Byford, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Byford sits on the south-eastern edge of the Perth metropolitan area, within the Shire of Serpentine-Jarrahdale. Few records survive of the area's first Aboriginal inhabitants, though physical evidence of their presence has turned up at sites across the district. The suburb's earliest name, Beenup, was a settler adaptation of an Aboriginal word linked to the nearby Beenyup Brook, and it was applied to a railway siding after the South Western Railway reached the district in 1892. Gazetted as a townsite in 1906, the settlement was renamed Byford in 1920 through a ballot of residents, who chose it over alternatives such as Beenyup and Glengeorge. For much of the twentieth century brickmaking from the local shale deposits drove the economy. In recent decades Byford has grown rapidly as Perth has expanded southward, and it gained a Metronet rail connection in 2025. Among its attractions are the long-established Cohunu Koala Park and a sculpture trail celebrating the town's history.
Around the national middle
Byford is more socio-economically advantaged than about 46% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 981, 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 Byford 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 Byford 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
46/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (46/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
23/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $380 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 23% 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.
Byford at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 18,878
- Median age
- 31
- Median weekly household income
- $2,059
- SEIFA score
- 981
- Local government area
- Serpentine-Jarrahdale
- Coordinates
- -32.2206, 115.9975
Map of Byford
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Byford
What it costs to live in Byford and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $380
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,898
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 83%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 15%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Byford demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Byford demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Byford 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 35% and 29% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 5,462 | 29% |
| Youth (15–24) | 2,066 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 6,609 | 35% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 3,370 | 18% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,373 | 7% |
Share of the 18,880 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 838 | 14% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 4,129 | 69% |
| Rented | 919 | 15% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 5,907 | 99% |
| Townhouses & semis | 68 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 5 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 5,984 occupied private dwellings in Byford.
- Average household size
- 3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,184
- Median weekly personal income
- $947
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 5,221 (29%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 2,818 (16%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 603 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 6,722 (52%)
- Labour-force participation
- 72.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.3%
- Employed full-time
- 5,908
- Employed part-time
- 2,800
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 Byford
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Byford is January (average daytime high around 31.8°C) and the coolest is July (around 16.7°C). The area receives roughly 738 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 31.8°C | 18.3°C | 20 mm |
| Feb | 31.4°C | 18.4°C | 24 mm |
| Mar | 28.9°C | 17.5°C | 41 mm |
| Apr | 24.4°C | 14.5°C | 47 mm |
| May | 20.3°C | 11.9°C | 86 mm |
| Jun | 17.7°C | 10.2°C | 115 mm |
| Jul | 16.7°C | 9.7°C | 143 mm |
| Aug | 17.2°C | 9.3°C | 120 mm |
| Sep | 19.1°C | 10.2°C | 65 mm |
| Oct | 21.8°C | 11.8°C | 42 mm |
| Nov | 26°C | 14.1°C | 26 mm |
| Dec | 29.9°C | 16.7°C | 9 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Byford
Is Byford a good place to live?
Byford’s Suburb Score of 46 (SEIFA 981) sits just below the national average — reflecting a trades-and-labourer workforce rather than a professional one — but its $2,059 median household income tells a more positive story, running ahead of both state and national medians on the back of an economy driven by skilled trades and iron ore rosters (3.0% of residents work in iron ore mining, roughly seven times the national rate). Since 13 October 2025 the suburb has a train station on the METRONET Armadale Line extension, putting the CBD 46 minutes away by rail — which shifts the calculus meaningfully for any household with a CBD commuter in it. The more honest read is one of transition: this is a suburb that was a genuine country town within living memory and is now a suburb of nearly 19,000, and the tension between the older horse-and-timber streets and the new estates (Byford on the Scarp, Sienna Wood) is real, not manufactured.
What is the median rent in Byford?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Byford was $380, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,898. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Byford?
Byford is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Serpentine-Jarrahdale local government area.
What is the population of Byford?
At the 2021 Census, Byford had a population of about 18,878.
Is Byford an advantaged area?
Byford has an ABS SEIFA score of 981, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 46 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 46% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Byford?
Byford has average daytime highs of about 23.8°C and overnight lows of about 13.6°C, with roughly 738 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
How big is Byford?
Byford is one of the most populous suburbs in Western Australia — the 9th-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 18,878 usual residents).
Where Byford ranks
Byford appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
More suburb guides in Western Australia
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.