Coober Pedy, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Coober Pedy lies deep in the arid far-north of South Australia, more than 800 kilometres north-west of Adelaide on the long road to Alice Springs. Billing itself the opal capital of the world, the town is famous for the way its residents live: many homes, churches and even hotels are dug as cool 'dugouts' into the hillsides to escape the searing desert heat. Its lunar surrounds have stood in for other planets in films such as Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. The name is thought to come from the Kokatha words kupa piti, often translated as 'white man in a hole'. The area is the Country of the Kokatha, Yankunytjatjara and Antakirinja peoples.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Coober Pedy is more socio-economically advantaged than about 6% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 868, 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 Coober Pedy 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 Coober Pedy 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
6/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (6/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
85/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $163 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 85% 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.
Coober Pedy at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,566
- Median age
- 50
- Median weekly household income
- $764
- SEIFA score
- 868
- Local government area
- Unincorporated SA
- Coordinates
- -28.8966, 134.8014
Map of Coober Pedy
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Coober Pedy
What it costs to live in Coober Pedy and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $163
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $630
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 55%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 32%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Coober Pedy demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Coober Pedy demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Coober Pedy 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 28% and 33% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 189 | 12% |
| Youth (15–24) | 121 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 384 | 25% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 426 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 446 | 28% |
Share of the 1,566 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 279 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 93 | 14% |
| Rented | 221 | 32% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 592 | 88% |
| Townhouses & semis | 13 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 41 | 6% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 672 occupied private dwellings in Coober Pedy.
- Average household size
- 1.8 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,380
- Median weekly personal income
- $498
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 412 (33%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 347 (28%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 236 (15%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 461 (34%)
- Labour-force participation
- 43.2%
- Unemployment rate
- 11.7%
- Employed full-time
- 316
- Employed part-time
- 157
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 Coober Pedy
Is Coober Pedy 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, Coober Pedy rates 32/100 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 Coober Pedy?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Coober Pedy was $163, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $630. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Coober Pedy?
Coober Pedy is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Unincorporated SA local government area.
What is the population of Coober Pedy?
At the 2021 Census, Coober Pedy had a population of about 1,566.
Is Coober Pedy an advantaged area?
Coober Pedy has an ABS SEIFA score of 868, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 6 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 6% of Australian suburbs.
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