Kalbar, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Kalbar is a small farming town in the Fassifern Valley of the Scenic Rim, in south-east Queensland about 80km south-west of Brisbane. It was settled largely by German families from the 1870s and first known as Engelsburg, after a local storekeeper; during the First World War, amid anti-German feeling, the town was renamed Kalbar in 1916. The rich volcanic soils made it noted potato country, celebrated for decades in the Fassifern Potato Festival and today in the annual Kalbar Country Day. The heritage-listed St John's Lutheran Church reflects the town's German roots, and the engineer John Bradfield, later renowned for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, began his schooling here.
Less advantaged than the national average
Kalbar is more socio-economically advantaged than about 20% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 929, 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 Kalbar 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 Kalbar 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
20/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (20/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
47/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $300 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 47% 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.
Kalbar at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,246
- Median age
- 41
- Median weekly household income
- $1,275
- SEIFA score
- 929
- Local government area
- Scenic Rim
- Coordinates
- -27.9387, 152.6110
Map of Kalbar
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Kalbar
What it costs to live in Kalbar and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,363
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 81%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 18%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Kalbar demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Kalbar demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Kalbar 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 24% and 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 244 | 20% |
| Youth (15–24) | 130 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 300 | 24% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 301 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 264 | 21% |
Share of the 1,239 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 196 | 45% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 156 | 36% |
| Rented | 79 | 18% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 436 | 99% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 440 occupied private dwellings in Kalbar.
- Average household size
- 2.6 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,562
- Median weekly personal income
- $631
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 111 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 36 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 61 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 415 (44%)
- Labour-force participation
- 56.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.1%
- Employed full-time
- 312
- Employed part-time
- 183
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 Kalbar
Is Kalbar 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, Kalbar 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 Kalbar?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Kalbar was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,363. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Kalbar?
Kalbar is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Scenic Rim local government area.
What is the population of Kalbar?
At the 2021 Census, Kalbar had a population of about 1,246.
Is Kalbar an advantaged area?
Kalbar has an ABS SEIFA score of 929, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 20 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 20% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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