Meekatharra, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Meekatharra is an outback town in the Murchison district of Western Australia's Mid West region, roughly 764km north-east of Perth along the Great Northern Highway. Its name is a Yamatji word said to mean 'place of little water.' The settlement dates from about 1894 and grew quickly after gold was discovered in 1896, becoming a gazetted township by 1903. Gold mining has come and gone in waves, with later booms in the 1980s and 2000s before operations wound down. Just as important has been pastoralism, and Meekatharra long served as a railhead for trucking sheep and cattle to market. The railway ran from 1910 to 1978, and the town remains a regional hub, home to a Royal Flying Doctor Service base and a School of the Air.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Meekatharra is more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 844, 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 Meekatharra 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 Meekatharra 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
4/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (4/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
93/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $110 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 93% 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.
Meekatharra at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 849
- Median age
- 33
- Median weekly household income
- $1,273
- SEIFA score
- 844
- Local government area
- Meekatharra
- Coordinates
- -26.5082, 118.6560
Map of Meekatharra
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Meekatharra
What it costs to live in Meekatharra and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $110
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $650
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 33%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 48%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Meekatharra demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Meekatharra demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Meekatharra 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 33% and 13% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 149 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 122 | 14% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 280 | 33% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 221 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 82 | 10% |
Share of the 854 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 62 | 27% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 14 | 6% |
| Rented | 110 | 48% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 194 | 87% |
| Townhouses & semis | 7 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 9 | 4% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 224 occupied private dwellings in Meekatharra.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,286
- Median weekly personal income
- $824
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 91 (13%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 127 (19%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 387 (46%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 198 (29%)
- Labour-force participation
- 48.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 8%
- Employed full-time
- 225
- Employed part-time
- 38
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 Meekatharra
Is Meekatharra 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, Meekatharra rates 34/100 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 Meekatharra?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Meekatharra was $110, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $650. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Meekatharra?
Meekatharra is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Meekatharra local government area.
What is the population of Meekatharra?
At the 2021 Census, Meekatharra had a population of about 849.
Is Meekatharra an advantaged area?
Meekatharra has an ABS SEIFA score of 844, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 4 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 4% of Australian suburbs.
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