Low Head, TAS
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Low Head is a small coastal locality at the mouth of the Tamar River in northern Tasmania, sitting on a low headland where the river opens into Bass Strait, about 55 kilometres north of Launceston and just beyond the town of George Town. European settlement here is old, with a post office operating from 1887, though Low Head was only gazetted as a locality in 1967. Today it lives on tourism and its rich maritime heritage, drawing visitors to its beaches and to some of the region's best snorkelling and diving. Its landmarks include the Low Head lighthouse, whose foghorn is the only working one of its type and is still sounded at noon each Sunday, and a colony of little penguins that waddles ashore at dusk.
Less advantaged than the national average
Low Head is more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 933, 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 Low Head 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 Low Head 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
22/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (22/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
68/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $230 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 68% 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.
Low Head at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 619
- Median age
- 61
- Median weekly household income
- $983
- SEIFA score
- 933
- Local government area
- George Town
- Coordinates
- -41.0552, 146.8428
Map of Low Head
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Low Head
What it costs to live in Low Head and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $230
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,350
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 63%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 24%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Low Head demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Low Head demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Low Head 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 43% and 18% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 43 | 7% |
| Youth (15–24) | 45 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 90 | 15% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 170 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 264 | 43% |
Share of the 612 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 116 | 42% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 58 | 21% |
| Rented | 66 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 216 | 80% |
| Townhouses & semis | 34 | 13% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 270 occupied private dwellings in Low Head.
- Average household size
- 1.9 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,437
- Median weekly personal income
- $571
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 105 (18%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 14 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 17 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 214 (38%)
- Labour-force participation
- 41%
- Unemployment rate
- 8.5%
- Employed full-time
- 117
- Employed part-time
- 82
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 Low Head
Is Low Head 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, Low Head rates 37/100 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 Low Head?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Low Head was $230, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,350. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Low Head?
Low Head is a suburb of Tasmania, Australia, in the George Town local government area.
What is the population of Low Head?
At the 2021 Census, Low Head had a population of about 619.
Is Low Head an advantaged area?
Low Head has an ABS SEIFA score of 933, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 22 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Tasmania
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