Tolga, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tolga is a small town on the Atherton Tableland in far north Queensland, about 7 kilometres north of Atherton and 89 kilometres south-west of Cairns, in the Tablelands Region. It began as Martin Town, named after the sawmillers George and Robert Martin, and grew out of a Cobb & Co staging post at Rocky Creek. The town was renamed Tolga in 1903 when the railway arrived, the name thought to come from an Aboriginal word for either 'the place where the scrub begins' or 'red volcanic soil'. Timber milling gave way to peanuts, and Tolga became the centre of the region's peanut industry, marked today by the Big Peanut. Nearby, the Tolga Scrub preserves one of the last patches of Mabi rainforest in the area.
Less advantaged than the national average
Tolga is more socio-economically advantaged than about 36% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 963, 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 Tolga 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 Tolga 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
36/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (36/100) 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.
Tolga at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 3,177
- Median age
- 44
- Median weekly household income
- $1,479
- SEIFA score
- 963
- Local government area
- Tablelands
- Coordinates
- -17.1848, 145.4630
Map of Tolga
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Tolga
What it costs to live in Tolga and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $300
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,600
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 81%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 14%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Tolga demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Tolga demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tolga 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 26% and 15% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 570 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 311 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 745 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 825 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 729 | 23% |
Share of the 3,180 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 541 | 47% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 392 | 34% |
| Rented | 157 | 14% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,110 | 98% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,136 occupied private dwellings in Tolga.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,837
- Median weekly personal income
- $715
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 440 (15%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 210 (7%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 130 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,098 (44%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.3%
- Employed full-time
- 888
- Employed part-time
- 475
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 Tolga
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Tolga is December (average daytime high around 28.1°C) and the coolest is July (around 20.6°C). The area receives roughly 1267 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27.3°C | 19.9°C | 262 mm |
| Feb | 27°C | 20°C | 221 mm |
| Mar | 26.2°C | 19.3°C | 188 mm |
| Apr | 24.7°C | 17.9°C | 107 mm |
| May | 22.5°C | 15.7°C | 50 mm |
| Jun | 20.8°C | 14.2°C | 45 mm |
| Jul | 20.6°C | 13°C | 33 mm |
| Aug | 21.8°C | 13°C | 23 mm |
| Sep | 23.8°C | 14.5°C | 18 mm |
| Oct | 26.6°C | 16.3°C | 37 mm |
| Nov | 28°C | 17.9°C | 58 mm |
| Dec | 28.1°C | 19.3°C | 225 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Tolga
Is Tolga 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, Tolga rates 40/100 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 Tolga?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Tolga was $300, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,600. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Tolga?
Tolga is a suburb of Queensland, Australia, in the Tablelands local government area.
What is the population of Tolga?
At the 2021 Census, Tolga had a population of about 3,177.
Is Tolga an advantaged area?
Tolga has an ABS SEIFA score of 963, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 36 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 36% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Tolga?
Tolga has average daytime highs of about 24.8°C and overnight lows of about 16.8°C, with roughly 1,267 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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