Balaklava, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Balaklava is a town in the Mid North of South Australia, on the south bank of the Wakefield River about 90 kilometres north of Adelaide, near the meeting of Kaurna and Peramangk country. It takes its name, by way of the local Hundred of Balaklava, from the Battle of Balaklava in the Crimean War. A wayside hotel stood here in the 1850s, serving bullock teams hauling copper ore to the coast; after the town was laid out by Charles Fisher in 1869 it settled into a role as a wool and grain centre for the surrounding plains. Balaklava is well known in the district for its racing club, founded in 1903, and the annual Balaklava Cup, and is home to the long-running Plains Producer newspaper.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Balaklava is more socio-economically advantaged than about 11% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 898, 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 Balaklava 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 Balaklava 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
11/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (11/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
68/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $227 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 68% 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.
Balaklava at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,083
- Median age
- 46
- Median weekly household income
- $1,088
- SEIFA score
- 898
- Local government area
- Wakefield
- Coordinates
- -34.1440, 138.4278
Map of Balaklava
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Balaklava
What it costs to live in Balaklava and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $227
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,035
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 69%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 26%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Balaklava demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Balaklava demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Balaklava 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 seniors (65+) at 28% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 383 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 215 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 402 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 499 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 569 | 28% |
Share of the 2,068 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 333 | 40% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 244 | 29% |
| Rented | 216 | 26% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 729 | 87% |
| Townhouses & semis | 100 | 12% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 839 occupied private dwellings in Balaklava.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,462
- Median weekly personal income
- $611
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 178 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 76 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 59 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 608 (38%)
- Labour-force participation
- 51.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 4%
- Employed full-time
- 434
- Employed part-time
- 332
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 Balaklava
Is Balaklava 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, Balaklava rates 30/100 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 Balaklava?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Balaklava was $227, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,035. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Balaklava?
Balaklava is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Wakefield local government area.
What is the population of Balaklava?
At the 2021 Census, Balaklava had a population of about 2,083.
Is Balaklava an advantaged area?
Balaklava has an ABS SEIFA score of 898, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 11 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 11% of Australian suburbs.
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