Dodges Ferry, TAS
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Dodges Ferry is a coastal town in south-eastern Tasmania, in the Sorell municipality about 37 kilometres east of Hobart and 13 kilometres south-east of Sorell, fronting Frederick Henry Bay. It takes its name from Ralph Dodge, who ran a ferry across Pitt Water from the 1820s. Gazetted as a locality in 1966, it grew from a cluster of holiday shacks into a permanent residential town from the 1960s onward. The town is best known for its beaches — among them Okines, Park, Carlton, Tiger Head and Red Ochre — with Park Beach popular for surfing. Fishing, boating and swimming in the sheltered bays remain the main draws, and the town fills with visitors over the warmer months.
Less advantaged than the national average
Dodges Ferry is more socio-economically advantaged than about 32% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 956, 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 Dodges Ferry 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 Dodges Ferry 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
32/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (32/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
34/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $340 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 34% 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.
Dodges Ferry at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,646
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,412
- SEIFA score
- 956
- Local government area
- Sorell
- Coordinates
- -42.8543, 147.6311
Map of Dodges Ferry
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Dodges Ferry
What it costs to live in Dodges Ferry and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $340
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,300
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 80%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 17%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Dodges Ferry demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Dodges Ferry demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Dodges Ferry 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 30% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 478 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 275 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 630 | 24% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 795 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 470 | 18% |
Share of the 2,648 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 352 | 34% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 478 | 46% |
| Rented | 178 | 17% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,024 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,028 occupied private dwellings in Dodges Ferry.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,716
- Median weekly personal income
- $775
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 231 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 76 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 103 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 937 (45%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.5%
- Employed full-time
- 679
- Employed part-time
- 500
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 Dodges Ferry
Is Dodges Ferry 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, Dodges Ferry rates 33/100 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 Dodges Ferry?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Dodges Ferry was $340, 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 Dodges Ferry?
Dodges Ferry is a suburb of Tasmania, Australia, in the Sorell local government area.
What is the population of Dodges Ferry?
At the 2021 Census, Dodges Ferry had a population of about 2,646.
Is Dodges Ferry an advantaged area?
Dodges Ferry has an ABS SEIFA score of 956, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 32 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 32% of Australian suburbs.
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