Merimbula, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Merimbula is a popular holiday town on the Sapphire Coast, the far south coast of New South Wales, wrapped around the tidal Merimbula Lake about 450 kilometres south of Sydney and some 240 kilometres south-east of Canberra. The town is best known for its clean beaches, its lake and inlet, and the oysters farmed in the surrounding estuaries. Visitors come for swimming, surfing, boating, fishing, scuba diving and seasonal whale watching, and Merimbula Point is noted for fossil-bearing rocks that have yielded ancient species first described there. Tourism is overwhelmingly the main earner, supported by oyster production and a large stock of holiday accommodation, making Merimbula one of the Sapphire Coast's principal resort centres.
Less advantaged than the national average
Merimbula is more socio-economically advantaged than about 34% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 960, 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 Merimbula 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 Merimbula 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
34/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (34/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
41/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $310 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 41% 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.
Merimbula at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 3,821
- Median age
- 54
- Median weekly household income
- $1,146
- SEIFA score
- 960
- Local government area
- Bega Valley
- Coordinates
- -36.8972, 149.9042
Map of Merimbula
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Merimbula
What it costs to live in Merimbula and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $310
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,517
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 63%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 32%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Merimbula demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Merimbula demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Merimbula 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% and 18% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 449 | 12% |
| Youth (15–24) | 295 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 738 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,067 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,264 | 33% |
Share of the 3,813 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 701 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 382 | 22% |
| Rented | 542 | 32% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,004 | 58% |
| Townhouses & semis | 289 | 17% |
| Flats & apartments | 384 | 22% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,725 occupied private dwellings in Merimbula.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,727
- Median weekly personal income
- $708
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 627 (18%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 196 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 84 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,583 (48%)
- Labour-force participation
- 51.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 871
- Employed part-time
- 681
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 Merimbula
Is Merimbula 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, Merimbula rates 36/100 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 Merimbula?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Merimbula was $310, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,517. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Merimbula?
Merimbula is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Bega Valley local government area.
What is the population of Merimbula?
At the 2021 Census, Merimbula had a population of about 3,821.
Is Merimbula an advantaged area?
Merimbula has an ABS SEIFA score of 960, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 34 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 34% of Australian suburbs.
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