Crescent Head, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Crescent Head is a surfing and fishing town on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, about 340 kilometres north of Sydney and east of Kempsey, in the Kempsey Shire. The coast here was noted as early as 1833 in a colonial post office directory, and the settlement was officially declared a village in 1894. Fishing and tourism have long underpinned the town, but it is best known to surfers: from the 1960s and 1970s it earned a reputation as one of Australia's classic longboard breaks, and it still hosts the annual Malibu Classic. Around the town lie sandy beaches, a small golf course, the Goolawah and Limeburners Creek national parks, and rainforest walks, with whales passing offshore in winter and spring.
Around the national middle
Crescent Head is more socio-economically advantaged than about 40% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 970, 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.
Crescent Head at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,633
- Median age
- 50
- Median weekly household income
- $1,317
- SEIFA score
- 970
- Coordinates
- -31.2219, 152.9282
Crescent Head demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Crescent Head 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%, 24% of homes are rented, and 12% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 248 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 126 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 312 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 516 | 32% |
| Seniors (65+) | 418 | 26% |
Share of the 1,620 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 332 | 51% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 147 | 22% |
| Rented | 159 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 534 | 82% |
| Townhouses & semis | 58 | 9% |
| Flats & apartments | 47 | 7% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 649 occupied private dwellings in Crescent Head.
- Median weekly rent
- $320
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,591
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,546
- Median weekly personal income
- $674
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 180 (12%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 67 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 128 (8%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 644 (48%)
- Labour-force participation
- 52.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.6%
- Employed full-time
- 304
- Employed part-time
- 311
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 Crescent Head
Where is Crescent Head?
Crescent Head is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia.
What is the population of Crescent Head?
At the 2021 Census, Crescent Head had a population of about 1,633.
Is Crescent Head an advantaged area?
Crescent Head has an ABS SEIFA score of 970, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 40 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 40% of Australian suburbs.
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