Sea Lake, VIC
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Sea Lake is a small wheat town in the Mallee district of north-west Victoria, about 350 kilometres from Melbourne and set just south of Lake Tyrrell, the largest salt lake in the state. The town's curious name has two competing explanations: some say the explorer Edward Eyre named the spot for the sea-like appearance of the great salt lake, while others believe a surveyor simply misread the words see lake scrawled on an early map. Colonists first passed through in 1838, but the town took shape after the railway arrived in 1893. Wheat farming has sustained it ever since. Lake Tyrrell, a vast shimmering sheet of salt, now draws sightseers to the district, while the town's painted grain silos and the annual Mallee Rally add to its appeal.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Sea Lake is more socio-economically advantaged than about 10% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 892, 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 Sea Lake 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 Sea Lake 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
10/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (10/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
90/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $140 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 90% 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.
Sea Lake at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 619
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $883
- SEIFA score
- 892
- Local government area
- Buloke
- Coordinates
- -35.4868, 142.8956
Map of Sea Lake
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Sea Lake
What it costs to live in Sea Lake and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $140
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $650
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 78%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 14%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Sea Lake demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Sea Lake demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Sea Lake 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 29% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 92 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 61 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 113 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 177 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 175 | 28% |
Share of the 618 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 147 | 54% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 65 | 24% |
| Rented | 39 | 14% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 251 | 95% |
| Townhouses & semis | 9 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 265 occupied private dwellings in Sea Lake.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,318
- Median weekly personal income
- $524
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 47 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 16 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 11 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 179 (36%)
- Labour-force participation
- 47.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.8%
- Employed full-time
- 137
- Employed part-time
- 83
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 Sea Lake
Is Sea Lake 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, Sea Lake 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 Sea Lake?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Sea Lake was $140, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $650. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Sea Lake?
Sea Lake is a suburb of Victoria, Australia, in the Buloke local government area.
What is the population of Sea Lake?
At the 2021 Census, Sea Lake had a population of about 619.
Is Sea Lake an advantaged area?
Sea Lake has an ABS SEIFA score of 892, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 10 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 10% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Victoria
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