Hillston, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Hillston is a town in the western Riverina of New South Wales, on the Lachlan River about 683km west of Sydney and 110km north of Griffith. The district was originally called Redbank, said to come from the Wiradjuri word 'Melnunni' meaning 'red soil', and was renamed Hillston in 1869 after William Ward Hill, a local stockman. Explorer John Oxley passed nearby in 1817 and Hovell in 1839; an inn opened in 1863, the post office in 1869, and the municipality was proclaimed in 1888, with the railway arriving in 1923. Irrigation from the Lachlan supports livestock, grain, cotton, citrus and vegetables, and the tree-lined Lake Woorabinda sits at the town's edge.
Less advantaged than the national average
Hillston is more socio-economically advantaged than about 24% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 939, 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 Hillston 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 Hillston 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
24/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (24/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
71/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $220 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 71% 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.
Hillston at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,547
- Median age
- 36
- Median weekly household income
- $1,486
- SEIFA score
- 939
- Local government area
- Carrathool
- Coordinates
- -33.4435, 145.4775
Map of Hillston
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Hillston
What it costs to live in Hillston and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $220
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $901
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 55%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 35%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Hillston demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Hillston demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Hillston 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 young adults (25–44) at 32% and 21% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 285 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 146 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 494 | 32% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 381 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 243 | 16% |
Share of the 1,549 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 177 | 34% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 109 | 21% |
| Rented | 184 | 35% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 480 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 23 | 4% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 531 occupied private dwellings in Hillston.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,765
- Median weekly personal income
- $852
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 287 (21%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 227 (17%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 155 (10%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 473 (38%)
- Labour-force participation
- 63.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.6%
- Employed full-time
- 548
- Employed part-time
- 190
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 Hillston
Is Hillston 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, Hillston rates 40/100 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 Hillston?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Hillston was $220, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $901. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Hillston?
Hillston is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Carrathool local government area.
What is the population of Hillston?
At the 2021 Census, Hillston had a population of about 1,547.
Is Hillston an advantaged area?
Hillston has an ABS SEIFA score of 939, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 24 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 24% of Australian suburbs.
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