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.
Esperance at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,080
- Median age
- 52
- Median weekly household income
- $1,087
- SEIFA score
- 926
- Coordinates
- -33.8620, 121.8916
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%, 46% of homes are rented, 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.
- Median weekly rent
- $235
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,500
- 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.
Common questions about Esperance
Where is Esperance?
Esperance is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
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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