Beechworth, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Beechworth is a historic gold town in the ranges of north-east Victoria, about 285 kilometres from Melbourne and high enough — around 560 metres — to feel the cold in winter. Gold was found at Spring Creek in the early 1850s, and for a few rich years from 1852 the town was the administrative centre of the Ovens goldfield. The boom left behind one of Victoria's best-preserved nineteenth-century streetscapes, its honey-coloured granite and sandstone buildings still lining Ford Street. Beechworth also carries a thread of Ned Kelly history — the young bushranger was gaoled here and once fought a famous bare-knuckle bout in a hotel yard. Today it draws visitors for that heritage, its bakery and the granite country around it.
More advantaged than the national average
Beechworth is more socio-economically advantaged than about 60% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1004, 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 Beechworth 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Beechworth 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
60/100More advantaged than the national average
More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (60/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
47/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $300 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 47% 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.
Beechworth at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 4,274
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,401
- SEIFA score
- 1004
- Local government area
- Indigo
- Coordinates
- -36.3281, 146.6600
Map of Beechworth
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Beechworth
What it costs to live in Beechworth and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,550
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 76%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 20%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Beechworth demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Beechworth demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Beechworth 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 13% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 692 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 338 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 839 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,263 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,138 | 27% |
Share of the 4,270 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 759 | 45% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 527 | 31% |
| Rented | 346 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,585 | 94% |
| Townhouses & semis | 65 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 15 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,689 occupied private dwellings in Beechworth.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,880
- Median weekly personal income
- $767
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 511 (13%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 185 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 44 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,836 (53%)
- Labour-force participation
- 55.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.7%
- Employed full-time
- 995
- Employed part-time
- 761
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 Beechworth
Is Beechworth 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, Beechworth rates 56/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Beechworth?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Beechworth was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,550. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Beechworth?
Beechworth is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Indigo local government area.
What is the population of Beechworth?
At the 2021 Census, Beechworth had a population of about 4,274.
Is Beechworth an advantaged area?
Beechworth has an ABS SEIFA score of 1004, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 60 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 60% of Australian suburbs.
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