Wee Waa, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Wee Waa is a town on the Namoi River in the north-west of New South Wales, in the cotton-growing country of the lower Namoi and in Kamilaroi (Gamilaraay) country. Its name is generally said to come from a Kamilaroi word, often translated as 'fire for roasting'. A pastoral run was taken up here in 1837, making Wee Waa one of the oldest towns in the district and the first established on the Namoi. The town calls itself the birthplace of Australia's commercial cotton industry, with the first large irrigated cotton crop grown nearby in 1961, watered from the Keepit Dam. In a curious moment of fame, the band Daft Punk chose the Wee Waa Show to launch an album in 2013. Cotton and grain still anchor the local economy.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Wee Waa is more socio-economically advantaged than about 13% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 903, 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 Wee Waa 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.
Below the national middle on the data we score
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Wee Waa 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
13/100Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (13/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
78/100More affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $200 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 78% 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.
Wee Waa at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,034
- Median age
- 38
- Median weekly household income
- $1,286
- SEIFA score
- 903
- Local government area
- Narrabri
- Coordinates
- -30.3109, 149.3908
Map of Wee Waa
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Wee Waa
What it costs to live in Wee Waa and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $200
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,083
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 62%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 32%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Wee Waa demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Wee Waa demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Wee Waa 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 mid-life (45–64) at 25% and 5% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 459 | 23% |
| Youth (15–24) | 226 | 11% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 470 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 508 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 374 | 18% |
Share of the 2,037 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 236 | 34% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 195 | 28% |
| Rented | 222 | 32% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 627 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 57 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 700 occupied private dwellings in Wee Waa.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,658
- Median weekly personal income
- $689
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 90 (5%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 34 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 391 (19%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 500 (33%)
- Labour-force participation
- 55.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 5%
- Employed full-time
- 536
- Employed part-time
- 239
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 Wee Waa
Is Wee Waa 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, Wee Waa rates 35/100 overall (Below the national middle 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 Wee Waa?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Wee Waa was $200, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,083. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Wee Waa?
Wee Waa is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Narrabri local government area.
What is the population of Wee Waa?
At the 2021 Census, Wee Waa had a population of about 2,034.
Is Wee Waa an advantaged area?
Wee Waa has an ABS SEIFA score of 903, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 13 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 13% of Australian suburbs.
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