Keith, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Keith is a service town in the Tatiara district of South Australia's Upper South East, about 225 kilometres south-east of Adelaide where the Dukes and Riddoch highways meet. First surveyed in 1884 as Mount Monster, after a nearby granite outcrop, it was renamed Keith in 1889 — most likely after the Scottish home of Lord Kintore, then Governor of South Australia. For decades the surrounding heath was considered poor 'desert' country, until CSIRO research in the 1940s showed that adding tiny amounts of trace elements could make the land productive, opening it up to farming. Keith now calls itself the lucerne capital of Australia and supports grain, grazing and a growing olive industry.
Less advantaged than the national average
Keith is more socio-economically advantaged than about 25% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 940, 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 Keith 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Keith 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
25/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (25/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
82/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $180 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 82% 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.
Keith at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,405
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,294
- SEIFA score
- 940
- Local government area
- Tatiara
- Coordinates
- -36.1435, 140.3426
Map of Keith
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Keith
What it costs to live in Keith and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $180
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $773
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 73%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 23%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Keith demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Keith demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Keith 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 mid-life (45–64) at 27% and 7% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 260 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 152 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 308 | 22% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 375 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 308 | 22% |
Share of the 1,403 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 222 | 40% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 182 | 33% |
| Rented | 126 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 547 | 99% |
| Townhouses & semis | 7 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 554 occupied private dwellings in Keith.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,754
- Median weekly personal income
- $746
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 95 (7%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 26 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 19 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 422 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 63.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.1%
- Employed full-time
- 430
- Employed part-time
- 244
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 Keith
Is Keith 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, Keith rates 44/100 overall (Below the national middle 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 Keith?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Keith was $180, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $773. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Keith?
Keith is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Tatiara local government area.
What is the population of Keith?
At the 2021 Census, Keith had a population of about 1,405.
Is Keith an advantaged area?
Keith has an ABS SEIFA score of 940, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 25 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 25% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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