Charters Towers City, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Charters Towers is a historic gold town in northern Queensland, about 136 kilometres south-west of Townsville. Gold was found at Towers Hill on Christmas Eve 1871, a discovery credited to a young Aboriginal boy, Jupiter Mosman, who was travelling with prospectors. The field proved extraordinarily rich, yielding more than 200 tonnes of gold and ranking among Australia's most productive. During the boom from 1872 to 1899 the population reached around 27,000, making it one of the largest settlements in the colony outside Brisbane, with its own stock exchange. The town was reputedly nicknamed The World, because almost anything could be obtained there. It was named after the gold commissioner William Charters. Mining became uneconomical after 1917, and Charters Towers is now a noted boarding-school centre.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Charters Towers City is more socio-economically advantaged than about 5% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 858, 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 Charters Towers City 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.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Charters Towers City 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
5/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (5/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
71/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $220 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 71% 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.
Charters Towers City at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,219
- Median age
- 41
- Median weekly household income
- $1,078
- SEIFA score
- 858
- Local government area
- Charters Towers
- Coordinates
- -20.0764, 146.2591
Map of Charters Towers City
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Charters Towers City
What it costs to live in Charters Towers City and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $220
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,009
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 55%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 41%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Charters Towers City demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Charters Towers City demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Charters Towers City 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 mid-life (45–64) at 25% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 424 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 292 | 13% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 473 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 564 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 466 | 21% |
Share of the 2,219 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 281 | 33% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 186 | 22% |
| Rented | 353 | 41% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 737 | 86% |
| Townhouses & semis | 110 | 13% |
| Flats & apartments | 5 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 857 occupied private dwellings in Charters Towers City.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,507
- Median weekly personal income
- $601
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 172 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 97 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 277 (12%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 610 (36%)
- Labour-force participation
- 50.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 8.2%
- Employed full-time
- 479
- Employed part-time
- 279
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 Charters Towers City
Is Charters Towers City 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, Charters Towers City rates 27/100 overall (Lower 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 Charters Towers City?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Charters Towers City was $220, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,009. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Charters Towers City?
Charters Towers City is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Charters Towers local government area.
What is the population of Charters Towers City?
At the 2021 Census, Charters Towers City had a population of about 2,219.
Is Charters Towers City an advantaged area?
Charters Towers City has an ABS SEIFA score of 858, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 5 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 5% of Australian suburbs.
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