Lightning Ridge, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Lightning Ridge is an outback town in far northern New South Wales, about 720 kilometres north-west of Sydney and 74 kilometres north of Walgett, near the Queensland border. It lies on the traditional lands of the Yuwaalaraay people. The unusual name is said to date from the 1870s, after a story of a stockman and his flock caught in a lightning strike on the ridge, though the account is traditional rather than verified. Opal mining began in 1905, and the town became famous as a centre of black opal, the rare dark gemstone. Today visitors come for the hot artesian bore baths fed by the Great Artesian Basin, the annual Opal and Gem Festival, and fossil fields that have yielded opalised dinosaur remains.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Lightning Ridge 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 Lightning Ridge 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 Lightning Ridge 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
78/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $200 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 78% 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.
Lightning Ridge at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,946
- Median age
- 53
- Median weekly household income
- $792
- SEIFA score
- 834
- Local government area
- Walgett
- Coordinates
- -29.3314, 147.9263
Map of Lightning Ridge
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Lightning Ridge
What it costs to live in Lightning Ridge and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $200
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $867
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 62%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 29%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Lightning Ridge demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Lightning Ridge demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Lightning Ridge 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 30% and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 282 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 152 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 365 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 576 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 568 | 29% |
Share of the 1,943 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 356 | 49% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 94 | 13% |
| Rented | 212 | 29% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 449 | 62% |
| Townhouses & semis | 33 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 13 | 2% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 726 occupied private dwellings in Lightning Ridge.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,186
- Median weekly personal income
- $476
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 296 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 177 (12%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 395 (20%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 452 (28%)
- Labour-force participation
- 37.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 10.8%
- Employed full-time
- 291
- Employed part-time
- 215
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 Lightning Ridge
Is Lightning Ridge 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, Lightning Ridge rates 28/100 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 Lightning Ridge?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Lightning Ridge was $200, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $867. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Lightning Ridge?
Lightning Ridge is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Walgett local government area.
What is the population of Lightning Ridge?
At the 2021 Census, Lightning Ridge had a population of about 1,946.
Is Lightning Ridge an advantaged area?
Lightning Ridge 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.
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