Port Fairy, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Port Fairy stands where the Moyne River meets the Southern Ocean on Victoria's south-west coast, about 290 kilometres west of Melbourne. The Eastern Maar people are recognised as the traditional owners of the area. A whaling and sealing port from the 1830s, it was laid out in the 1840s as Belfast by the Irish-born landowner James Atkinson, and only went back to the name Port Fairy — said to come from a cutter called the Fairy — in 1887. One of the best-preserved early ports in the state, it keeps dozens of National Trust-listed cottages and inns. A lighthouse stands on Griffiths Island, home to a muttonbird colony, and the town fills each March for the Port Fairy Folk Festival, held since 1977.
More advantaged than the national average
Port Fairy is more socio-economically advantaged than about 71% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1025, 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.
Port Fairy at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 3,742
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $1,450
- SEIFA score
- 1025
- Coordinates
- -38.3227, 142.1695
Port Fairy demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Port Fairy 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%, 20% of homes are rented, and 9% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 648 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 275 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 689 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 940 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,195 | 32% |
Share of the 3,747 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 723 | 50% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 387 | 27% |
| Rented | 290 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,309 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 125 | 9% |
| Flats & apartments | 4 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,450 occupied private dwellings in Port Fairy.
- Median weekly rent
- $300
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,733
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,942
- Median weekly personal income
- $745
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 303 (9%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 77 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 44 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,598 (54%)
- Labour-force participation
- 52.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.8%
- Employed full-time
- 782
- Employed part-time
- 634
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.
Common questions about Port Fairy
Where is Port Fairy?
Port Fairy is a suburb of Victoria, Australia.
What is the population of Port Fairy?
At the 2021 Census, Port Fairy had a population of about 3,742.
Is Port Fairy an advantaged area?
Port Fairy has an ABS SEIFA score of 1025, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 71 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 71% of Australian suburbs.
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