Benalla, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Benalla is a city in the Hume region of north-eastern Victoria, set on the Broken River about 212 kilometres north-east of Melbourne, with the Hume Freeway now bypassing it to the south. It lies on the traditional country of the Taungurung people. Known as the Rose City, it is also a centre for public art: the Benalla Art Gallery sits beside Lake Benalla, and more than fifty murals make up a street art trail fed by the annual Wall to Wall festival held since 2015. Hamilton Hume and William Hovell passed through in 1824; a post office opened in 1844, the town was surveyed in 1849, and Benalla was proclaimed a city in 1965. Farming services, tourism, manufacturing and gliding all sustain it today.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Benalla is more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 922, 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 Benalla 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 Benalla 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
18/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (18/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
63/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $250 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 63% 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.
Benalla at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 10,822
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $1,142
- SEIFA score
- 922
- Local government area
- Benalla
- Coordinates
- -36.5734, 146.0068
Map of Benalla
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Benalla
What it costs to live in Benalla and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $250
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,253
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 69%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 26%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Benalla demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Benalla demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Benalla 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 31% and 11% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,512 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,043 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 2,101 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 2,811 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 3,345 | 31% |
Share of the 10,812 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,953 | 42% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,241 | 27% |
| Rented | 1,190 | 26% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 3,973 | 86% |
| Townhouses & semis | 583 | 13% |
| Flats & apartments | 7 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 4,606 occupied private dwellings in Benalla.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,521
- Median weekly personal income
- $645
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,058 (11%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 459 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 218 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 3,533 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 2,439
- Employed part-time
- 1,613
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 Benalla
Is Benalla 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, Benalla rates 33/100 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 Benalla?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Benalla was $250, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,253. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Benalla?
Benalla is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Benalla local government area.
What is the population of Benalla?
At the 2021 Census, Benalla had a population of about 10,822.
Is Benalla an advantaged area?
Benalla has an ABS SEIFA score of 922, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 18 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
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