Victor Harbor, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Victor Harbor is the largest town on South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, about 80 km south of Adelaide on Encounter Bay. It sits on the traditional lands of the Ramindjeri, a clan of the Ngarrindjeri people. A causeway links the town to Granite Island, crossed by a restored horse-drawn tram, and the bay is one of the country's better-known places to watch southern right whales as they calve through winter — a story told at the local South Australian Whale Centre. The town takes its name from HMS Victor, a Royal Navy ship that surveyed the bay in 1837, and the unusual 'Harbor' spelling preserves an older English form.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Victor Harbor is more socio-economically advantaged than about 12% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 899, 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 Victor Harbor 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 Victor Harbor 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
12/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (12/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
55/100Around the national median for cost
Median weekly rent was $267 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 55% 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.
Victor Harbor at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 4,520
- Median age
- 59
- Median weekly household income
- $882
- SEIFA score
- 899
- Local government area
- Victor Harbor
- Coordinates
- -35.5469, 138.6112
Map of Victor Harbor
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Victor Harbor
What it costs to live in Victor Harbor and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $267
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,203
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 64%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 28%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Victor Harbor demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Victor Harbor demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Victor Harbor 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 41% and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 537 | 12% |
| Youth (15–24) | 330 | 7% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 679 | 15% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,139 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,838 | 41% |
Share of the 4,523 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 907 | 43% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 436 | 21% |
| Rented | 583 | 28% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,538 | 73% |
| Townhouses & semis | 408 | 19% |
| Flats & apartments | 107 | 5% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,096 occupied private dwellings in Victor Harbor.
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,244
- Median weekly personal income
- $536
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 834 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 158 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 73 (2%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 1,554 (40%)
- Labour-force participation
- 39.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.8%
- Employed full-time
- 621
- Employed part-time
- 754
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 Victor Harbor
Is Victor Harbor 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, Victor Harbor rates 26/100 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 Victor Harbor?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Victor Harbor was $267, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,203. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Victor Harbor?
Victor Harbor is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Victor Harbor local government area.
What is the population of Victor Harbor?
At the 2021 Census, Victor Harbor had a population of about 4,520.
Is Victor Harbor an advantaged area?
Victor Harbor has an ABS SEIFA score of 899, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 12 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 12% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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