Tantanoola, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tantanoola is a small town on the Limestone Coast of South Australia, about 350km south-east of Adelaide and 18km from Millicent. Laid out in 1879 and at first called Lucieton after a governor's daughter, it was renamed Tantanoola in 1888, the name said to come from an Aboriginal word for a boxwood or brushwood hill. The town is best known for the Tantanoola Tiger, a phantom beast blamed for stock losses in the 1890s; the animal eventually shot in 1895 turned out to be a stray wolf, and the mounted specimen still stands in the Tantanoola Hotel. Nearby the Tantanoola Caves, with their delicate dolomite formations, are open to visitors, and the poet Max Harris later wrote of the Tiger legend.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Tantanoola is more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 911, 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 Tantanoola 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 Tantanoola 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
14/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (14/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
85/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $160 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 85% 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.
Tantanoola at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 457
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,287
- SEIFA score
- 911
- Local government area
- Wattle Range
- Coordinates
- -37.6979, 140.4541
Map of Tantanoola
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Tantanoola
What it costs to live in Tantanoola and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $160
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $900
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 83%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 12%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Tantanoola demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Tantanoola demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tantanoola 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 34% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 65 | 14% |
| Youth (15–24) | 53 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 81 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 157 | 34% |
| Seniors (65+) | 100 | 22% |
Share of the 456 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 84 | 45% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 71 | 38% |
| Rented | 23 | 12% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 177 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 177 occupied private dwellings in Tantanoola.
- Average household size
- 2.3 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,758
- Median weekly personal income
- $638
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 34 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 12 (3%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 4 (1%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 139 (37%)
- Labour-force participation
- 58.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.1%
- Employed full-time
- 123
- Employed part-time
- 84
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 Tantanoola
Is Tantanoola 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, Tantanoola rates 38/100 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 Tantanoola?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Tantanoola was $160, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $900. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Tantanoola?
Tantanoola is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Wattle Range local government area.
What is the population of Tantanoola?
At the 2021 Census, Tantanoola had a population of about 457.
Is Tantanoola an advantaged area?
Tantanoola has an ABS SEIFA score of 911, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 14 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of Australian suburbs.
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