Adelong, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Adelong is a former gold town in the Riverina district of New South Wales, about 20 kilometres west of Tumut and 81 kilometres south-east of Wagga Wagga, on Adelong Creek. It lies on Wiradjuri country, and the name is said to come from a local Aboriginal word meaning 'along the way' or 'plain with a river'. Gold was found in the early 1850s and the field was proclaimed in 1855, drawing miners to the creek and its quartz reefs. The town grew quickly before settling back into a quiet pastoral district of merino sheep and cattle. Its best-known site is the Adelong Falls Gold Workings, where the stone ruins of nineteenth-century crushing batteries stand beside a cascade on the creek, now a heritage-listed reserve and picnic spot.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Adelong is more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 908, where about 1000 is the national average).
A socio-economic measure from ABS Census data — not a measure of how good a suburb is to live in or visit. How we calculate this.
Is Adelong a good place to live?
There’s no single answer — it depends on what matters to you. So instead of one mystery number, we break it down: a transparent score on each part of life we can back with public data, and an honest “not yet” on the parts we can’t.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Adelong from public data. It sits alongside — and reconciles with — the socio-economic Suburb Score above; it is a transparent read, not a complete verdict.
Socio-economic advantage
14/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (14/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
73/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $205 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 73% of suburbs we can compare. Housing data only, no valuations. · ABS Census 2021
Not yet scored
We’d rather leave these open than publish a number we can’t stand behind. Here’s where each one stands.
- Amenities & accessNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap amenity mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- Green spaceNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap green-space mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- TransportNot scored yet — our OpenStreetMap public-transport mapping is still rolling out across suburbs.
- SchoolsNot scored yet — school performance (ACARA / ICSEA) needs a data-reuse licence cleared before we can publish it.
- SafetyNot scored yet — Australia has no single open crime dataset and safety data carries defamation and legal care, so it is gated pending a go/no-go and will be data-only when added.
- CommunityNot scored yet — we won't reduce community to a number from a proxy. We'd rather leave it open than publish an invented value judgement.
A transparent read on public data, not a verdict — and not a measure of any person or community. See our methodology for how each component is worked out and why some aren’t scored yet.
Adelong at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 938
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,158
- SEIFA score
- 908
- Local government area
- Snowy Valleys
- Coordinates
- -35.3049, 148.0693
Map of Adelong
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Adelong
What it costs to live in Adelong and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $205
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,200
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 79%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 15%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Adelong demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Adelong demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Adelong using the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census; every percentage is a share of a clearly stated Census count, so each one traces back to the source. At a glance, the largest age group is mid-life (45–64) at 30% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 145 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 99 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 188 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 284 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 233 | 25% |
Share of the 949 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 193 | 49% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 118 | 30% |
| Rented | 60 | 15% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 366 | 93% |
| Townhouses & semis | 11 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 394 occupied private dwellings in Adelong.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,448
- Median weekly personal income
- $599
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 73 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 32 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 42 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 274 (36%)
- Labour-force participation
- 55.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.4%
- Employed full-time
- 251
- Employed part-time
- 136
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021 (General Community Profile, by Suburb and Locality). © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. How we group bands and derive each share is set out on our methodology page.
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Common questions about Adelong
Is Adelong a good place to live?
There's no single answer, so we score what the public data can back. On socio-economic advantage and housing affordability, Adelong rates 34/100 overall (Lower on the data we score). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Adelong?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Adelong was $205, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,200. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Adelong?
Adelong is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Valleys local government area.
What is the population of Adelong?
At the 2021 Census, Adelong had a population of about 938.
Is Adelong an advantaged area?
Adelong has an ABS SEIFA score of 908, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 14 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of Australian suburbs.
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