Orroroo, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Orroroo is a small town in the Mid North of South Australia, on Pekina Creek in the southern Flinders Ranges, about 270 kilometres north of Adelaide. Before European settlement the area was the home of the Ngadjuri people, whose country lay east of the ranges. The origin of the town's name is uncertain: one idea is that it imitates the sound of wind blowing through the acacia trees, while others suggest an Aboriginal word for dust or drift, or the name of an Aboriginal girl at the nearby Pekina station. Settlers arrived from the 1840s, and the town was surveyed in 1875 and reached by railway in 1881. Wheat, sheep and cattle work the land, and a local curiosity is Magnetic Hill, where cars appear to roll uphill.
Less advantaged than the national average
Orroroo is more socio-economically advantaged than about 29% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 950, 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 Orroroo 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 Orroroo 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
29/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (29/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
85/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $162 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 85% 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.
Orroroo at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 578
- Median age
- 54
- Median weekly household income
- $966
- SEIFA score
- 950
- Local government area
- Orroroo Carrieton
- Coordinates
- -32.6962, 138.6879
Map of Orroroo
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Orroroo
What it costs to live in Orroroo and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $162
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $650
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 83%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 13%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Orroroo demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Orroroo demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Orroroo 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 seniors (65+) at 32% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 84 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 46 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 99 | 17% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 160 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 186 | 32% |
Share of the 575 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 129 | 56% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 63 | 27% |
| Rented | 29 | 13% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 222 | 98% |
| Townhouses & semis | 4 | 2% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 226 occupied private dwellings in Orroroo.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,410
- Median weekly personal income
- $554
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 41 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 10 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 4 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 157 (33%)
- Labour-force participation
- 52.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.1%
- Employed full-time
- 142
- Employed part-time
- 89
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 Orroroo
Is Orroroo 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, Orroroo rates 48/100 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 Orroroo?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Orroroo was $162, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $650. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Orroroo?
Orroroo is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Orroroo Carrieton local government area.
What is the population of Orroroo?
At the 2021 Census, Orroroo had a population of about 578.
Is Orroroo an advantaged area?
Orroroo has an ABS SEIFA score of 950, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 29 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 29% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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