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.
Tom Price at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,910
- Median age
- 32
- Median weekly household income
- $3,125
- SEIFA score
- 1003
- Coordinates
- -22.6948, 117.7972
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%, 83% of homes are rented, 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.
- Median weekly rent
- $48
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,200
- 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.
Common questions about Tom Price
Where is Tom Price?
Tom Price is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
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 17th-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.
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