Dalby, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Dalby is a rural town on the Darling Downs of southern Queensland, about 210 kilometres west-north-west of Brisbane and a little over 80 kilometres from Toowoomba. It grew up around a crossing of Myall Creek, a tributary of the Condamine River, on the Country of the Barunggam people. The town is thought to take its name from a village of Dalby on the Isle of Man, a name chosen by the surveyor Samuel Perry when he laid out the township in 1853. Settled from the early 1840s, Dalby was proclaimed a town in 1854 and reached by railway in 1868. Today it is the administrative centre of the Western Downs and the hub of one of Australia's richest grain and cotton districts, surrounded by wheat, sorghum and cattle country.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Dalby is more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 922, 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 Dalby 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 Dalby 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
18/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (18/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
57/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $260 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 57% 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.
Dalby at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 12,758
- Median age
- 35
- Median weekly household income
- $1,462
- SEIFA score
- 922
- Local government area
- Western Downs
- Coordinates
- -27.1411, 151.2497
Map of Dalby
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Dalby
What it costs to live in Dalby and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $260
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,300
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 63%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 35%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Dalby demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Dalby demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Dalby 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 young adults (25–44) at 25% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 2,884 | 23% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,706 | 13% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 3,168 | 25% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 3,037 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,966 | 15% |
Share of the 12,761 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,299 | 29% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,551 | 34% |
| Rented | 1,590 | 35% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 4,145 | 91% |
| Townhouses & semis | 357 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 11 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 4,545 occupied private dwellings in Dalby.
- Average household size
- 2.6 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,821
- Median weekly personal income
- $753
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,020 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 606 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 1,122 (9%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 4,182 (45%)
- Labour-force participation
- 62.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.8%
- Employed full-time
- 3,682
- Employed part-time
- 1,849
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 Dalby
Is Dalby 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, Dalby rates 31/100 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 Dalby?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Dalby was $260, 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 Dalby?
Dalby is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Western Downs local government area.
What is the population of Dalby?
At the 2021 Census, Dalby had a population of about 12,758.
Is Dalby an advantaged area?
Dalby has an ABS SEIFA score of 922, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 18 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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