Applecross, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Applecross is a riverside suburb of Perth on the southern bank of the Swan River, bounded by Canning Highway and set within the City of Melville. It borrows its name from the Applecross peninsula in Wester Ross in the Scottish Highlands — a heritage echoed in street names such as Ullapool, Gairloch and Kintail. First granted in 1830, its waterfront was developed from the 1890s by Alexander Matheson as gentlemen's residences, served by a ferry that brought day-trippers across for picnics, tennis and sailing. From 1925 Thomas Burke subdivided the surrounding land into affordable quarter-acre blocks for working families, and values climbed once the Narrows Bridge opened in 1959. The suburb is loved for the jacarandas that line its streets and bloom each November, celebrated at an annual Jacaranda Festival.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Applecross is more socio-economically advantaged than about 98% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1128, 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 Applecross 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.
Strong on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Applecross 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
98/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (98/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
8/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $475 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 8% 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.
Applecross at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 7,228
- Median age
- 44
- Median weekly household income
- $2,453
- SEIFA score
- 1128
- Local government area
- Melville
- Coordinates
- -32.0157, 115.8359
Map of Applecross
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Applecross
What it costs to live in Applecross and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $475
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,800
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 70%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 28%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Applecross demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Applecross demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Applecross 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 26% and 41% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,192 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 840 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,680 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,914 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,608 | 22% |
Share of the 7,234 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,229 | 44% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 721 | 26% |
| Rented | 772 | 28% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,726 | 62% |
| Townhouses & semis | 599 | 21% |
| Flats & apartments | 462 | 17% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,791 occupied private dwellings in Applecross.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,304
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,167
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 2,832 (41%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 1,635 (23%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 27 (0%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 4,514 (78%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 2,122
- Employed part-time
- 1,323
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.
Weather and climate in Applecross
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Applecross is February (average daytime high around 29.9°C) and the coolest is August (around 17.6°C). The area receives roughly 624 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29.8°C | 18.9°C | 23 mm |
| Feb | 29.9°C | 19°C | 20 mm |
| Mar | 28.2°C | 18.1°C | 40 mm |
| Apr | 24.2°C | 14.9°C | 42 mm |
| May | 20.7°C | 12°C | 78 mm |
| Jun | 18.2°C | 10.5°C | 99 mm |
| Jul | 17.2°C | 10.4°C | 112 mm |
| Aug | 17.6°C | 9.7°C | 97 mm |
| Sep | 19.1°C | 10.7°C | 47 mm |
| Oct | 21.6°C | 12.5°C | 37 mm |
| Nov | 25°C | 14.9°C | 21 mm |
| Dec | 28.1°C | 17.4°C | 8 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
Share your local knowledge of Applecross
Lived here or spent time in Applecross? Add a review or a quick tip. Reviews and tips are moderated before they appear.
Common questions about Applecross
Is Applecross 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, Applecross rates 68/100 overall (Strong 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 Applecross?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Applecross was $475, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,800. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Applecross?
Applecross is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Melville local government area.
What is the population of Applecross?
At the 2021 Census, Applecross had a population of about 7,228.
Is Applecross an advantaged area?
Applecross has an ABS SEIFA score of 1128, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 98 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 98% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Applecross?
Applecross has average daytime highs of about 23.3°C and overnight lows of about 14.1°C, with roughly 624 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
Where Applecross ranks
Applecross appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
More suburb guides in Western Australia
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.