Tweed Heads, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Tweed Heads is the northernmost town in New South Wales, sitting at the mouth of the Tweed River on the NSW–Queensland border. Its twin town, Coolangatta, sits on the other side of a state line so porous that many residents cannot leave their front yard without technically crossing into Queensland. The Gold Coast Airport straddles the border, partly in Tweed Heads West. Brisbane is 103 kilometres north; Byron Bay is 66 kilometres south; Sydney is 830 kilometres down the Pacific Motorway. European settlers arrived in the 1840s as cedar cutters, the Tweed Shire was declared in 1947, and the suburb’s current name was formally adopted in 1965. [HELD - FIRST NATIONS GATE: the town’s earlier place name (of Aboriginal-language origin) was noted here; held from publication per company.md section 5 (confirmed HOLD) until reviewer sign-off and Lauren lifts the hold. Reinstatable after review.] The ABS 2021 Census (SAL14002) recorded 9,176 people living in Tweed Heads. The dominant characteristic is age: the median is 55, which is 16 years above the New South Wales median of 39 and 17 years above the national figure of 38. Tweed Heads is a major retirement destination with 14 retirement villages. Flats and apartments make up 44.2% of dwellings (nationally: 14.2%), average household size is 2.0 against NSW’s 2.6, and divorce and widowhood rates (14.5% and 9.4% respectively among residents 15+) run well above NSW averages — all consistent with a concentrated older population. Household income of $1,138 a week is 38% below the NSW median of $1,829; labour force participation is just 46.3%, against 58.7% for NSW, because a large share of residents is retired. Those who do work concentrate in healthcare and social assistance: hospitals employ 6.1% of the workforce, aged care residential services 4.1%, and community and personal service workers account for 16.2% against a NSW figure of 10.6% — the suburb essentially provides the services its own residents use. One demographic outlier: 2.3% of residents were born in Brazil, the highest concentration in the region and well above the NSW figure of 0.3%, supporting a well-established Brazilian community; Portuguese is the leading non-English home language at 2.5%. The film Muriel’s Wedding was shot here in 1994, using Tweed Heads as its fictional “Porpoise Spit”.
Less advantaged than the national average
Tweed Heads is more socio-economically advantaged than about 34% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 959, 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 Tweed Heads 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.
Lower on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Tweed Heads 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
34/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (34/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
16/100Among the more expensive suburbs
Median weekly rent was $403 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 16% 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.
Tweed Heads at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 9,176
- Median age
- 55
- Median weekly household income
- $1,138
- SEIFA score
- 959
- Local government area
- Tweed
- Coordinates
- -28.1777, 153.5345
Map of Tweed Heads
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Tweed Heads
What it costs to live in Tweed Heads and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $403
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,733
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 62%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 34%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Tweed Heads demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Tweed Heads demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Tweed Heads 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 seniors (65+) at 36% and 22% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,011 | 11% |
| Youth (15–24) | 705 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,961 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 2,214 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 3,296 | 36% |
Share of the 9,187 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 1,709 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 852 | 21% |
| Rented | 1,407 | 34% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,033 | 25% |
| Townhouses & semis | 1,252 | 30% |
| Flats & apartments | 1,835 | 44% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 4,142 occupied private dwellings in Tweed Heads.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,487
- Median weekly personal income
- $660
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,881 (22%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 731 (9%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 277 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 3,656 (46%)
- Labour-force participation
- 46.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.7%
- Employed full-time
- 1,725
- Employed part-time
- 1,470
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 Tweed Heads
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Tweed Heads is January (average daytime high around 27.1°C) and the coolest is July (around 19.5°C). The area receives roughly 1226 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 27.1°C | 20.9°C | 117 mm |
| Feb | 26.8°C | 20.7°C | 212 mm |
| Mar | 26.3°C | 20°C | 187 mm |
| Apr | 24.1°C | 17.2°C | 81 mm |
| May | 21.8°C | 14.4°C | 98 mm |
| Jun | 19.7°C | 12.1°C | 83 mm |
| Jul | 19.5°C | 11.1°C | 59 mm |
| Aug | 20.5°C | 11.6°C | 51 mm |
| Sep | 22.1°C | 13.7°C | 49 mm |
| Oct | 23.6°C | 16.3°C | 93 mm |
| Nov | 25.2°C | 17.9°C | 75 mm |
| Dec | 26.6°C | 19.8°C | 121 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Tweed Heads
Is Tweed Heads 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, Tweed Heads rates 28/100 overall (Lower 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 Tweed Heads?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Tweed Heads was $403, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,733. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Tweed Heads?
Tweed Heads is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed local government area.
What is the population of Tweed Heads?
At the 2021 Census, Tweed Heads had a population of about 9,176.
Is Tweed Heads an advantaged area?
Tweed Heads has an ABS SEIFA score of 959, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 34 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 34% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Tweed Heads?
Tweed Heads has average daytime highs of about 23.6°C and overnight lows of about 16.3°C, with roughly 1,226 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
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