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In 1304, the first parliament took place in St.Andrews, when King Edward I came to be received by Bishop William de Lamberton as overlordship of Scotland. As many as 130 landowners turned up to witness the event ranging from Sir John of Combo to Sir William Murray of Fort. In the early days of the union of 1707, St Andrews elected to send one member of parliament along with Cupar, Perth, Dundee and Forfar. The first elected parliament was introduced on 17 November 1713 as St Andrews Burgh, which merged with Anstruther, the result of a reform bill in 1832. The act of reformation seats in 1855, would find one MP sitting for St Andrews Burgh (which would include Anstruther Easter, Anstruther Wester, Crail, Cupar, Kilrenny and Pittemweem). Prior to 1975 the town was governed by a council, provost and baillies. In 1975, St Andrews came under Fife Regional Council and North East Fife District Council. This was abolished when a single-tier authority was introduced in 1996 as Fife Council based in Glenrothes. The St Andrews area supports three multi-member wards with eleven councillors sitting on the committee of Fife Council. The former royal burgh of St Andrews also retains its own Community Council. Royal Burgh of St Andrews Community Council

St Andrews is within the North East Fife (Scottish Parliament constituency), the Mid Scotland and Fife (Scottish Parliament electoral region) of the Scottish Parliament (at Holyrood) and the North East Fife (UK Parliament constituency) (at Westminster).

The North East Fife Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood) constituency created in 1999 is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The seat is currently held by Iain Smith for the Liberal Democrats.

The North-East Fife UK (or Westminster) constituency elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system. The seat has been held by Sir Menzies Campbell for the Liberal Democrats since the formation of this seat in 1987.

St Andrews has a temperate maritime climate, which is relatively mild despite its northerly latitude. Winters are not as cold as one might expect, considering that Moscow and Labrador in Newfoundland lie on the same latitude. Daytime temperatures can fall below freezing and average around 4 °C. Night-time frosts are common, however snowfall is more rare. The lowest winter temperature recorded in St Andrews is -14 °C. Summer temperatures are normally moderate, with daily upper maxima rarely exceeding 20 °C.

In the centre, St Andrews was once bounded by three 'gaits' - North, South and Church - accompanied by cross wynds which extended to the west of the Cathedral to the respective ports. West Port on South Street is one of two surviving town 'Ports' in Scotland. The towers were influenced by those seen on Netherbow Port in Edinburgh. The central archway which displays semi-octagonal 'rownds' and 'battling' is supported by corbelling and neatly moulded passageways. Side arches and relief panels were added to the port, during the reconstruction between 1843 and 1845.

Holy Trinity (also known as the Holy Trinity Parish Church or "town kirk") is the most historic church in St Andrews. The church was initially built on land, close to the south-east gable of the Cathedral, around 1144 by bishop Robert Kennedy. The church was dedicated in 1234 by Bishop David de Bernham and then moved to a new site on the north side of South Street between 1410 and 1412 by bishop Warlock. Towards the end of June 1547, the church was location where John Knox first preached in public. John Knox returned to give an inflammatory sermon on 4 June 1559 which led to the stripping of both the cathedral and ecclesiastical status. Much of the architecture feature of the church was lost in the re-building by Robert Balfour between 1798 and 1800. Later, the church was restored to a (more elaborately decorated) approximation of its medieval appearance between 1907-1909 by MacGregor Chambers. Only the north-western tower and spire with parts of the arcade arches were retained. In South Street stands the elegant late medieval ruin of the north transept of the chapel of the Dominican Friary on the grounds ofMadras College, said to date back to the late 13th century. The only remains of the 15th century Observantine Franciscan Friary which lay in Greyfriars Gardens are the well and a small section of boundary wall which linked to the Marketgait Port.