Omeo, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Omeo is a historic town in the Victorian high country, in the Shire of East Gippsland, set among the mountains on the Great Alpine Road east of Mount Hotham and roughly 400 kilometres from Melbourne. Its name comes from an Aboriginal word said to mean 'mountains' or 'hills'. Gold was discovered at Livingstone Creek in 1845, and at the height of the rush the town swelled to some 9,400 people — many times its present size. Earthquakes in the 1880s and 1890s and the Black Friday bushfires of 1939 each took their toll, yet handsome gold-era buildings survive. Today Omeo is a quiet service centre for the surrounding alpine district, home to around 400 residents.
Less advantaged than the national average
Omeo 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 Omeo 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 Omeo 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
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.
Omeo at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 411
- Median age
- 54
- Median weekly household income
- $1,131
- SEIFA score
- 960
- Local government area
- East Gippsland
- Coordinates
- -37.0746, 147.5943
Map of Omeo
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Omeo
What it costs to live in Omeo and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $225
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,117
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 76%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 17%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Omeo demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Omeo demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Omeo 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 34% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 44 | 11% |
| Youth (15–24) | 27 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 74 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 138 | 34% |
| Seniors (65+) | 118 | 29% |
Share of the 401 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 81 | 52% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 38 | 24% |
| Rented | 26 | 17% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 159 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 159 occupied private dwellings in Omeo.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,562
- Median weekly personal income
- $674
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 30 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 8 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 0 (0%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 143 (40%)
- Labour-force participation
- 49.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.6%
- Employed full-time
- 88
- Employed part-time
- 79
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 Omeo
Is Omeo 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, Omeo rates 46/100 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 Omeo?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Omeo was $225, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,117. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Omeo?
Omeo is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the East Gippsland local government area.
What is the population of Omeo?
At the 2021 Census, Omeo had a population of about 411.
Is Omeo an advantaged area?
Omeo 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.
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
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