Foster, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Foster is a small town in South Gippsland, Victoria, about 174 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, and the main service centre on the road to Wilsons Promontory. The surrounding district is dairy and grazing country, and the town is widely known as a gateway for visitors heading to 'the Prom', Victoria's best-loved coastal national park. Foster began in the 1870s as a drovers' camp called Stockyard Creek, and a modest gold rush followed the discovery of gold nearby in the 1880s. It was renamed in 1879, reportedly after the local police magistrate William Foster, who is said to have remarked that he could not hold court in a creek. The railway reached the town in 1892.
Less advantaged than the national average
Foster is more socio-economically advantaged than about 26% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 943, 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.
Foster at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,044
- Median age
- 59
- Median weekly household income
- $975
- SEIFA score
- 943
- Coordinates
- -38.6758, 146.2079
Foster demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Foster 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 40%, 20% of homes are rented, and 15% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 240 | 12% |
| Youth (15–24) | 149 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 280 | 14% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 560 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 812 | 40% |
Share of the 2,041 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 493 | 55% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 174 | 19% |
| Rented | 176 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 784 | 88% |
| Townhouses & semis | 30 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 61 | 7% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 888 occupied private dwellings in Foster.
- Median weekly rent
- $240
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,348
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,434
- Median weekly personal income
- $566
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 273 (15%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 94 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 22 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 709 (40%)
- Labour-force participation
- 42.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.6%
- Employed full-time
- 348
- Employed part-time
- 320
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 Foster
Where is Foster?
Foster is a suburb of Victoria, Australia.
What is the population of Foster?
At the 2021 Census, Foster had a population of about 2,044.
Is Foster an advantaged area?
Foster has an ABS SEIFA score of 943, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 26 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 26% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
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