Hawker (SA), SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Hawker is a small town in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, about 365 kilometres north of Adelaide and some 55 kilometres south of the great natural amphitheatre of Wilpena Pound. It was surveyed and proclaimed in 1880 and named after George Charles Hawker, a pastoralist and member of the South Australian parliament who had taken up sheep country in the district decades earlier. For its first seventy years Hawker thrived as a station on the old Central Australia Railway, until the line was rerouted to the west in the 1950s and the trains stopped coming. Surrounded by arid pastoral country, the town now lives largely on tourism, serving as a southern gateway for travellers heading into Wilpena Pound and the rugged northern Flinders Ranges.
Less advantaged than the national average
Hawker (SA) is more socio-economically advantaged than about 30% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 952, 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 Hawker (SA) 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Hawker (SA) 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
30/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (30/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
89/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $144 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 89% 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.
Hawker (SA) at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 301
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $1,160
- SEIFA score
- 952
- Local government area
- Flinders Ranges
- Coordinates
- -31.8579, 138.4598
Map of Hawker (SA)
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Hawker (SA)
What it costs to live in Hawker (SA) and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $144
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $685
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 60%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 32%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Hawker (SA) demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Hawker (SA) demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Hawker (SA) 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 31% and 14% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 49 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 10 | 3% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 65 | 22% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 78 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 92 | 31% |
Share of the 294 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 51 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 24 | 19% |
| Rented | 40 | 32% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 109 | 88% |
| Townhouses & semis | 5 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 124 occupied private dwellings in Hawker (SA).
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,778
- Median weekly personal income
- $705
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 40 (14%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 37 (14%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 48 (16%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 99 (41%)
- Labour-force participation
- 63.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.4%
- Employed full-time
- 92
- Employed part-time
- 49
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 Hawker (SA)
Is Hawker (SA) 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, Hawker (SA) rates 50/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Hawker (SA)?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Hawker (SA) was $144, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $685. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Hawker (SA)?
Hawker (SA) is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Flinders Ranges local government area.
What is the population of Hawker (SA)?
At the 2021 Census, Hawker (SA) had a population of about 301.
Is Hawker (SA) an advantaged area?
Hawker (SA) has an ABS SEIFA score of 952, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 30 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 30% of Australian suburbs.
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