Tom Price, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tom Price is an iron-ore mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, lying roughly 1,470 kilometres from Perth and, at 747 metres above sea level, the highest town in the state. It was named after Thomas Moore Price, an American steel executive who was an early champion of opening the Pilbara to iron-ore mining, and was built in the 1960s to serve the nearby Mount Tom Price mine, now operated by Rio Tinto. The mine, a few kilometres from town, anchors an economy built almost entirely on iron ore, and the high wages it pays make Tom Price one of regional Australia's more affluent communities. It is a young, family-oriented town with sporting and recreational facilities typical of the resource industry.
Around the national middle
Tom Price is more socio-economically advantaged than about 59% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1003, 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 Tom Price 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.
Strong on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Tom Price 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
59/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (59/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
99/100More affordable than most suburbs
Median weekly rent was $48 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 99% 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.
Tom Price at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,910
- Median age
- 32
- Median weekly household income
- $3,125
- SEIFA score
- 1003
- Local government area
- Ashburton
- Coordinates
- -22.6948, 117.7972
Map of Tom Price
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Tom Price
What it costs to live in Tom Price and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $48
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,200
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 7%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 83%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Tom Price demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Tom Price demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tom Price 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 young adults (25–44) at 37% and 22% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 911 | 31% |
| Youth (15–24) | 246 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,078 | 37% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 607 | 21% |
| Seniors (65+) | 70 | 2% |
Share of the 2,912 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 38 | 5% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 19 | 2% |
| Rented | 669 | 83% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 742 | 91% |
| Townhouses & semis | 32 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 18 | 2% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 815 occupied private dwellings in Tom Price.
- Average household size
- 2.9 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,407
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,741
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 540 (22%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 295 (12%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 301 (10%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 926 (48%)
- Labour-force participation
- 75.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 1.8%
- Employed full-time
- 999
- Employed part-time
- 319
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 Tom Price
Is Tom Price 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, Tom Price rates 72/100 overall (Strong 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 Tom Price?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Tom Price was $48, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,200. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Tom Price?
Tom Price is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Ashburton local government area.
What is the population of Tom Price?
At the 2021 Census, Tom Price had a population of about 2,910.
Is Tom Price an advantaged area?
Tom Price has an ABS SEIFA score of 1003, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 59 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 59% of Australian suburbs.
Does Tom Price have high household incomes?
Tom Price has one of the highest median weekly household incomes in Western Australia — the 14th-highest among suburbs with at least 1,000 residents at the 2021 Census ($3,125 per week).
Where Tom Price ranks
Tom Price appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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