Onslow, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Onslow is a small coastal town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, roughly 1,386km north of Perth near the mouth of the Ashburton River. It was gazetted in 1885 to serve a port at Ashburton Roads, shipping out wool from the surrounding pastoral country. Battered by cyclones and troubled by silting of the river, the original settlement proved hard to sustain, so in the 1920s the government built a new town and jetty about 18km north-east at Beadon Point, and residents moved there in 1925. Cyclones have continued to shape the town's history. During the Second World War, on 15 May 1943, Onslow became the most southerly place in Australia to be bombed by Japanese aircraft, though no one was killed.
More advantaged than the national average
Onslow is more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1009, 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 Onslow 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Onslow 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
63/100More advantaged than the national average
More advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (63/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
65/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $240 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 65% 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.
Onslow at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 829
- Median age
- 35
- Median weekly household income
- $2,596
- SEIFA score
- 1009
- Local government area
- Ashburton
- Coordinates
- -21.6750, 115.1552
Map of Onslow
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Onslow
What it costs to live in Onslow and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $240
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,825
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 20%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 52%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Onslow demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Onslow demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Onslow 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 37% and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 205 | 24% |
| Youth (15–24) | 41 | 5% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 314 | 37% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 204 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 76 | 9% |
Share of the 840 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 36 | 14% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 16 | 6% |
| Rented | 134 | 52% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 214 | 85% |
| Townhouses & semis | 12 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 16 | 6% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 252 occupied private dwellings in Onslow.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,075
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,386
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 124 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 100 (15%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 121 (15%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 255 (41%)
- Labour-force participation
- 62.2%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.6%
- Employed full-time
- 272
- Employed part-time
- 67
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 Onslow
Is Onslow 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, Onslow rates 64/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Onslow?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Onslow was $240, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,825. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Onslow?
Onslow is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Ashburton local government area.
What is the population of Onslow?
At the 2021 Census, Onslow had a population of about 829.
Is Onslow an advantaged area?
Onslow has an ABS SEIFA score of 1009, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 63 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 63% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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