Coffin Bay, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Coffin Bay is a sheltered fishing and oyster town on the southern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, about 288km west of Adelaide and 36km west of Port Lincoln. The Nauo people are the traditional custodians, and their name for the place is recorded as 'Mudhabaga'; the English name was given by Matthew Flinders in 1802 in honour of his friend Sir Isaac Coffin. The modern town began as a holiday shack area surveyed in the 1950s and was formally laid out in 1957. Its calm, clean waters are renowned for Coffin Bay oysters, while the rugged Coffin Bay National Park — popular for camping, fishing and four-wheel driving — draws thousands of visitors over the holidays.
Less advantaged than the national average
Coffin Bay is more socio-economically advantaged than about 31% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 953, 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 Coffin Bay 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 Coffin Bay 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
31/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (31/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
53/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $273 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 53% 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.
Coffin Bay at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 664
- Median age
- 57
- Median weekly household income
- $1,254
- SEIFA score
- 953
- Local government area
- Lower Eyre Peninsula
- Coordinates
- -34.5805, 135.3204
Map of Coffin Bay
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Coffin Bay
What it costs to live in Coffin Bay and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $273
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,300
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 77%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 19%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Coffin Bay demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Coffin Bay demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Coffin Bay 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 34% and 13% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 85 | 13% |
| Youth (15–24) | 34 | 5% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 119 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 203 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 228 | 34% |
Share of the 669 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 135 | 48% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 83 | 29% |
| Rented | 55 | 19% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 280 | 97% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 289 occupied private dwellings in Coffin Bay.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,447
- Median weekly personal income
- $711
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 78 (13%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 22 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 23 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 226 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 48.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.5%
- Employed full-time
- 152
- Employed part-time
- 97
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 Coffin Bay
Is Coffin Bay 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, Coffin Bay rates 38/100 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 Coffin Bay?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Coffin Bay was $273, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,300. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Coffin Bay?
Coffin Bay is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Lower Eyre Peninsula local government area.
What is the population of Coffin Bay?
At the 2021 Census, Coffin Bay had a population of about 664.
Is Coffin Bay an advantaged area?
Coffin Bay has an ABS SEIFA score of 953, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 31 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 31% of Australian suburbs.
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