Para Hills, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Para Hills is a residential suburb in Adelaide's north, mostly within the City of Salisbury, set on an escarpment of the Para Fault Block that rises above the Adelaide plains. The Kaurna people are the traditional owners of the plains country on which it stands. The suburb takes its name from Para Hills Farm, established by the Goodall family, who began farming at the foot of the hills around 1850. From 1959 the developer Reid Murray Developments turned the farmland into what was then the largest private housing estate in Australia, laid out as a self-contained neighbourhood with generous parkland and a street tree-planting scheme to green the bare paddocks. Today Para Hills is linked to the city by the O-Bahn Busway, and its dry gullies survive as public parks.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Para Hills is more socio-economically advantaged than about 16% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 915, 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.
Para Hills at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 6,793
- Median age
- 36
- Median weekly household income
- $1,420
- SEIFA score
- 915
- Coordinates
- -34.8097, 138.6566
Para Hills demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Para Hills 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 30%, 21% of homes are rented, and 33% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,329 | 20% |
| Youth (15–24) | 841 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 2,034 | 30% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,551 | 23% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,027 | 15% |
Share of the 6,782 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 792 | 31% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,122 | 45% |
| Rented | 538 | 21% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,440 | 98% |
| Townhouses & semis | 31 | 1% |
| Flats & apartments | 31 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,502 occupied private dwellings in Para Hills.
- Median weekly rent
- $325
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,300
- Average household size
- 2.6 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,609
- Median weekly personal income
- $686
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 2,159 (33%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 1,813 (28%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 149 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 2,662 (51%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 7.4%
- Employed full-time
- 1,803
- Employed part-time
- 1,146
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.
Weather and climate in Para Hills
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Para Hills is January (average daytime high around 28.9°C) and the coolest is July (around 13°C). The area receives roughly 850 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28.9°C | 16.1°C | 31 mm |
| Feb | 27.5°C | 15.4°C | 28 mm |
| Mar | 25.2°C | 14.3°C | 23 mm |
| Apr | 21.2°C | 12°C | 55 mm |
| May | 16.4°C | 9.4°C | 90 mm |
| Jun | 13.7°C | 7.3°C | 112 mm |
| Jul | 13°C | 6.4°C | 132 mm |
| Aug | 13.8°C | 6.6°C | 141 mm |
| Sep | 16.6°C | 8°C | 87 mm |
| Oct | 20.6°C | 10.1°C | 63 mm |
| Nov | 23°C | 11.7°C | 58 mm |
| Dec | 26.5°C | 13.9°C | 30 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
Common questions about Para Hills
Where is Para Hills?
Para Hills is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Para Hills?
At the 2021 Census, Para Hills had a population of about 6,793.
Is Para Hills an advantaged area?
Para Hills has an ABS SEIFA score of 915, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 16 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 16% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Para Hills?
Para Hills has average daytime highs of about 20.5°C and overnight lows of about 10.9°C, with roughly 850 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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