Willetton, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Willetton is a large southern suburb of Perth, in the City of Canning, about twelve kilometres from the central business district. It takes its name from Henry Willett, of the firm Willett & Co, who settled in the wider district after being granted land there in 1832, though the name Willetton was not fixed in its present position until it was gazetted in 1965. The suburb is built on a flat, sandy stretch of coastal plain once covered with open Banksia woodland and paperbarks marking the edges of shallow seasonal swamps. Its first subdivision opened in the early 1970s under the developer's name Burrendah Heights — preserved today in Burrendah Boulevard and a local primary school — and most of its housing was completed through the 1990s. The Southlands Boulevarde shopping centre anchors the suburb, which is also home to Willetton Senior High School, one of the largest public high schools in Western Australia.
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Willetton is more socio-economically advantaged than about 86% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 1060, 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 Willetton 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.
Around the national middle
A weighted blend of the 2 components we can score for Willetton 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
86/100Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs
Among Australia's more advantaged suburbs — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (86/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
20/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $400 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 20% 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.
Willetton at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 19,262
- Median age
- 40
- Median weekly household income
- $2,178
- SEIFA score
- 1060
- Local government area
- Canning
- Coordinates
- -32.0540, 115.8886
Map of Willetton
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Willetton
What it costs to live in Willetton and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $400
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $2,100
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 78%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 20%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Willetton demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Willetton demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Willetton 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 26% and 53% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 4,215 | 22% |
| Youth (15–24) | 2,709 | 14% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 4,356 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 4,992 | 26% |
| Seniors (65+) | 2,987 | 16% |
Share of the 19,259 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 2,418 | 39% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 2,417 | 39% |
| Rented | 1,214 | 20% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 5,540 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 265 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 350 | 6% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 6,159 occupied private dwellings in Willetton.
- Average household size
- 3.1 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,379
- Median weekly personal income
- $755
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 10,035 (53%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 8,623 (46%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 78 (0%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 10,443 (75%)
- Labour-force participation
- 64.8%
- Unemployment rate
- 5.9%
- Employed full-time
- 5,294
- Employed part-time
- 3,506
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 Willetton
Based on 2014–2023 records, the warmest month in Willetton is January (average daytime high around 31.2°C) and the coolest is July (around 15.5°C). The area receives roughly 739 mm of rain across the year.
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 31.2°C | 17.4°C | 23 mm |
| Feb | 30.6°C | 17.5°C | 24 mm |
| Mar | 27.8°C | 16.5°C | 43 mm |
| Apr | 23.3°C | 13.6°C | 45 mm |
| May | 19.2°C | 10.8°C | 81 mm |
| Jun | 16.5°C | 9.2°C | 103 mm |
| Jul | 15.5°C | 8.7°C | 140 mm |
| Aug | 16.2°C | 8.3°C | 122 mm |
| Sep | 18.2°C | 9.2°C | 69 mm |
| Oct | 21.3°C | 10.9°C | 49 mm |
| Nov | 25.5°C | 13.3°C | 30 mm |
| Dec | 29.4°C | 15.8°C | 10 mm |
Climate normals, 2014–2023 (Open-Meteo, ERA5 reanalysis).
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Common questions about Willetton
Is Willetton a good place to live?
Willetton scores 86/100 (SEIFA 1,060, top 14% nationally) and its 75% Year 12 completion rate is the headline number here — 19 points above the national 56%, and one of the highest education-completion rates among the outer-south Perth suburbs. Median household income of $2,178 reflects the education profile: this is a suburb that draws families for whom schooling infrastructure matters, and that character is self-reinforcing. The housing is predominantly detached, the suburb is established (not a new estate), and being the 8th-largest suburb of Western Australia means it has the amenity density that comes with that size.
What is the median rent in Willetton?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Willetton was $400, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $2,100. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Willetton?
Willetton is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia, in the Canning local government area.
What is the population of Willetton?
At the 2021 Census, Willetton had a population of about 19,262.
Is Willetton an advantaged area?
Willetton has an ABS SEIFA score of 1060, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 86 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 86% of Australian suburbs.
What is the weather like in Willetton?
Willetton has average daytime highs of about 22.9°C and overnight lows of about 12.6°C, with roughly 739 mm of rain across the year (based on 2014–2023 climate normals).
How big is Willetton?
Willetton is one of the most populous suburbs in Western Australia — the 8th-largest by usual resident population at the 2021 Census (about 19,262 usual residents).
Where Willetton ranks
Willetton appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
More suburb guides in Western Australia
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.