Port Broughton, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Port Broughton occupies a sheltered inlet on the eastern shore of Spencer Gulf, at the northern end of South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, about 170 kilometres north-west of Adelaide. The town takes its name from the Broughton River, which the explorer Edward John Eyre had named after William Broughton; the river's mouth lies some way to the north. Surveyed in 1871 and established in 1876, it grew as a grain port, served by a horse-drawn narrow-gauge railway running in from Mundoora and by a long T-shaped jetty built the same year. The railway carried grain until 1942 and tall sailing ships called until 1949. Today Port Broughton is a relaxed holiday town known for fishing and blue-swimmer-crab netting.
Less advantaged than the national average
Port Broughton is more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 937, 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 Port Broughton 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 Port Broughton 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
23/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (23/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
66/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $235 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 66% 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.
Port Broughton at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,312
- Median age
- 62
- Median weekly household income
- $997
- SEIFA score
- 937
- Local government area
- Barunga West
- Coordinates
- -33.6736, 137.9504
Map of Port Broughton
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Port Broughton
What it costs to live in Port Broughton and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $235
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,300
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 71%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 20%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Port Broughton demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Port Broughton demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Port Broughton 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 44% and 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 162 | 12% |
| Youth (15–24) | 70 | 5% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 160 | 12% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 347 | 27% |
| Seniors (65+) | 569 | 44% |
Share of the 1,308 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 291 | 51% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 114 | 20% |
| Rented | 115 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 511 | 89% |
| Townhouses & semis | 44 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 8 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 572 occupied private dwellings in Port Broughton.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,348
- Median weekly personal income
- $507
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 117 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 19 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 20 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 345 (31%)
- Labour-force participation
- 39.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.1%
- Employed full-time
- 234
- Employed part-time
- 166
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.
Share your local knowledge of Port Broughton
Lived here or spent time in Port Broughton? Add a review or a quick tip. Reviews and tips are moderated before they appear.
Common questions about Port Broughton
Is Port Broughton 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, Port Broughton rates 37/100 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 Port Broughton?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Port Broughton was $235, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,300. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Port Broughton?
Port Broughton is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Barunga West local government area.
What is the population of Port Broughton?
At the 2021 Census, Port Broughton had a population of about 1,312.
Is Port Broughton an advantaged area?
Port Broughton has an ABS SEIFA score of 937, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 23 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
More suburb guides in South Australia
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.