Julia Creek, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Julia Creek is a small outback town in north-west Queensland, on the Flinders Highway about 664 kilometres west of Townsville and 138 kilometres east of Cloncurry. An Aboriginal name for the nearby Williams River is Oorindi, said to mean stones. The town itself was named after a niece of Donald McIntyre, brother of the explorer Duncan McIntyre, who was among the first Europeans to settle the area around 1864. The township grew up around a railway terminus opened in 1907 as the line pushed west towards the Cloncurry copper mines. Cattle and sheep grazing the surrounding plains remain the mainstay, alongside mining nearby. Julia Creek is known for its Dirt n Dust Festival and as a stronghold of the tiny Julia Creek dunnart, an endangered marsupial found in the district.
Less advantaged than the national average
Julia Creek is more socio-economically advantaged than about 36% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 963, 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 Julia Creek 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 Julia Creek 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
36/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (36/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
91/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $129 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 91% 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.
Julia Creek at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 549
- Median age
- 37
- Median weekly household income
- $1,586
- SEIFA score
- 963
- Local government area
- McKinlay
- Coordinates
- -20.6402, 141.7098
Map of Julia Creek
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Julia Creek
What it costs to live in Julia Creek and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $129
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $625
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 57%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 27%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Julia Creek demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Julia Creek demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Julia Creek 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 4% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 111 | 20% |
| Youth (15–24) | 61 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 153 | 28% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 151 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 66 | 12% |
Share of the 542 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 72 | 39% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 33 | 18% |
| Rented | 50 | 27% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 149 | 78% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 191 occupied private dwellings in Julia Creek.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,107
- Median weekly personal income
- $963
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 19 (4%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 5 (1%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 30 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 183 (43%)
- Labour-force participation
- 68.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.3%
- Employed full-time
- 238
- Employed part-time
- 40
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 Julia Creek
Is Julia Creek 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, Julia Creek rates 54/100 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 Julia Creek?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Julia Creek was $129, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $625. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Julia Creek?
Julia Creek is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the McKinlay local government area.
What is the population of Julia Creek?
At the 2021 Census, Julia Creek had a population of about 549.
Is Julia Creek an advantaged area?
Julia Creek has an ABS SEIFA score of 963, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 36 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 36% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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