Grenfell, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Grenfell is a town in the Central West of New South Wales and the seat of the Weddin Shire, about 370 kilometres west of Sydney and roughly 55 kilometres from Cowra. The town grew out of an 1860s gold rush: payable gold was found in 1866, miners soon flocked in from the surrounding diggings, and for several years the field yielded more than a tonne of gold annually. Grenfell was proclaimed in 1867 and named after the gold commissioner John Granville Grenfell. Its most celebrated connection is literary, for the poet and short-story writer Henry Lawson was born on the goldfield here in 1867, an event marked by memorials around town. Nearby rise the Weddin Mountains, now a national park, while farming underpins the district today.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Grenfell is more socio-economically advantaged than about 16% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 915, 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 Grenfell 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 Grenfell 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
16/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (16/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
78/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $200 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 78% 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.
Grenfell at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,600
- Median age
- 54
- Median weekly household income
- $991
- SEIFA score
- 915
- Local government area
- Weddin
- Coordinates
- -33.9334, 148.1783
Map of Grenfell
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Grenfell
What it costs to live in Grenfell and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $200
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,083
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 74%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 21%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Grenfell demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Grenfell demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Grenfell 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 34% and 6% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 375 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 219 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 423 | 16% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 707 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 869 | 34% |
Share of the 2,593 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 561 | 50% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 272 | 24% |
| Rented | 231 | 21% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,031 | 92% |
| Townhouses & semis | 35 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 46 | 4% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,123 occupied private dwellings in Grenfell.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,370
- Median weekly personal income
- $554
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 153 (6%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 44 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 123 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 688 (32%)
- Labour-force participation
- 47.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.3%
- Employed full-time
- 583
- Employed part-time
- 357
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 Grenfell
Is Grenfell 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, Grenfell rates 37/100 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 Grenfell?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Grenfell was $200, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,083. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Grenfell?
Grenfell is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Weddin local government area.
What is the population of Grenfell?
At the 2021 Census, Grenfell had a population of about 2,600.
Is Grenfell an advantaged area?
Grenfell has an ABS SEIFA score of 915, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 16 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 16% of Australian suburbs.
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