Laidley, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Laidley is a town in the Lockyer Valley of south-east Queensland, about 84 kilometres west of Brisbane and 57 kilometres east of Toowoomba. The Ugarapul people are the traditional owners of the Lockyer Valley. The district was named Laidley Plains in 1829 by the botanical explorer Allan Cunningham, after James Laidley, a senior colonial official. Blessed with rich alluvial soils, the surrounding valley is one of Australia's most productive vegetable-growing areas, sometimes called Queensland's Country Garden, and supplies a large share of the nation's carrots, potatoes and beetroot. The town began as a stop on the wagon road between Ipswich and Toowoomba and keeps its history at the Laidley Pioneer Village and the Das Neumann Haus museum.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Laidley is more socio-economically advantaged than about 3% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 834, 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 Laidley 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 Laidley 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
3/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (3/100) 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.
Laidley at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 3,809
- Median age
- 48
- Median weekly household income
- $939
- SEIFA score
- 834
- Local government area
- Lockyer Valley
- Coordinates
- -27.6396, 152.4133
Map of Laidley
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Laidley
What it costs to live in Laidley and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,155
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 57%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 35%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Laidley demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Laidley demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Laidley 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 29% and 13% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 650 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 385 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 737 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 925 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,116 | 29% |
Share of the 3,813 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 514 | 34% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 348 | 23% |
| Rented | 532 | 35% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,324 | 87% |
| Townhouses & semis | 120 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,514 occupied private dwellings in Laidley.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,213
- Median weekly personal income
- $495
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 453 (13%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 139 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 258 (7%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,039 (34%)
- Labour-force participation
- 40.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 10.3%
- Employed full-time
- 607
- Employed part-time
- 440
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 Laidley
Is Laidley 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, Laidley rates 18/100 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 Laidley?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Laidley was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,155. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Laidley?
Laidley is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Lockyer Valley local government area.
What is the population of Laidley?
At the 2021 Census, Laidley had a population of about 3,809.
Is Laidley an advantaged area?
Laidley has an ABS SEIFA score of 834, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 3 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 3% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
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