Ingham, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Ingham is a sugar town in tropical north Queensland, set on the floodplain of the Herbert River about 110 kilometres north of Townsville and the main centre of the Hinchinbrook Shire. The Ingham area lies in the Warrgamay language region and was home to its Aboriginal people before European settlement. The town was named after William Bairstow Ingham, an early sugar planter on the Herbert, and was gazetted in 1879 as cane farming spread across the rich river country. Sugar still defines the district, which is served by two large mills, while the town is famous for its strong Italian-Australian community, often called Little Italy, and for the Australian-Italian Festival held each August. Nearby, the Tyto Wetlands draw birdwatchers to the edge of town.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Ingham is more socio-economically advantaged than about 8% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 879, 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 Ingham 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.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Ingham 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
8/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (8/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
73/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $210 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 73% 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.
Ingham at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 4,455
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,028
- SEIFA score
- 879
- Local government area
- Hinchinbrook
- Coordinates
- -18.6535, 146.1531
Map of Ingham
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Ingham
What it costs to live in Ingham and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $210
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,083
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 62%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 33%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Ingham demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Ingham demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Ingham 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 29% and 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 700 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 455 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 850 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,168 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,282 | 29% |
Share of the 4,455 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 782 | 43% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 342 | 19% |
| Rented | 595 | 33% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,567 | 86% |
| Townhouses & semis | 141 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 94 | 5% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,820 occupied private dwellings in Ingham.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,407
- Median weekly personal income
- $606
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 417 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 304 (7%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 434 (10%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,359 (37%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.5%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.9%
- Employed full-time
- 1,030
- Employed part-time
- 601
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 Ingham
Is Ingham 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, Ingham rates 30/100 overall (Lower 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 Ingham?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Ingham was $210, 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 Ingham?
Ingham is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Hinchinbrook local government area.
What is the population of Ingham?
At the 2021 Census, Ingham had a population of about 4,455.
Is Ingham an advantaged area?
Ingham has an ABS SEIFA score of 879, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 8 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 8% of Australian suburbs.
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