Meadows, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Meadows is a small town in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, within the District Council of Mount Barker and not far from the towns of Mount Barker and Hahndorf. The surrounding district is known by its Aboriginal name Battunga, meaning 'the place of big trees'. European settlement followed the German Lutheran arrivals of the late 1830s, and the town was established around 1850. In 1920 the geologist and Antarctic explorer Sir Douglas Mawson founded a hardwoods company with a timber mill near the nearby Kuitpo Forest. Meadows is known today for its long-running Easter Fair and Country Fair, and for the bushwalking and cycling trails of Kuitpo Forest.
More advantaged than the national average
Meadows is more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1009, 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 Meadows 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Meadows 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
63/100More advantaged than the national average
More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (63/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
32/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $343 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 32% 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.
Meadows at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,717
- Median age
- 39
- Median weekly household income
- $1,964
- SEIFA score
- 1009
- Local government area
- Mount Barker
- Coordinates
- -35.1792, 138.7548
Map of Meadows
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Meadows
What it costs to live in Meadows and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $343
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,645
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 87%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 11%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Meadows demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Meadows demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Meadows 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 young adults (25–44) at 29% and 12% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 355 | 21% |
| Youth (15–24) | 146 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 497 | 29% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 472 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 232 | 14% |
Share of the 1,702 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 184 | 31% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 332 | 56% |
| Rented | 65 | 11% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 582 | 98% |
| Townhouses & semis | 5 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 592 occupied private dwellings in Meadows.
- Average household size
- 2.7 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,200
- Median weekly personal income
- $917
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 182 (12%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 50 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 14 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 657 (50%)
- Labour-force participation
- 66.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.2%
- Employed full-time
- 541
- Employed part-time
- 286
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.
Weather and climate in Meadows
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Meadows is January (average daytime high around 25.9°C) and the coolest is July (around 12.6°C). The area receives roughly 600 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 25.9°C | 14.4°C | 33 mm |
| Feb | 24.7°C | 13.9°C | 27 mm |
| Mar | 22.8°C | 13.1°C | 20 mm |
| Apr | 19.7°C | 11.6°C | 36 mm |
| May | 15.7°C | 9.6°C | 64 mm |
| Jun | 13.3°C | 7.8°C | 64 mm |
| Jul | 12.6°C | 7.2°C | 80 mm |
| Aug | 13.3°C | 6.8°C | 82 mm |
| Sep | 15.8°C | 7.9°C | 58 mm |
| Oct | 19.3°C | 9.4°C | 49 mm |
| Nov | 21.1°C | 10.9°C | 50 mm |
| Dec | 23.9°C | 12.6°C | 37 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Meadows
Is Meadows 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, Meadows rates 53/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Meadows?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Meadows was $343, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,645. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Meadows?
Meadows is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Mount Barker local government area.
What is the population of Meadows?
At the 2021 Census, Meadows had a population of about 1,717.
Is Meadows an advantaged area?
Meadows has an ABS SEIFA score of 1009, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 63 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Meadows?
Meadows has average daytime highs of about 19°C and overnight lows of about 10.4°C, with roughly 600 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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