Bourke, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Bourke is an outback town in north-western New South Wales, on the south bank of the Darling River about 800 kilometres from Sydney and the seat of Bourke Shire. The Ngemba people are recognised among the traditional landholders, and the district also adjoins Barkindji, Wangkumara and Muruwari country. The town is named after Governor Sir Richard Bourke, after the explorer Thomas Mitchell built a stockade he called Fort Bourke nearby in 1835. In the riverboat era it grew into a major wool port, with paddle steamers carrying the clip down the Darling, and the phrase 'back o' Bourke' came to mean the remote interior. The writer Henry Lawson worked here in 1892, and the eye surgeon Fred Hollows is buried in the town cemetery.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Bourke is more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 925, 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 Bourke 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 Bourke 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
19/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (19/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
82/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $180 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 82% 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.
Bourke at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,699
- Median age
- 35
- Median weekly household income
- $1,560
- SEIFA score
- 925
- Local government area
- Bourke
- Coordinates
- -30.1923, 146.0187
Map of Bourke
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Bourke
What it costs to live in Bourke and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $180
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $947
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 52%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 40%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Bourke demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Bourke demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Bourke 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 26% and 6% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 385 | 23% |
| Youth (15–24) | 197 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 445 | 26% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 422 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 236 | 14% |
Share of the 1,685 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 157 | 29% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 126 | 23% |
| Rented | 217 | 40% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 519 | 93% |
| Townhouses & semis | 10 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 14 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 558 occupied private dwellings in Bourke.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,898
- Median weekly personal income
- $860
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 89 (6%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 85 (6%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 577 (34%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 450 (35%)
- Labour-force participation
- 54.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.5%
- Employed full-time
- 494
- Employed part-time
- 144
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 Bourke
Is Bourke 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, Bourke rates 40/100 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 Bourke?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Bourke was $180, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $947. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Bourke?
Bourke is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bourke local government area.
What is the population of Bourke?
At the 2021 Census, Bourke had a population of about 1,699.
Is Bourke an advantaged area?
Bourke has an ABS SEIFA score of 925, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 19 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of Australian suburbs.
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