Inverell, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Inverell lies on the Macintyre River in the New England region of northern New South Wales, roughly 570 kilometres north of Sydney and not far from the Queensland border. The Jukambal and Weraerai peoples lived in and occupied the district long before European settlement. Pastoralist Alexander Campbell took up a run he called Inverell around 1838, drawing on Scottish Gaelic words said to mean a meeting place of the swans, from a word for a river confluence and another for swan. A store opened in 1853 and the town was surveyed in 1858. Inverell is widely known as the Sapphire City, a nod to the rich gemfields worked from 1919 onward. It also hosts the gruelling Grafton to Inverell Cycle Classic and lies near Copeton Dam.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Inverell is more socio-economically advantaged than about 11% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 896, 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 Inverell 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 Inverell 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
11/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (11/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
55/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $270 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 55% 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.
Inverell at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 12,057
- Median age
- 41
- Median weekly household income
- $1,187
- SEIFA score
- 896
- Local government area
- Inverell
- Coordinates
- -29.7623, 151.1127
Map of Inverell
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Inverell
What it costs to live in Inverell and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $270
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,250
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 63%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 32%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Inverell demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Inverell demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Inverell 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 23% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 2,358 | 20% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,407 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 2,728 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 2,778 | 23% |
| Seniors (65+) | 2,791 | 23% |
Share of the 12,062 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,636 | 35% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,295 | 28% |
| Rented | 1,499 | 32% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 4,041 | 87% |
| Townhouses & semis | 465 | 10% |
| Flats & apartments | 57 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 4,629 occupied private dwellings in Inverell.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,492
- Median weekly personal income
- $666
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 882 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 604 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 1,319 (11%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 3,359 (36%)
- Labour-force participation
- 52.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 6.3%
- Employed full-time
- 2,871
- Employed part-time
- 1,616
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 Inverell
Is Inverell 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, Inverell rates 26/100 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 Inverell?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Inverell was $270, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,250. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Inverell?
Inverell is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Inverell local government area.
What is the population of Inverell?
At the 2021 Census, Inverell had a population of about 12,057.
Is Inverell an advantaged area?
Inverell has an ABS SEIFA score of 896, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 11 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 11% of Australian suburbs.
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