Cleve, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Cleve is a service town on the central eastern Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, about 226 kilometres south-west of Port Augusta and 143 kilometres north of Port Lincoln, sheltered among the Cleve Hills. It was named after Cleve House, the Devon seat of the Snow family in England. The first European settlers, the McKechnie brothers, arrived in 1853; the town was surveyed in the late 1870s and gazetted in 1879, with a school following in 1886. Grain and wool from the surrounding dryland farms drive the local economy, and the Cleve Area School is known for its agricultural focus. The town hosts the biennial Eyre Peninsula Field Days each even-numbered August and keeps an Agricultural and Folk Museum.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Cleve is more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 925, 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.
Cleve at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 953
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,091
- SEIFA score
- 925
- Coordinates
- -33.7084, 136.5173
Cleve demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Cleve 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 29%, 19% of homes are rented, and 6% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 179 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 52 | 5% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 198 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 241 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 277 | 29% |
Share of the 947 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 181 | 48% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 110 | 29% |
| Rented | 72 | 19% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 381 | 98% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 389 occupied private dwellings in Cleve.
- Median weekly rent
- $165
- Median monthly mortgage
- $925
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,488
- Median weekly personal income
- $693
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 49 (6%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 14 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 12 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 297 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 56.2%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.8%
- Employed full-time
- 239
- Employed part-time
- 153
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.
Common questions about Cleve
Where is Cleve?
Cleve is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Cleve?
At the 2021 Census, Cleve had a population of about 953.
Is Cleve an advantaged area?
Cleve has an ABS SEIFA score of 925, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 19 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of Australian suburbs.
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