Naracoorte, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Naracoorte is a country town on South Australia's Limestone Coast, about 336 kilometres south-east of Adelaide and roughly 100 kilometres north of Mount Gambier. Its name is thought to come from an Aboriginal word for a place of running water, or a large waterhole. Long a service centre for the surrounding sheep, cattle, and wheat country, the town is best known today for the Naracoorte Caves, a World Heritage-listed fossil site whose limestone chambers have preserved the bones of giant marsupials and other long-extinct animals across hundreds of thousands of years. Together with the nearby Coonawarra, Wrattonbully, and Padthaway wine regions, the caves make it a quiet hub for nature and heritage travel.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Naracoorte is more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 921, 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.
Naracoorte at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 6,211
- Median age
- 40
- Median weekly household income
- $1,373
- SEIFA score
- 921
- Coordinates
- -36.9457, 140.7484
Naracoorte demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Naracoorte 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 27%, 27% of homes are rented, and 20% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,152 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 625 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,669 | 27% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,431 | 23% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,329 | 21% |
Share of the 6,206 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 850 | 36% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 811 | 34% |
| Rented | 640 | 27% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,236 | 94% |
| Townhouses & semis | 128 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,380 occupied private dwellings in Naracoorte.
- Median weekly rent
- $230
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,083
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,723
- Median weekly personal income
- $758
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,153 (20%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 870 (15%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 113 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,956 (40%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.9%
- Employed full-time
- 1,731
- Employed part-time
- 1,085
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 Naracoorte
Where is Naracoorte?
Naracoorte is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Naracoorte?
At the 2021 Census, Naracoorte had a population of about 6,211.
Is Naracoorte an advantaged area?
Naracoorte has an ABS SEIFA score of 921, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 18 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 18% of Australian suburbs.
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