Mount Barker (WA), WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Mount Barker is a town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, about 360 kilometres south-east of Perth and 50 kilometres north of Albany, and the seat of the Shire of Plantagenet. It lies in Noongar country, and the hill it is named for was known to Aboriginal people as Pwakkenbak. The European name was given in 1829 by the explorer Thomas Braidwood Wilson, who called the peak after Captain Collet Barker, then commandant at the Albany settlement. The town developed as a farming centre after the Great Southern Railway reached it in 1889. Mount Barker is now one of the five subregions of the Great Southern wine district and a base for visitors to the nearby Stirling Range and Porongurup national parks.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Mount Barker (WA) is more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 909, 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 Mount Barker (WA) 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 Mount Barker (WA) 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
14/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (14/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
69/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $225 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 69% 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.
Mount Barker (WA) at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,855
- Median age
- 48
- Median weekly household income
- $1,104
- SEIFA score
- 909
- Local government area
- Plantagenet
- Coordinates
- -34.6231, 117.6550
Map of Mount Barker (WA)
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Mount Barker (WA)
What it costs to live in Mount Barker (WA) and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $225
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,226
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 71%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 24%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Mount Barker (WA) demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Mount Barker (WA) demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Mount Barker (WA) 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 mid-life (45–64) at 29% and 22% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 499 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 284 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 538 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 822 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 703 | 25% |
Share of the 2,846 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 427 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 312 | 30% |
| Rented | 253 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 992 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 26 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,037 occupied private dwellings in Mount Barker (WA).
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,446
- Median weekly personal income
- $602
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 538 (22%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 228 (9%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 124 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 874 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 51.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.2%
- Employed full-time
- 623
- Employed part-time
- 419
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 Mount Barker (WA)
Is Mount Barker (WA) 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, Mount Barker (WA) rates 32/100 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 Mount Barker (WA)?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Mount Barker (WA) was $225, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,226. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Mount Barker (WA)?
Mount Barker (WA) is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Plantagenet local government area.
What is the population of Mount Barker (WA)?
At the 2021 Census, Mount Barker (WA) had a population of about 2,855.
Is Mount Barker (WA) an advantaged area?
Mount Barker (WA) has an ABS SEIFA score of 909, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 14 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of Australian suburbs.
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