Jabiru, NT
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Jabiru is a small town in the Top End of the Northern Territory, about 250 kilometres east of Darwin and completely surrounded by Kakadu National Park, within the West Arnhem region. It is named after the black-necked stork, widely known in Australia as the jabiru. The town was purpose-built in the early 1980s to house workers at the nearby Ranger uranium mine and to serve the growing flow of visitors to Kakadu. The Mirarr people are the recognised traditional owners of the area, and the township was formally handed back to them in 2021. Today Jabiru is the main service centre for Kakadu tourism, and its best-known landmark is the crocodile-shaped Gagudju Crocodile Hotel.
Around the national middle
Jabiru is more socio-economically advantaged than about 45% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 979, 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 Jabiru 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 Jabiru 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
45/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (45/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
98/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $65 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 98% 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.
Jabiru at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 755
- Median age
- 34
- Median weekly household income
- $2,090
- SEIFA score
- 979
- Local government area
- West Arnhem
- Coordinates
- -12.6700, 132.8372
Map of Jabiru
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Jabiru
What it costs to live in Jabiru and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $65
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,400
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 5%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 68%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Jabiru demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Jabiru demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Jabiru 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 33% and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 170 | 22% |
| Youth (15–24) | 77 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 251 | 33% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 232 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 32 | 4% |
Share of the 762 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 9 | 3% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 6 | 2% |
| Rented | 179 | 68% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 148 | 56% |
| Townhouses & semis | 70 | 27% |
| Flats & apartments | 28 | 11% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 262 occupied private dwellings in Jabiru.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,329
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,268
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 122 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 133 (20%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 207 (27%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 275 (48%)
- Labour-force participation
- 70.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.7%
- Employed full-time
- 306
- Employed part-time
- 55
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 Jabiru
Is Jabiru 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, Jabiru rates 63/100 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 Jabiru?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Jabiru was $65, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,400. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Jabiru?
Jabiru is a suburb of Northern Territory, Australia, in the West Arnhem local government area.
What is the population of Jabiru?
At the 2021 Census, Jabiru had a population of about 755.
Is Jabiru an advantaged area?
Jabiru has an ABS SEIFA score of 979, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 45 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 45% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Northern Territory
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