Crap Towns / Moray / Elgin
Elgin
36/100Crap Score
632nd crappest of 984 towns. It's the crappest town in the table for Moray because it's the only one big enough to be in it. Higher scores are crapper.
Have your say
Crap Town of the Year 2026/27
See the raceThe public vote. It's separate from the Crap Score, and it closes on 31 December 2027.
Letters from the locals
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agree it's crap have defended it
Elgin. A city, if you ask Elgin.
A cathedral in ruins, a cashmere mill and a lion statue with a monocle and a mermaid's tail. Yes, really.
Elgin has a ruined cathedral, so it reckons it's a city, and it's been arguing the toss about that for as long as anyone can remember. Nobody outside Elgin cares. What the town did spend money on was the Dandy Lion, a statue of a lion with a monocle and a mermaid's tail, and it's been arguing about that ever since as well.
The High Street has lost out to the retail parks and has the empty shops to prove it. Anti-social behaviour and criminal damage both run at about 40% above the typical Scottish town's rate, and violence is well up on it too. It's the crappest town in Moray. It's also the only one big enough to count, but Lossiemouth will take it.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Elgin's 90 for broadband means it's crapper than 90% of towns.
- Broadband90/10010.7% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 35.9% across the Moray council area
- Criminal damage and arson82/10010.1 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Rain72/100147 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Anti-social behaviour71/10011.2 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Deliberate fires40/10016.6 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Food hygiene35/1004.1% told to improve, of the 197 food businesses inspected
- Sewage spills13/10015.8 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Serious road collisions6/1000.9 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Air pollution0/1003.3 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.2 of fine particles, 2024 average
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elgin | 36 |
Elgin by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 67.3 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 24% higher than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 5 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 64% lower than the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 7 pubs, 19 hairdressers, 8 charity shops, 3 bookmakers, 2 vape shops, 6 banks, 1 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 5.6% of takeaways inspected told to improve (2 of 36) Better: 38% lower than the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 5 public toilets on the map (October 2026) Better: 2.0 per 10,000 people, 25% higher than the typical town's 1.6
Getting about, getting online, getting rained on
- 1.25am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 0.3% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Better: 40% lower than the typical town's 0.5%
- 8.0% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 48% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,388 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 9% lower than the typical town's 1,532
Moray council
- £1,731 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £78 more than the Scottish average
- 35% of Moray council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 36%
- 37 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Worse: 39.7 per 100,000 residents, 14% higher than Scotland's 34.7
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Elgin against your mate's town, and a match ticket to rub it in.
- ?Fly-tippingper 1,000, council area?
- ?Anti-social behaviourper 1,000 people?
- ?Serious road crashesper 10,000 people?
- ?Sewage spillshours per 10,000 people?
- ?Food hygienerated poor?
- ?Criminal damageper 1,000 people?
- ?Dirty airµg/m³?
- ?No gigabitof premises can't get it?
- ?Deliberate firesper 10,000 people?
- ?Raindays a year?
Ten ingredients. One verdict. Who's crapper? The higher Crap Score takes it.