Joondalup, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Joondalup is the thriving urban centre of Perth's outer north, about twenty-six kilometres from the city and the heart of the regional City of Joondalup. Unlike Perth's older suburbs, it is largely a planned creation: the 1970 Corridor Plan earmarked the area as one of a handful of 'sub-regional' centres meant to draw activity away from the CBD, yet the land stayed mostly undeveloped until houses and businesses arrived through the late 1980s and early 1990s, earning it the nickname 'city of the north'. It takes its name from Lake Joondalup on its eastern edge — a Noongar word first written down in 1837 and thought to mean either 'place of glistening' or, more curiously, 'place of a creature that can only move backwards'. The Yellagonga Regional Park frames the lake.
More advantaged than the national average
Joondalup is more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1009, 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 Joondalup 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 Joondalup 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
63/100More advantaged than the national average
More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (63/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
27/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $360 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 27% 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.
Joondalup at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 9,193
- Median age
- 39
- Median weekly household income
- $1,688
- SEIFA score
- 1009
- Local government area
- Joondalup
- Coordinates
- -31.7401, 115.7709
Map of Joondalup
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Joondalup
What it costs to live in Joondalup and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $360
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,733
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 57%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 41%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Joondalup demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Joondalup demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Joondalup 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 28% and 48% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,195 | 13% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,416 | 15% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 2,600 | 28% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 2,406 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,583 | 17% |
Share of the 9,200 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 866 | 24% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,177 | 33% |
| Rented | 1,461 | 41% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,037 | 57% |
| Townhouses & semis | 679 | 19% |
| Flats & apartments | 847 | 24% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 3,585 occupied private dwellings in Joondalup.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,144
- Median weekly personal income
- $815
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 4,207 (48%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 1,555 (18%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 98 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 4,893 (63%)
- Labour-force participation
- 65%
- Unemployment rate
- 6%
- Employed full-time
- 2,844
- Employed part-time
- 1,762
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.
Weather and climate in Joondalup
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Joondalup is February (average daytime high around 29.5°C) and the coolest is August (around 17.7°C). The area receives roughly 614 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 29.4°C | 19.4°C | 24 mm |
| Feb | 29.5°C | 19.6°C | 19 mm |
| Mar | 27.8°C | 18.7°C | 39 mm |
| Apr | 24.1°C | 15.7°C | 39 mm |
| May | 20.7°C | 12.8°C | 73 mm |
| Jun | 18.3°C | 11.4°C | 98 mm |
| Jul | 17.4°C | 11.2°C | 113 mm |
| Aug | 17.7°C | 10.5°C | 97 mm |
| Sep | 19.1°C | 11.5°C | 47 mm |
| Oct | 21.6°C | 13.3°C | 38 mm |
| Nov | 24.8°C | 15.6°C | 19 mm |
| Dec | 27.7°C | 18°C | 8 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Joondalup
Is Joondalup a good place to live?
Joondalup scores 63/100 (SEIFA 1,009, just above the national average) and sits at the centre of Perth’s northern regional hub — the Joondalup Station and the Joondalup CBD give it infrastructure at a scale very few outer Perth suburbs have. Median household income of $1,688 is modestly below the state average, which is a reminder that Joondalup the suburb is not simply Joondalup the city — the suburb houses service and retail workers as much as the professionals who commute through it, and 48% born overseas reflects the diversity of that workforce. It is a genuinely practical suburb with a real town centre, good rail, Edith Cowan University, and the northern hospital campus.
What is the median rent in Joondalup?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Joondalup was $360, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,733. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Joondalup?
Joondalup is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Joondalup local government area.
What is the population of Joondalup?
At the 2021 Census, Joondalup had a population of about 9,193.
Is Joondalup an advantaged area?
Joondalup has an ABS SEIFA score of 1009, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 63 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Joondalup?
Joondalup has average daytime highs of about 23.2°C and overnight lows of about 14.8°C, with roughly 614 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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