They include some of the most desirable areas across Scotland to live - and that standing has been reflected in each local authority area being rated on factors such as their education, health and community services.
A survey of Scotland’s 32 local authority areas, carried out by The Sunday Times, has revealed a huge variation in public service performance across the country. Some councils recycled twice as much as others, while some residents are half as likely to have their first cancer treatment within 62 days as those in other areas.
The rankings used 11 indicators from five key categories - education, health, community, policing and finance - and weighting was applied by population size and the importance of each category, with health and education deemed the most important.
Three councils, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and the Western Isles, were scored separately because of a huge variation in population size and different methods of data collection.
Highland Council, the largest local authority by area in the UK, emerged as having the worst public services in Scotland, ranking ranked bottom for both health and education, and also performed poorest for literacy. East Renfrewshire came top for education and community, while Ayrshire as a general region was a strong performer. The best performing area for crime was Aberdeenshire.
Magnus Llewellin, editor of The Times and Sunday Times Scotland: “We all understand that where you live has a huge bearing on your quality of life. But quantifying those differences across areas such as health, education, community and crime isn’t readily available for readers.
“That is why the Sunday Times has carried out this analysis across Scotland. It gives people a measure of the differences which, in a number of cases, are stark.”
Here are the top ten council areas in order of how they ranked overall.
5. Renfrewshire
Paisley Abbey is lit up as part of the UNBOXED festival. Paisley lies with Renfrewshire Council, which has ranked as the sixth best local authority to live. The council area rated highly in health, education and community outcomes | John Devlin
6. North Ayshire
A waterfall on the Isle of Arran, which lies within North Ayrshire Council. The authority ranks as the seventh best council to live in, in Scotland. It sits equal best in Scotland in terms of health outcomes, judged by the percentage of outpatients, cancer patients and young people with mental health issues being seen with set Scottish Government waiting time targets. But it performs less well on education, ranking 25th in the category | David Fitzell - stock.adobe.com
7. East Ayrshire
A meteor shower over King Charles' stately home Dumfries House. The historic property is situated in Cumnock, which lies in East Ayrshire Council. The authority is the equal best council area in Scotland for health outcomes, and ranks as the eighth best council to live in | Craig McComb/SWNS
8. Angus
Smokies at Arbroath Fisheries. The delicacy comes from the Angus region, with the council area ranked the ninth best in Scotland to live. Angus rated well in terms of the crime category, but was consistently middle performing across most other categories to guarantee a place in the top ten | Katharine Hay