Jandowae, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Jandowae is a wheat and grazing town on Queensland's Western Downs, about 51 kilometres north of Dalby and 132 kilometres north-west of Toowoomba. Its name is said to come from a local Aboriginal word for a waterhole, recorded as Jindowie; a traveller's camp kept by a man named John Dowiae later shaped the spelling, which settled when the railway arrived in 1914, partly to avoid confusion with nearby Jondaryan. This is one of Queensland's largest wheat-growing districts, with barley, sorghum and cattle alongside, and two large sawmills once worked here. A brick Anglican and Catholic church, plus a striking dingo sculpture marking the nearby Dingo Barrier Fence, are local landmarks, and the biennial Timbertown festival celebrates the town's timber heritage.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Jandowae is more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 851, 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 Jandowae 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 Jandowae 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
4/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (4/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
78/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $200 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 78% 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.
Jandowae at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,004
- Median age
- 53
- Median weekly household income
- $959
- SEIFA score
- 851
- Local government area
- Western Downs
- Coordinates
- -26.7270, 151.1779
Map of Jandowae
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Jandowae
What it costs to live in Jandowae and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $200
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $940
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 67%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 24%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Jandowae demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Jandowae demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Jandowae 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 7% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 168 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 67 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 161 | 16% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 287 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 313 | 31% |
Share of the 996 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 184 | 46% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 85 | 21% |
| Rented | 96 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 370 | 94% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 394 occupied private dwellings in Jandowae.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,204
- Median weekly personal income
- $495
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 61 (7%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 15 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 59 (6%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 204 (25%)
- Labour-force participation
- 43.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 9.2%
- Employed full-time
- 166
- Employed part-time
- 120
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 Jandowae
Is Jandowae 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, Jandowae rates 29/100 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 Jandowae?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Jandowae was $200, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $940. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Jandowae?
Jandowae is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Western Downs local government area.
What is the population of Jandowae?
At the 2021 Census, Jandowae had a population of about 1,004.
Is Jandowae an advantaged area?
Jandowae has an ABS SEIFA score of 851, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 4 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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