Murtoa, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Murtoa is a town in the Wimmera region of Victoria, about 305 kilometres north-west of Melbourne and 29 kilometres north-east of Horsham. Its name is believed to come from a local Aboriginal word meaning 'home of the lizard'. Five farming families from South Australia selected land around Marma Swamp in 1871, a post office opened in 1874, the township was laid out in 1875, and the railway arrived in 1878. Murtoa is best known for the Stick Shed, a vast emergency grain store built in 1941 from 560 unmilled mountain ash poles and the last of its kind, joining the National Heritage List in 2014. It still runs one of the largest inland grain receival centres in Australia, and the psychiatrist John Cade was born here in 1912.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Murtoa 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.
Is Murtoa 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 Murtoa 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
13/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (13/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
82/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $178 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 82% 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.
Murtoa at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 897
- Median age
- 48
- Median weekly household income
- $1,007
- SEIFA score
- 906
- Local government area
- Yarriambiack
- Coordinates
- -36.5966, 142.4746
Map of Murtoa
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Murtoa
What it costs to live in Murtoa and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $178
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $700
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 80%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 19%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Murtoa demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Murtoa demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Murtoa 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 28% and 6% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 166 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 92 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 160 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 246 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 229 | 26% |
Share of the 893 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 200 | 52% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 108 | 28% |
| Rented | 72 | 19% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 371 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 5 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 4 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 386 occupied private dwellings in Murtoa.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,517
- Median weekly personal income
- $621
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 49 (6%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 16 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 14 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 229 (33%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.6%
- Employed full-time
- 210
- Employed part-time
- 128
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 Murtoa
Is Murtoa 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, Murtoa 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 Murtoa?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Murtoa was $178, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $700. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Murtoa?
Murtoa is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Yarriambiack local government area.
What is the population of Murtoa?
At the 2021 Census, Murtoa had a population of about 897.
Is Murtoa an advantaged area?
Murtoa 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.
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
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