Carnamah, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Carnamah is a small farming town in the Mid West of Western Australia, about 307 kilometres north of Perth along the old Midlands road. It takes its name from a pastoral property established by Duncan Macpherson in the late 1860s, which in turn was named after Carnamah Spring; the word's meaning is uncertain, perhaps Aboriginal or possibly a Gaelic phrase rendered as 'cairn of the cattle'. A telegraph station opened in 1873, the Midland railway arrived in 1894, and the townsite was gazetted in 1913. Today it is a wheat and sheep district served by bulk grain handling. In 2024 the town unveiled a five-to-one scale replica of a Chamberlain tractor, billed as the world's largest tractor sculpture.
Less advantaged than the national average
Carnamah is more socio-economically advantaged than about 35% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 961, 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 Carnamah 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Carnamah 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
35/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (35/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
89/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $150 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 89% 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.
Carnamah at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 407
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,350
- SEIFA score
- 961
- Local government area
- Carnamah
- Coordinates
- -29.7122, 115.9541
Map of Carnamah
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Carnamah
What it costs to live in Carnamah and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $150
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $867
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 58%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 28%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Carnamah demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Carnamah demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Carnamah 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 28% and 12% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 64 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 30 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 117 | 28% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 111 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 96 | 23% |
Share of the 418 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 72 | 44% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 23 | 14% |
| Rented | 46 | 28% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 152 | 93% |
| Townhouses & semis | 3 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 5 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 164 occupied private dwellings in Carnamah.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,875
- Median weekly personal income
- $823
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 41 (12%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 12 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 14 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 127 (37%)
- Labour-force participation
- 56.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.1%
- Employed full-time
- 128
- Employed part-time
- 50
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 Carnamah
Is Carnamah 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, Carnamah rates 53/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Carnamah?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Carnamah was $150, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $867. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Carnamah?
Carnamah is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Carnamah local government area.
What is the population of Carnamah?
At the 2021 Census, Carnamah had a population of about 407.
Is Carnamah an advantaged area?
Carnamah has an ABS SEIFA score of 961, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 35 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 35% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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