Bruce Rock, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Bruce Rock is a small wheatbelt town in Western Australia, about 243 kilometres east of Perth and 49 kilometres south-west of Merredin. Originally known by the Aboriginal name Nunagin, the town and district were renamed after a nearby granite outcrop, Bruce's Rock, which in turn recalled John Rufus Bruce, a sandalwood cutter who worked the area in 1879. The townsite was gazetted in 1913, and grain handling has anchored the local economy ever since, with the wheat, barley and lupins of the surrounding farms still delivered to a bulk receival point in town. A tidy, well-kept place, Bruce Rock won the wheatbelt division of Australia's Tidy Towns award in 2003.
Less advantaged than the national average
Bruce Rock is more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 937, 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 Bruce Rock 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 Bruce Rock 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
23/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (23/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
85/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $160 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 85% 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.
Bruce Rock at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 742
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,236
- SEIFA score
- 937
- Local government area
- Bruce Rock
- Coordinates
- -31.8601, 118.1424
Map of Bruce Rock
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Bruce Rock
What it costs to live in Bruce Rock and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $160
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $737
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 67%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 23%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Bruce Rock demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Bruce Rock demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Bruce Rock 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 11% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 142 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 58 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 150 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 172 | 23% |
| Seniors (65+) | 223 | 30% |
Share of the 745 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 124 | 47% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 52 | 20% |
| Rented | 62 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 224 | 85% |
| Townhouses & semis | 18 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 262 occupied private dwellings in Bruce Rock.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,699
- Median weekly personal income
- $746
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 73 (11%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 33 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 34 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 227 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 51.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.2%
- Employed full-time
- 206
- Employed part-time
- 76
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 Bruce Rock
Is Bruce Rock 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, Bruce Rock rates 44/100 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 Bruce Rock?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Bruce Rock was $160, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $737. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Bruce Rock?
Bruce Rock is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Bruce Rock local government area.
What is the population of Bruce Rock?
At the 2021 Census, Bruce Rock had a population of about 742.
Is Bruce Rock an advantaged area?
Bruce Rock has an ABS SEIFA score of 937, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 23 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of Australian suburbs.
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