Kimba, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Kimba stands on the Eyre Highway near the top of South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, about 282 kilometres north-west of Adelaide, and likes to bill itself as the halfway point across the continent, a claim marked by a towering galah statue beside the road. The town was built on Barngarla land, and its name is said to come from a local Aboriginal word for bushfire. The explorer Edward John Eyre passed through in 1839, pastoral leases followed from the 1870s, wheat farming took hold early in the twentieth century, the railway arrived in 1913, and the township was proclaimed in 1915. Grain growing and merino sheep underpin the district today, while the Big Galah, painted grain silos and an annual art prize draw passing travellers.
Less advantaged than the national average
Kimba is more socio-economically advantaged than about 25% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 942, 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 Kimba 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 Kimba 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
90/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $139 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 90% 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.
Kimba at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 608
- Median age
- 50
- Median weekly household income
- $1,234
- SEIFA score
- 942
- Local government area
- Kimba
- Coordinates
- -33.1327, 136.4128
Map of Kimba
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Kimba
What it costs to live in Kimba and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $139
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $852
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 75%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 21%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Kimba demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Kimba demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Kimba 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 32% and 7% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 94 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 42 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 126 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 143 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 187 | 32% |
Share of the 592 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 121 | 49% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 63 | 26% |
| Rented | 52 | 21% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 237 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 4 | 2% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 246 occupied private dwellings in Kimba.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,687
- Median weekly personal income
- $728
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 37 (7%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 16 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 10 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 167 (34%)
- Labour-force participation
- 56.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.1%
- Employed full-time
- 170
- Employed part-time
- 88
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 Kimba
Is Kimba 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, Kimba rates 47/100 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 Kimba?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Kimba was $139, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $852. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Kimba?
Kimba is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Kimba local government area.
What is the population of Kimba?
At the 2021 Census, Kimba had a population of about 608.
Is Kimba an advantaged area?
Kimba has an ABS SEIFA score of 942, 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.
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