Wilmington, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Wilmington sits in the Mid North of South Australia, on the edge of the southern Flinders Ranges, about 220 kilometres north of Adelaide and 43 kilometres south-east of Port Augusta. The town was originally called 'Beautiful Valley' and was formally established in April 1876 as a staging point for grain and wool hauled by horse and cart between Port Augusta and Adelaide. Sheep and wheat farming still anchor the local economy, more recently joined by olive groves. Today Wilmington is best known as a base for exploring the Flinders Ranges: it borders the Mount Remarkable National Park, Alligator Gorge is barely ten minutes away, and Wilpena Pound lies further north. About 470 people live there.
Less advantaged than the national average
Wilmington is more socio-economically advantaged than about 26% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 943, 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 Wilmington 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 Wilmington 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
26/100Less advantaged than the national average
Less advantaged than the national average — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (26/100) 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.
Wilmington at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 667
- Median age
- 51
- Median weekly household income
- $1,260
- SEIFA score
- 943
- Local government area
- Mount Remarkable
- Coordinates
- -32.6509, 138.1584
Map of Wilmington
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Wilmington
What it costs to live in Wilmington 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
- 84%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 12%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Wilmington demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Wilmington demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Wilmington 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 31% and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 114 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 63 | 9% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 118 | 18% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 205 | 31% |
| Seniors (65+) | 166 | 25% |
Share of the 666 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 138 | 57% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 66 | 27% |
| Rented | 30 | 12% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 230 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 239 occupied private dwellings in Wilmington.
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,455
- Median weekly personal income
- $630
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 46 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 11 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 25 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 180 (34%)
- Labour-force participation
- 52.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.8%
- Employed full-time
- 167
- Employed part-time
- 93
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 Wilmington
Is Wilmington 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, Wilmington rates 43/100 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 Wilmington?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Wilmington 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 Wilmington?
Wilmington is a suburb of South Australia, Australia, in the Mount Remarkable local government area.
What is the population of Wilmington?
At the 2021 Census, Wilmington had a population of about 667.
Is Wilmington an advantaged area?
Wilmington has an ABS SEIFA score of 943, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 26 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 26% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in South Australia
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