Braidwood, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Braidwood stands on the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, on the road between Canberra and the South Coast, on Yuin country in the lands of the Walbanga people. The town was named after Dr Thomas Braidwood Wilson, a naval surgeon who settled the district in 1836, and was surveyed in 1839. Gold drew crowds to the surrounding diggings from the 1850s, and the wealth of that era left a remarkably intact Georgian streetscape. In 2006 the whole town was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register for its original streetscape and architecture, and that period look has made it a favourite film location. Today Braidwood serves the grazing and forestry country around it.
Around the national middle
Braidwood is more socio-economically advantaged than about 55% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 995, 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 Braidwood 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 Braidwood 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
55/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (55/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
32/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $345 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 32% 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.
Braidwood at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,720
- Median age
- 50
- Median weekly household income
- $1,412
- SEIFA score
- 995
- Local government area
- Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional
- Coordinates
- -35.4275, 149.8077
Map of Braidwood
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Braidwood
What it costs to live in Braidwood and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $345
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,700
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 74%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 23%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Braidwood demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Braidwood demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Braidwood 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 30% and 14% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 274 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 132 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 346 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 464 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 511 | 30% |
Share of the 1,727 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 325 | 47% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 185 | 27% |
| Rented | 160 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 610 | 89% |
| Townhouses & semis | 58 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 687 occupied private dwellings in Braidwood.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,992
- Median weekly personal income
- $776
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 211 (14%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 72 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 18 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 748 (54%)
- Labour-force participation
- 54.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 436
- Employed part-time
- 268
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 Braidwood
Is Braidwood 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, Braidwood rates 47/100 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 Braidwood?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Braidwood was $345, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,700. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Braidwood?
Braidwood is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional local government area.
What is the population of Braidwood?
At the 2021 Census, Braidwood had a population of about 1,720.
Is Braidwood an advantaged area?
Braidwood has an ABS SEIFA score of 995, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 55 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 55% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in New South Wales
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