Coorow, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Coorow is a small wheatbelt town in the Mid West of Western Australia, about 264 kilometres north of Perth and the seat of the Shire of Coorow. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word, variously recorded as 'Curro', for a kind of native portulaca, or as a term meaning 'many mists'. The townsite was gazetted in 1893 and grew through the 1920s and 1930s as the surrounding country was opened up for grain growing. The Coorow Hotel was built in 1929 and 1930, and the Wheat Pool of Western Australia installed grain elevators here in 1932, with the railway carrying the district's harvest to port. Heavy rains flooded the town in 1918 and again in 1932. Grain farming still underpins the local economy today.
Less advantaged than the national average
Coorow is more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 933, 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.
Coorow at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 179
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,300
- SEIFA score
- 933
- Coordinates
- -29.8801, 116.0179
Coorow demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Coorow 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 29%, 18% of homes are rented, and 12% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 20 | 11% |
| Youth (15–24) | 21 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 47 | 26% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 53 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 41 | 23% |
Share of the 182 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 32 | 44% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 17 | 24% |
| Rented | 13 | 18% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 69 | 92% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 75 occupied private dwellings in Coorow.
- Median weekly rent
- $150
- Median monthly mortgage
- $625
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,687
- Median weekly personal income
- $741
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 18 (12%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 9 (6%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 10 (6%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 58 (38%)
- Labour-force participation
- 63%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.1%
- Employed full-time
- 59
- Employed part-time
- 28
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 Coorow
Where is Coorow?
Coorow is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Coorow?
At the 2021 Census, Coorow had a population of about 179.
Is Coorow an advantaged area?
Coorow has an ABS SEIFA score of 933, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 22 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of Australian suburbs.
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