Pinnaroo, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Pinnaroo is a small Mallee town in the east of South Australia, about 243 kilometres east of Adelaide and close to the Victorian border, the seat of the Southern Mallee District Council. Its name is said to come from a word for 'big man' in a local Aboriginal language. The town dates from 1904 and grew once the railway reached the district in 1906, opening the surrounding mallee country to wheat and cereal farming; since around 1990 it has also become a significant potato-growing centre. A local landmark is the Mallee Tourist and Heritage Centre, which preserves wheat-breeding history, restored vintage farm machinery and a working collection of letterpress printing equipment.
Less advantaged than the national average
Pinnaroo is more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 932, 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 Pinnaroo 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 Pinnaroo 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
22/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (22/100) 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 $161 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.
Pinnaroo at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 768
- Median age
- 43
- Median weekly household income
- $1,257
- SEIFA score
- 932
- Local government area
- Southern Mallee
- Coordinates
- -35.3217, 140.8591
Map of Pinnaroo
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Pinnaroo
What it costs to live in Pinnaroo and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $161
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $559
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 74%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 18%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Pinnaroo demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Pinnaroo demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Pinnaroo 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 27% and 14% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 116 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 77 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 204 | 26% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 207 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 167 | 22% |
Share of the 771 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 149 | 47% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 86 | 27% |
| Rented | 55 | 18% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 311 | 95% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 328 occupied private dwellings in Pinnaroo.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,809
- Median weekly personal income
- $764
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 92 (14%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 60 (9%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 4 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 256 (41%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.3%
- Employed full-time
- 249
- Employed part-time
- 126
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 Pinnaroo
Is Pinnaroo 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, Pinnaroo rates 43/100 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 Pinnaroo?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Pinnaroo was $161, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $559. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Pinnaroo?
Pinnaroo is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Southern Mallee local government area.
What is the population of Pinnaroo?
At the 2021 Census, Pinnaroo had a population of about 768.
Is Pinnaroo an advantaged area?
Pinnaroo has an ABS SEIFA score of 932, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 22 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 22% of Australian suburbs.
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