Esperance, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Esperance sits on the southern coast of Western Australia, about 720 kilometres south-east of Perth, scattered with some of the country's whitest sand and clearest turquoise water. The beaches of nearby Cape Le Grand National Park — Lucky Bay among them — are famous for the kangaroos that laze on the sand, while the Recherche Archipelago dots the bay offshore and a deep-water port ships the surrounding wheat harvest. The town took its name from the French ship Espérance, which sheltered here from a storm in 1792. It lies on the Country of the Wudjari people, part of the wider Noongar nation, who know the area as Kepa Kurl — 'where the waters lie like boomerangs'.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Esperance is more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 926, 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 Esperance 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Esperance 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
19/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (19/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
66/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $235 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 66% 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.
Esperance at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,080
- Median age
- 52
- Median weekly household income
- $1,087
- SEIFA score
- 926
- Local government area
- Esperance
- Coordinates
- -33.8620, 121.8916
Map of Esperance
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Esperance
What it costs to live in Esperance and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $235
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,500
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 47%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 46%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Esperance demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Esperance demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Esperance 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 32% and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 279 | 13% |
| Youth (15–24) | 179 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 447 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 512 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 666 | 32% |
Share of the 2,083 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 280 | 31% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 147 | 16% |
| Rented | 413 | 46% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 572 | 63% |
| Townhouses & semis | 252 | 28% |
| Flats & apartments | 77 | 8% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 910 occupied private dwellings in Esperance.
- Average household size
- 1.9 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,956
- Median weekly personal income
- $696
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 358 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 109 (6%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 55 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 694 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.2%
- Employed full-time
- 522
- Employed part-time
- 267
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 Esperance
Is Esperance 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, Esperance rates 35/100 overall (Below the national middle 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 Esperance?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Esperance was $235, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,500. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Esperance?
Esperance is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Esperance local government area.
What is the population of Esperance?
At the 2021 Census, Esperance had a population of about 2,080.
Is Esperance an advantaged area?
Esperance has an ABS SEIFA score of 926, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 19 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 19% of Australian suburbs.
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