack¹³Official · national market
Average monthly rent (whole dwelling)	863.3 EUR/month	31 Aug 2026	ONS Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, Table 1, Rental price⁷Official · regional context

Is Stornoway a good place to live?

There is no universal answer. The profile scores below show who the available published evidence may suit; they are a decision aid, not a personal recommendation.

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Remote worker54%strong on work, weak on legal route · range 43–65%

Skilled employee58%strong on work, weak on education · range 48–68%

Student23%strong on legal route, weak on work · range 13–33%

Family42%strong on safety, weak on cost · range 31–53%

Retirement52%strong on air quality, weak on admin · range 38–66%

Work and income

What is the unemployment rate in Stornoway?

The unemployment rate is 2.3 % (January 2023). Source: www.ons.gov.uk¹⁶

Unemployment across cities in United KingdomUnemployment in Stornoway is 2.3%. Of 999 cities with data, 652 have unemployment of 2 to under 4%.

652

263

0–22–44–66–88–1010–1216–18

Stornoway 2.3%

Unemployment rate (%)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Median gross salary (regional)	2,902 EUR/month	31 Dec 2024	www.ons.gov.uk¹⁵Official
Unemployment rate	2.3 %country median 3.4%	31 Dec 2023	www.ons.gov.uk¹⁶Official

What does a salary buy in Stornoway?

Take-home pay after tax, minus rent and the everyday bills this city publishes. Each line names its source.

Left over each month€1,530of €2,431 take-home

Rent
Internet
Mobile
Left over

Line-by-line breakdown and sources

Each month	€
Take-home payOECD Taxing Wages 2025, single, no children. Includes central and local income tax and employee social contributions; euro amounts at the ECB average for 2026-08.	€2,431
Rentaverage rent of a whole dwelling · official · ONS Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, Table 1, Rental price · 2026-08-31	− €863
Internet€24 · official · BT Full Fibre 150 · 2026-09-30	− €24
Mobile plan€13 · official · Three 100GB one-month data pack · 2026-09-30	− €13
Other everyday billsnot published for this city: public transport pass, utilities	—
Left overbefore the bills this city does not publish	€1,530

Take-home pay for other salaries and households Compare with another city Check a job offer in Stornoway Salary needed to live in Stornoway

Public employment service

No exact public employment office is currently linked to Stornoway. The verified national service may still offer online registration, job search or an official office finder.

Country-level information

Jobcentre Plus — Public employment service

Department for Work and Pensions

Job SearchUnemployment Claim

Open official service

Open the United Kingdom service overview

Country-level service information is not treated as proof of a physical office in Stornoway. Sources checked through 10 Aug 2026.

Family and education

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Primary schools	0 count	3 Aug 2026	Scottish Government¹²Official
Schools	0 count	3 Aug 2026	Scottish Government¹²Official

School for children who move here. School is compulsory from age 5 to 16, and public school is free.

A country-wide rule for United Kingdom; Stornoway's school authority applies it locally.

Sources: legislation.gov.uk · 1996–2026.

Safety

How safe is Stornoway?

Police recorded about 2,360 incidents per 100,000 (2025-26). This counts all offences, so it is not comparable with a violent-crime-only rate from another source. Source: Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 4¹⁰

Recorded crime across major citiesStornoway highlighted among comparable cities

recorded incidents per 100k residents

Manchester14,267

Bristol13,099

Liverpool12,409

Leeds11,462

Birmingham11,416

Leicester11,001

Sheffield9,693

Cardiff9,379

Belfast9,156

Coventry8,836

Glasgow757

Edinburgh549

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Recorded incidents per 100,000 residents	2,360 incidents per 100,000	31 Dec 2025	Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 4¹⁰Official · county

Mobility and administration

Stornoway's nearest airport was SYY, 3 km away and offered 5 direct destinations.

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Direct destinations from the nearest major airport	5 count	3 Aug 2026	OpenFlights⁸Official
Distance to the nearest major airport	3 km	3 Aug 2026	OurAirports⁹Official
Nearest major airport (IATA code)	SYY	3 Aug 2026	OurAirports⁹Official

Climate and air quality

Stornoway's monthly mean temperatures were 5.1°C in January and 13.6°C in July. Stornoway's monthly precipitation totalled 145.2 mm in January and 74.5 mm in July. Average monthly sunshine totalled 32.8 hours in January and 138.4 hours in July.

Is the air quality good in Stornoway?

The annual PM2.5 mean is about 3.1 µg/m³ (2024) — within the WHO 2021 guideline.

Annual mean at the measuring site(s) serving the city; current-day readings differ.

PM2.5 — annual mean: 3.14 µg/m³ · uk-air.defra.gov.uk¹⁴

Temperature through the yearAverage daytime high and night-time low, °C

0°

7°3°

7°2°

8°3°

10°5°

13°6°

14°9°

16°11°

15°9°

12°7°

9°4°

8°3°

JFMAMJJASOND

Night-time low to daytime high

Rainfall through the yearAverage monthly precipitation, mm

145

112

105

104

133

128

139

JFMAMJJASOND

Sunshine through the yearAverage monthly sunshine, hours

108

156

205

162

138

133

110

JFMAMJJASOND

hours

Air quality vs health guidelinesAnnual means against WHO 2021 guidelines and EU legal limits

Within WHO 2021 guidelineAbove WHO, within EU limitAbove EU legal limitCity annual mean · µg/m³

PM2.53.1WHO 5 · EU 25

City values from the published air-quality observations. WHO 2021 guidelines and EU limit values are published constants.

PM2.5 across cities in United KingdomAnnual PM2.5 in Stornoway is 3.1 µg/m³. Of 941 cities with data, 487 have annual PM2.5 of 6 to under 7 µg/m³.

211

487

200

3–44–55–66–77–88–99–1013–14

Stornoway 3.1

Annual PM2.5 (µg/m³)

Metric	Value	Period	Source
PM2.5 — annual mean	3.14 µg/m³	31 Dec 2024	uk-air.defra.gov.uk¹⁴Official source, approximated value · Supplemental context
Average daytime high by month	Jan 7.5 · Feb 7.5 · Mar 8.5 · Apr 10.4 · May 12.6 · Jun 14.5 · Jul 16.3 · Aug 16.4 · Sep 14.7 · Oct 12 · Nov 9.5 · Dec 7.8 °C	31 Dec 1991	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO²Official · nearest-station reading
Average night-time low by month	Jan 2.7 · Feb 2.4 · Mar 3.2 · Apr 4.6 · May 6.4 · Jun 9 · Jul 10.8 · Aug 11 · Sep 9.5 · Oct 7 · Nov 4.5 · Dec 2.8 °C	31 Dec 1991	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO³Official · nearest-station reading
Average temperature by month	Jan 5.1 · Feb 5 · Mar 5.8 · Apr 7.5 · May 9.5 · Jun 11.8 · Jul 13.6 · Aug 13.6 · Sep 12.1 · Oct 9.5 · Nov 7 · Dec 5.3 °C	31 Dec 1991	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO⁴Official · nearest-station reading
Average precipitation by month	Jan 145.2 · Feb 111.9 · Mar 105.3 · Apr 74.4 · May 69 · Jun 64.6 · Jul 74.5 · Aug 87.6 · Sep 103.6 · Oct 132.6 · Nov 127.6 · Dec 139.3 mm	31 Dec 1991	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO⁵Official · nearest-station reading
Average sunshine by month	Jan 32.8 · Feb 61.5 · Mar 107.7 · Apr 155.9 · May 205.1 · Jun 162.3 · Jul 138.4 · Aug 133 · Sep 109.8 · Oct 78.3 · Nov 45 · Dec 26.7 hours	31 Dec 1991	NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO⁶Official · nearest-station reading

Similar climate. In United Kingdom: Bradford ±1.2 °C. Elsewhere: Cork (Ireland) ±1.2 °C, Saanich (Canada) ±2.1 °C, Eutin (Germany) ±2.5 °C, Heide (Germany) ±2.5 °C, Meldorf (Germany) ±2.5 °C. Twenty closest, compared month by month

Monthly highs and lows against the 1991–2020 station normals of the nearest station; ± is the average monthly difference.

Additional context

Metric	Value	Period	Source
Universities	0 count	3 Aug 2026	Scottish Funding Council¹¹Official

Alternatives for people set on Stornoway

Nothing here reaches an argued comparison yet: no other published city shares enough metrics with Stornoway from the same source, period and grain. What is collected is below.

How does Stornoway compare?

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Yes — migrants can receive medical care in Stornoway under the national coverage rules.

Healthcare access follows the country-wide insurance rules; local capacity facts remain city data and are not used as proof of eligibility.

Open the official coverage guide

Country rule verified 2026-08-03.

Put Stornoway's key facts on your site — a card with this page's figures and a link back, free under CC BY 4.0.

Common questions

Answered from the published values on this page, each with its source and date.

Is the air quality good in Stornoway?

The annual PM2.5 mean is about 3.1 µg/m³ (2024) — within the WHO 2021 guideline. Source: uk-air.defra.gov.uk.

How safe is Stornoway?

What is the unemployment rate in Stornoway?

The unemployment rate is 2.3 % (January 2023). Source: www.ons.gov.uk.

What is the typical salary around Stornoway?

The median gross salary is 2,902 EUR/month. Source: www.ons.gov.uk.

Is Stornoway a good place to live?

Stornoway may suit different people for different reasons. The page's profile scores compare published cost, work, housing, safety, healthcare and other available factors; they are a decision aid, not a universal recommendation.

Cite this page

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APA citation

ImmigrationDB. (2026, October 16). Stornoway, United Kingdom: rent, salary, cost of living [ImmigrationDB compilation; version 9454c75b80e20e0b2fa37321eafb7799]. ImmigrationDB. https://immigrationdb.com/cities/uk/stornoway/ Retrieved 2026-10-16. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BibTeX citation

@misc{immigrationdb_immigrationdb_stornoway-united-kingdom-rent-salary-cost-of-living_00daa10da84a,
  author = {ImmigrationDB},
  title = {Stornoway, United Kingdom: rent, salary, cost of living},
  publisher = {ImmigrationDB},
  year = {2026},
  date = {2026-10-16},
  version = {9454c75b80e20e0b2fa37321eafb7799},
  url = {https://immigrationdb.com/cities/uk/stornoway/},
  note = {Retrieved 2026-10-16. ImmigrationDB compilation. Compilation license: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/},
}

Markdown citation

[Stornoway, United Kingdom: rent, salary, cost of living](https://immigrationdb.com/cities/uk/stornoway/) — ImmigrationDB; ImmigrationDB; version 9454c75b80e20e0b2fa37321eafb7799; retrieved 2026-10-16; built 2026-10-16.

This citation identifies the ImmigrationDB compilation/page. Underlying source publishers and datasets retain their own terms; inspect the Sources section and cite those records separately. View the underlying source records.

Sources

JSON Markdown

BT Full Fibre 150 bt.com · checked 2026-09-15
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO nodc.noaa.gov · checked 2026-08-06
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO nodc.noaa.gov · checked 2026-08-06
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO nodc.noaa.gov · checked 2026-08-06
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO nodc.noaa.gov · checked 2026-08-06
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information / WMO nodc.noaa.gov · checked 2026-08-06
ONS Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, Table 1, Rental price ons.gov.uk · checked 2026-09-25
OpenFlights raw.githubusercontent.com · checked 2026-08-03
OurAirports davidmegginson.github.io · checked 2026-08-03
Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26, Table 4 gov.scot · checked 2026-10-05

Show 6 more sources

Scottish Funding Council sfc.ac.uk · checked 2026-08-03
Scottish Government gov.scot · checked 2026-08-03
Three 100GB one-month data pack three.co.uk · checked 2026-09-15
uk-air.defra.gov.uk uk-air.defra.gov.uk · checked 2026-08-26
www.ons.gov.uk ons.gov.uk · checked 2026-08-27
www.ons.gov.uk ons.gov.uk · checked 2026-08-26

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