Wagin, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Wagin is a Wheatbelt town in the Great Southern of Western Australia, about 225 kilometres south-east of Perth on the Great Southern Highway between Narrogin and Katanning. Its name comes from nearby Wagin Lake, a usually dry salt lake, and is drawn from a Noongar word linked to emus and their tracks. The surveyor-general John Septimus Roe explored the district in 1835, and for decades it supported sandalwood cutting and sheep grazing before the Great Southern Railway arrived in 1889 and a town was proclaimed in 1898. Wagin is best known today for the Giant Ram, a nine-metre sculpture celebrating its wool heritage, and for the Wagin Woolorama, a large agricultural show that draws tens of thousands of visitors each March. Heritage buildings include the 1905 Palace Hotel.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Wagin is more socio-economically advantaged than about 10% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 892, 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 Wagin 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 Wagin 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
10/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (10/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
79/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $195 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 79% 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.
Wagin at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,448
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $1,073
- SEIFA score
- 892
- Local government area
- Wagin
- Coordinates
- -33.3037, 117.3469
Map of Wagin
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Wagin
What it costs to live in Wagin and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $195
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $932
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 72%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 24%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Wagin demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Wagin demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Wagin 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 30% and 20% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 215 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 115 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 280 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 402 | 28% |
| Seniors (65+) | 427 | 30% |
Share of the 1,439 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 252 | 43% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 172 | 29% |
| Rented | 140 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 542 | 93% |
| Townhouses & semis | 38 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 584 occupied private dwellings in Wagin.
- Average household size
- 2.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,518
- Median weekly personal income
- $621
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 251 (20%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 66 (5%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 49 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 398 (33%)
- Labour-force participation
- 48.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.8%
- Employed full-time
- 296
- Employed part-time
- 203
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 Wagin
Is Wagin 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, Wagin rates 33/100 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 Wagin?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Wagin was $195, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $932. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Wagin?
Wagin is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Wagin local government area.
What is the population of Wagin?
At the 2021 Census, Wagin had a population of about 1,448.
Is Wagin an advantaged area?
Wagin has an ABS SEIFA score of 892, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 10 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 10% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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