Prospect Vale, TAS
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Prospect Vale is a residential locality on the south-western edge of Greater Launceston, about seven kilometres from the city and falling almost entirely within the Meander Valley municipality. Once part of neighbouring Prospect, it was gazetted as a separate locality in 1963, on land that European settlers had earlier used for cattle grazing and horse studs. The suburb has its own small shopping centre, the Prospect Vale Marketplace, anchored by a supermarket, along with a small industrial park and sporting grounds. It is home to two secondary schools — the public Prospect High School and the Catholic St Patrick's College, which moved to its present site in the late 1950s, onto the spot where the two-storey Rising Sun Hotel had earlier stood. The Bass Highway, part of National Route 1, runs through the locality, whose boundaries are mostly drawn along survey lines.
Less advantaged than the national average
Prospect Vale is more socio-economically advantaged than about 28% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 948, 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 Prospect Vale 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.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Prospect Vale 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
28/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (28/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
47/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $300 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 47% 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.
Prospect Vale at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 5,433
- Median age
- 48
- Median weekly household income
- $1,268
- SEIFA score
- 948
- Local government area
- Meander Valley
- Coordinates
- -41.4842, 147.1137
Map of Prospect Vale
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Prospect Vale
What it costs to live in Prospect Vale and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,430
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 72%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 26%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Prospect Vale demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Prospect Vale demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Prospect Vale 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 27% and 13% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 791 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 547 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,180 | 22% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,408 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,488 | 27% |
Share of the 5,414 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 957 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 732 | 31% |
| Rented | 609 | 26% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,868 | 80% |
| Townhouses & semis | 147 | 6% |
| Flats & apartments | 325 | 14% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,344 occupied private dwellings in Prospect Vale.
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,710
- Median weekly personal income
- $710
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 657 (13%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 357 (7%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 162 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,756 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.3%
- Employed full-time
- 1,479
- Employed part-time
- 927
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 Prospect Vale
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Prospect Vale is January (average daytime high around 24°C) and the coolest is July (around 10.9°C). The area receives roughly 778 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24°C | 12.2°C | 54 mm |
| Feb | 22.6°C | 11.6°C | 53 mm |
| Mar | 20.6°C | 10.3°C | 61 mm |
| Apr | 17.1°C | 7.5°C | 53 mm |
| May | 13.6°C | 5.2°C | 72 mm |
| Jun | 11.4°C | 3.4°C | 72 mm |
| Jul | 10.9°C | 3°C | 89 mm |
| Aug | 11.8°C | 2.8°C | 68 mm |
| Sep | 14.1°C | 4.3°C | 59 mm |
| Oct | 16.4°C | 6°C | 82 mm |
| Nov | 19°C | 8.3°C | 50 mm |
| Dec | 21.6°C | 10.1°C | 65 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Prospect Vale
Is Prospect Vale 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, Prospect Vale rates 34/100 overall (Lower 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 Prospect Vale?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Prospect Vale was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,430. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Prospect Vale?
Prospect Vale is a suburb of Tasmania, Australia, in the Meander Valley local government area.
What is the population of Prospect Vale?
At the 2021 Census, Prospect Vale had a population of about 5,433.
Is Prospect Vale an advantaged area?
Prospect Vale has an ABS SEIFA score of 948, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 28 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 28% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Prospect Vale?
Prospect Vale has average daytime highs of about 16.9°C and overnight lows of about 7.1°C, with roughly 778 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
How big is Prospect Vale?
Prospect Vale is one of the most populous suburbs in Tasmania — the 20th-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 5,433 usual residents).
Where Prospect Vale ranks
Prospect Vale appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
- Largest suburbs in Tasmania#20 of 25
Nearby suburbs in Tasmania
More suburb guides in Tasmania
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.