Colonel Light Gardens, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Colonel Light Gardens is a planned garden suburb in the City of Mitcham, about seven kilometres south of central Adelaide. Following a national town-planning tour by the New Zealand planner Charles Reade, the South Australian government set out to create a model garden suburb here, and Reade went on to become the state's first official Town Planner. The suburb is named after Colonel William Light, the first Surveyor-General of Adelaide, and is known for its wide tree-lined streets, rounded corners, ornamental parks and well-kept postwar bungalows. For many years it was administered under its own Garden Suburb Act by an appointed commissioner rather than an ordinary council. Recognised for its heritage, the suburb was placed on the Register of the National Estate and later declared a State Heritage Area.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Colonel Light Gardens is more socio-economically advantaged than about 95% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1096, 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 Colonel Light Gardens 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.
Strong on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Colonel Light Gardens 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
95/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (95/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
20/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $400 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 20% 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.
Colonel Light Gardens at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 3,311
- Median age
- 42
- Median weekly household income
- $2,491
- SEIFA score
- 1096
- Local government area
- Mitcham
- Coordinates
- -34.9837, 138.5921
Map of Colonel Light Gardens
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Colonel Light Gardens
What it costs to live in Colonel Light Gardens and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $400
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,173
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 86%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 12%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Colonel Light Gardens demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Colonel Light Gardens demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Colonel Light Gardens 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 32% and 14% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 677 | 20% |
| Youth (15–24) | 446 | 13% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 655 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,057 | 32% |
| Seniors (65+) | 484 | 15% |
Share of the 3,319 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 478 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 523 | 45% |
| Rented | 134 | 12% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,056 | 91% |
| Townhouses & semis | 58 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 35 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,158 occupied private dwellings in Colonel Light Gardens.
- Average household size
- 2.8 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,929
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,042
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 476 (14%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 274 (8%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 19 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,866 (76%)
- Labour-force participation
- 72.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 1,040
- Employed part-time
- 723
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 Colonel Light Gardens
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Colonel Light Gardens is January (average daytime high around 27.9°C) and the coolest is July (around 14°C). The area receives roughly 711 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27.9°C | 17.5°C | 29 mm |
| Feb | 26.5°C | 17°C | 29 mm |
| Mar | 24.7°C | 16°C | 20 mm |
| Apr | 21.4°C | 14°C | 51 mm |
| May | 17.3°C | 11.7°C | 86 mm |
| Jun | 14.8°C | 9.6°C | 100 mm |
| Jul | 14°C | 8.9°C | 104 mm |
| Aug | 14.7°C | 8.8°C | 95 mm |
| Sep | 17.2°C | 10.2°C | 62 mm |
| Oct | 20.5°C | 11.9°C | 52 mm |
| Nov | 22.7°C | 13.6°C | 52 mm |
| Dec | 25.6°C | 15.6°C | 31 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Colonel Light Gardens
Is Colonel Light Gardens 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, Colonel Light Gardens rates 70/100 overall (Strong 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 Colonel Light Gardens?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Colonel Light Gardens was $400, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,173. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Colonel Light Gardens?
Colonel Light Gardens is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Mitcham local government area.
What is the population of Colonel Light Gardens?
At the 2021 Census, Colonel Light Gardens had a population of about 3,311.
Is Colonel Light Gardens an advantaged area?
Colonel Light Gardens has an ABS SEIFA score of 1096, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 95 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 95% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Colonel Light Gardens?
Colonel Light Gardens has average daytime highs of about 20.6°C and overnight lows of about 12.9°C, with roughly 711 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
Does Colonel Light Gardens have high household incomes?
Colonel Light Gardens has one of the highest median weekly household incomes in South Australia — the 11th-highest among suburbs with at least 1,000 residents at the 2021 Census ($2,491 per week).
Where Colonel Light Gardens ranks
Colonel Light Gardens appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.