Meningie, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Meningie is a lakeside town in South Australia's Murray and Mallee region, set on the eastern shore of Lake Albert about 108 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, in the Coorong District Council. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word, 'meningeng', said to mean 'place of mud'. Surveyed in 1866, the town grew as a small river port, with a jetty and paddle steamers working Lakes Albert and Alexandrina until the late 1920s. Today it is the main gateway to the Coorong National Park, popular for fishing, boating and birdwatching, and home to the Camp Coorong cultural centre. A well-known roadside ostrich statue commemorates the bushranger John Francis Peggotty.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Meningie is more socio-economically advantaged than about 13% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 906, 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.
Meningie at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,118
- Median age
- 55
- Median weekly household income
- $1,022
- SEIFA score
- 906
- Coordinates
- -35.7304, 139.3904
Meningie demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Meningie 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 33%, 25% of homes are rented, and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 160 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 75 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 232 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 289 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 376 | 33% |
Share of the 1,132 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 207 | 46% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 103 | 23% |
| Rented | 111 | 25% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 440 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 3 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 5 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 456 occupied private dwellings in Meningie.
- Median weekly rent
- $200
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,000
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,322
- Median weekly personal income
- $607
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 92 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 44 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 104 (9%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 283 (30%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 3%
- Employed full-time
- 240
- Employed part-time
- 165
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.
Common questions about Meningie
Where is Meningie?
Meningie is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Meningie?
At the 2021 Census, Meningie had a population of about 1,118.
Is Meningie an advantaged area?
Meningie has an ABS SEIFA score of 906, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 13 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 13% of Australian suburbs.
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