Penola, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Penola is a small town on South Australia's Limestone Coast, about 390 kilometres south-east of Adelaide, on the country of the Bindjali people. It holds a special place in Australian history as the town where Mary MacKillop — canonised in 2010 as the country's first saint — and the priest Julian Tenison Woods opened a school in 1866 and founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, a teaching order that spread across the nation. Penola is also the gateway to the Coonawarra, one of Australia's best-known wine regions, whose first vines were planted nearby by John Riddoch in the late nineteenth century. Heritage cottages and the original MacKillop schoolhouse still stand in its quiet streets.
Less advantaged than the national average
Penola is more socio-economically advantaged than about 27% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 945, 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 Penola 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 Penola 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
27/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (27/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
79/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $198 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 79% 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.
Penola at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,622
- Median age
- 47
- Median weekly household income
- $1,369
- SEIFA score
- 945
- Local government area
- Wattle Range
- Coordinates
- -37.3943, 140.8834
Map of Penola
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Penola
What it costs to live in Penola and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $198
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,050
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 72%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 22%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Penola demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Penola demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Penola 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 29% and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 282 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 141 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 345 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 472 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 387 | 24% |
Share of the 1,627 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 257 | 40% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 209 | 32% |
| Rented | 144 | 22% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 574 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 43 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 8 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 639 occupied private dwellings in Penola.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,865
- Median weekly personal income
- $804
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 138 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 57 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 17 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 564 (44%)
- Labour-force participation
- 62.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.3%
- Employed full-time
- 504
- Employed part-time
- 264
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 Penola
Is Penola 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, Penola rates 44/100 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 Penola?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Penola was $198, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,050. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Penola?
Penola is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Wattle Range local government area.
What is the population of Penola?
At the 2021 Census, Penola had a population of about 1,622.
Is Penola an advantaged area?
Penola has an ABS SEIFA score of 945, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 27 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 27% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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