Sapphire Beach, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Sapphire Beach is a coastal suburb on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, in Coffs Harbour LGA, about nine kilometres north of Coffs Harbour's city centre. Population: 2,660 at the 2021 Census (ABS 2021 Census QuickStats, SAL13506, Suburbs and Localities). The suburb runs directly along the Pacific Ocean, north from Korora headland; Woolgoolga is about 10 kilometres further north. Access is via Sapphire Beach Road off the Pacific Highway, with Coffs Harbour Airport about 15 minutes by car. There is no public transport — car is the only practical mode. Demographics are predominantly Anglo-Australian, older and well-off: median age 46 (national: 38), 78.9% born in Australia, English spoken at home in 89.2% of households. Median household income of $2,056 per week exceeds both the NSW ($1,829) and national ($1,746) medians. Professionals (28.5%) and managers (18.3%) make up nearly half the workforce. Separate houses account for 84% of dwellings, with 58.2% having four or more bedrooms. Renters are only 14.4% of the market (national: 30.6%). Unemployment at 3.3% was well below the national 5.1%. The lifestyle draw is the Pacific Ocean beach, the Northern NSW climate, and Coffs Harbour services at a quieter scale.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Sapphire Beach is more socio-economically advantaged than about 90% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1071, 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 Sapphire Beach 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Sapphire Beach 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
90/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (90/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
8/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $475 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 8% 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.
Sapphire Beach at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,660
- Median age
- 46
- Median weekly household income
- $2,056
- SEIFA score
- 1071
- Local government area
- Coffs Harbour
- Coordinates
- -30.2301, 153.1330
Map of Sapphire Beach
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Sapphire Beach
What it costs to live in Sapphire Beach and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $475
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,174
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 81%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 17%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Sapphire Beach demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Sapphire Beach demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Sapphire Beach 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 30% and 18% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 519 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 193 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 568 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 794 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 592 | 22% |
Share of the 2,666 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 439 | 45% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 356 | 36% |
| Rented | 171 | 17% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 822 | 84% |
| Townhouses & semis | 64 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 72 | 7% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 976 occupied private dwellings in Sapphire Beach.
- Average household size
- 2.6 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,357
- Median weekly personal income
- $955
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 467 (18%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 188 (7%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 74 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,238 (60%)
- Labour-force participation
- 61.2%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.2%
- Employed full-time
- 730
- Employed part-time
- 480
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 Sapphire Beach
Is Sapphire Beach 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, Sapphire Beach rates 63/100 overall (Around the national middle). Public transport, schools and safety aren't scored yet — see our methodology for why.
What is the median rent in Sapphire Beach?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Sapphire Beach was $475, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,174. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Sapphire Beach?
Sapphire Beach is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Coffs Harbour local government area.
What is the population of Sapphire Beach?
At the 2021 Census, Sapphire Beach had a population of about 2,660.
Is Sapphire Beach an advantaged area?
Sapphire Beach has an ABS SEIFA score of 1071, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 90 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 90% of Australian suburbs.
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