Crap Towns / West Lothian / Livingston
Livingston
40/100Crap Score
Known as Livi.
592nd crappest of 984 towns, and 4th in West Lothian. 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
Got something to say about Livingston? Write in.
agree it's crap have defended it
Livi. The shopping centre is the town.
A sixties new town built round a shopping centre and a lot of roundabouts. It got called Deadston for a reason.
Livingston was built in the sixties round a shopping centre and a lot of roundabouts, and it's never found its middle. The shops are indoors, the Designer Outlet is round the back and the train stations are nowhere near any of it. Early on they called it Deadston. There are 9 pubs for a town this size, and next to no charity shops, because the Centre won't have them.
The bins go up at a decent clip, with deliberate fires 42% over the typical Scottish town's rate, and 2.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband, over four times the typical town's share. Locals reported 279 potholes on FixMyStreet in a year, which takes dedication.
In 1979 a forestry worker in Dechmont Woods said a spaceship had gone for him, and the police treated it as an assault. The only alien that's ever bothered with Livi, and it didn't stay either.
What the score is made of
Ten ingredients, each marked out of 100. Higher is crapper.
Livingston's 79 for rain means it's crapper than 79% of towns.
- Rain79/100155 days of rain a year, at least 1 mm, 1991 to 2020 average
- Serious road collisions73/1002.1 per 10,000 people a year, fatal and serious, 2021 to 2025
- Deliberate fires72/10031.7 per 10,000 people a year, April 2023 to March 2026
- Anti-social behaviour52/1008.5 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Fly-tipping50/100
- Criminal damage and arson46/1006.8 per 1,000 people a year, January 2023 to December 2025
- Broadband41/1006.5% of premises can't get gigabit, January 2026, and 7.7% across the West Lothian council area
- Sewage spills18/10036.1 spill hours per 10,000 people a year, storm overflows within 1 km, 2025
- Air pollution18/1006.8 µg/m³ of nitrogen dioxide and 4.8 of fine particles, 2024 average
- Food hygiene1/1000.7% told to improve, of the 274 food businesses inspected
| Pos | Town | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bathgate | 77 |
| 2 | Whitburn | 68 |
| 3 | Armadale | 58 |
| 4 | Livingston | 40 |
| In danger of becoming nice from here down.5 | Broxburn | 30 |
| 6 | Linlithgow | 20 |
Below the dashed line: in danger of becoming nice.
Livingston by numbers
Thinking of moving here? Don't say we didn't warn you.
Crime, muck and dodgy water
- 57.5 crimes per 1,000 people a year (January 2023 to December 2025) Worse: 6% higher than the typical Scottish town's 54.4
- 279 reports of potholes and bad road surfaces on FixMyStreet, the most reported problem in the year to October 2026 Worse: 50.0 per 10,000 people, 8.9x the typical Scottish town's 5.6
What's left on the high street
- 9 pubs, 21 hairdressers, 1 charity shop, 6 bookmakers, 3 vape shops, 6 banks, 4 Greggs on the map here as of 1 October 2026
- 0.0% of takeaways inspected told to improve (0 of 42) Better: Against the typical Scottish town's 9.1%
- 1 bank branch closure announced since 2022 Better: 1.8 per 100,000 people, 47% lower than the typical town's 3.4
- 11 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
- 12.55am last bus out on a Wednesday Better: Later than the typical town's 12.14am
- 2.1% of premises can't get superfast broadband (January 2026) Worse: 4.2x the typical town's 0.5%
- 2.2% live more than 400 metres from a park or play space Better: 86% lower than the typical town's 15.5%
- 1,324 hours of sunshine a year (1991 to 2020 average) Worse: 14% lower than the typical town's 1,532
West Lothian council
- £1,628 Band D council tax (2026-27) About the same: £25 less than the Scottish average
- 31% of West Lothian council's unclassified roads should have been considered for maintenance (2025-26) Better: 14% lower than Scotland's 36%
- 78 ombudsman complaints decided in 2025-26, none upheld Worse: 43.0 per 100,000 residents, 24% higher than Scotland's 34.7
- 88.4% of the streets checked passed as clean (2025-26) About the same: About the same as Scotland's 92.2%
- More on the council
Have a crap-off
Livingston 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.