Alice Springs, NT
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Alice Springs is the main town of Central Australia and the Red Centre, set among the MacDonnell Ranges on the usually dry bed of the Todd River, roughly midway between Darwin and Adelaide. Known to the Arrernte people as Mparntwe, the area has been their home for tens of thousands of years, and in 2000 the Federal Court formally recognised Arrernte native title over the town. The modern settlement grew from an 1872 Overland Telegraph repeater station beside a waterhole named after Alice Todd. Today it is the main base for visiting Uluru and the home of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the outback School of the Air.
Less advantaged than the national average
Alice Springs is more socio-economically advantaged than about 38% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 967, 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 Alice Springs 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Alice Springs 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
38/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (38/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
39/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $313 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 39% 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.
Alice Springs at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 231
- Median age
- 37
- Median weekly household income
- $1,463
- SEIFA score
- 967
- Local government area
- Alice Springs
- Coordinates
- -23.6982, 133.8802
Map of Alice Springs
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Alice Springs
What it costs to live in Alice Springs and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $313
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,000
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 21%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 58%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Alice Springs demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Alice Springs demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Alice Springs 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 young adults (25–44) at 50% and 48% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 23 | 10% |
| Youth (15–24) | 14 | 6% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 117 | 50% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 69 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 11 | 5% |
Share of the 234 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 8 | 9% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 11 | 12% |
| Rented | 53 | 58% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 9 | 11% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 47 | 59% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 80 occupied private dwellings in Alice Springs.
- Average household size
- 1.8 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,159
- Median weekly personal income
- $952
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 95 (48%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 102 (52%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 43 (19%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 104 (49%)
- Labour-force participation
- 60.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 7%
- Employed full-time
- 84
- Employed part-time
- 28
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 Alice Springs
Is Alice Springs 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, Alice Springs rates 38/100 overall (Below the national middle 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 Alice Springs?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Alice Springs was $313, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,000. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Alice Springs?
Alice Springs is a suburb of Northern Territory, Australia, in the Alice Springs local government area.
What is the population of Alice Springs?
At the 2021 Census, Alice Springs had a population of about 231.
Is Alice Springs an advantaged area?
Alice Springs has an ABS SEIFA score of 967, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 38 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 38% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Northern Territory
More suburb guides in Northern Territory
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.