Burnie, TAS
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Burnie is a port city on Tasmania's north-west coast, built around the broad curve of Emu Bay roughly 150 kilometres from Launceston. Founded in 1827 as Emu Bay, it was renamed in the early 1840s after William Burnie, a director of the Van Diemen's Land Company that opened up the district. The fourth-largest of Tasmania's cities, it grew on its deep-water port and on paper and timber, though the big pulp mill closed in 2010 and the city has since leaned into renewable energy, education, and the arts. The Makers' Workshop and Burnie Arts centre, a working harbour, and little penguins that come ashore at dusk along the nearby coast give the city its character.
Less advantaged than the national average
Burnie is more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 935, 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 Burnie 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 Burnie 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
65/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $240 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 65% 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.
Burnie at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 693
- Median age
- 42
- Median weekly household income
- $1,064
- SEIFA score
- 935
- Local government area
- Burnie
- Coordinates
- -41.0541, 145.9048
Map of Burnie
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Burnie
What it costs to live in Burnie and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $240
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,083
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 48%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 50%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Burnie demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Burnie demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Burnie 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 30% and 20% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 75 | 11% |
| Youth (15–24) | 74 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 205 | 30% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 171 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 158 | 23% |
Share of the 683 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 110 | 31% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 60 | 17% |
| Rented | 178 | 50% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 225 | 62% |
| Townhouses & semis | 63 | 17% |
| Flats & apartments | 64 | 18% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 364 occupied private dwellings in Burnie.
- Average household size
- 1.8 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,687
- Median weekly personal income
- $710
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 130 (20%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 81 (12%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 51 (7%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 320 (54%)
- Labour-force participation
- 58%
- Unemployment rate
- 6.5%
- Employed full-time
- 182
- Employed part-time
- 130
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.
Weather and climate in Burnie
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Burnie is January (average daytime high around 16°C) and the coolest is August (around 6.7°C). The area receives roughly 1046 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 16°C | 8.2°C | 72 mm |
| Feb | 15.1°C | 7.9°C | 59 mm |
| Mar | 13.6°C | 7.1°C | 78 mm |
| Apr | 11.2°C | 5.1°C | 69 mm |
| May | 8.7°C | 3.4°C | 113 mm |
| Jun | 7.1°C | 2.2°C | 110 mm |
| Jul | 6.3°C | 1.6°C | 132 mm |
| Aug | 6.7°C | 0.9°C | 97 mm |
| Sep | 8.1°C | 1.8°C | 80 mm |
| Oct | 10°C | 3°C | 104 mm |
| Nov | 11.9°C | 4.8°C | 60 mm |
| Dec | 13.9°C | 6.3°C | 72 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Burnie
Is Burnie 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, Burnie rates 37/100 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 Burnie?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Burnie was $240, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,083. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Burnie?
Burnie is a suburb of Tasmania, Australia, in the Burnie local government area.
What is the population of Burnie?
At the 2021 Census, Burnie had a population of about 693.
Is Burnie an advantaged area?
Burnie has an ABS SEIFA score of 935, 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.
What is the weather like in Burnie?
Burnie has average daytime highs of about 10.7°C and overnight lows of about 4.4°C, with roughly 1,046 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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