Yass, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Yass is a historic town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, about 280 kilometres south-west of Sydney and only some 60 kilometres north-west of Canberra, on the banks of the Yass River. The Ngunnawal people are the traditional custodians, and the name is generally said to come from an Aboriginal word, yarrh, meaning running water, later misheard and spelled with a double letter. Europeans first passed through during Hamilton Hume's expedition of 1821, and the town was gazetted in 1837. Hume later lived nearby at Cooma Cottage, one of the oldest rural homesteads in the state. Yass grew rich on fine merino wool, and its main street still keeps a string of verandahed nineteenth-century pubs and shopfronts.
Around the national middle
Yass is more socio-economically advantaged than about 53% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 992, 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 Yass 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 Yass 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
53/100Around the national middle
Around the national middle — the same ABS SEIFA-based Suburb Score (53/100) shown above. Income, education and occupation, as published by the ABS. · ABS SEIFA 2021
Housing affordability
34/100Less affordable than the national median
Median weekly rent was $340 at the 2021 Census — more affordable than about 34% 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.
Yass at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 6,763
- Median age
- 42
- Median weekly household income
- $1,739
- SEIFA score
- 992
- Local government area
- Yass Valley
- Coordinates
- -34.8229, 148.9083
Map of Yass
© OpenStreetMap contributors · View larger map
Housing & property in Yass
What it costs to live in Yass and how residents hold their homes, from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2021 Census.
- Median rent
- $340
- per week
- Median mortgage
- $1,773
- per month
- Owner-occupied
- 73%
- of dwellings
- Rented
- 23%
- of dwellings
The full tenure and dwelling-type breakdown is in the Yass demographics section below.
Source: ABS Census of Population and Housing, 2021. © Australian Bureau of Statistics, released under CC BY 4.0. See our methodology.
Yass demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Yass 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 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,313 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 707 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,587 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,691 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,471 | 22% |
Share of the 6,769 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 836 | 33% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,006 | 40% |
| Rented | 593 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,233 | 89% |
| Townhouses & semis | 193 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 79 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,522 occupied private dwellings in Yass.
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,185
- Median weekly personal income
- $867
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 627 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 279 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 347 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 2,659 (51%)
- Labour-force participation
- 60.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.1%
- Employed full-time
- 1,994
- Employed part-time
- 1,022
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 Yass
Is Yass 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, Yass rates 47/100 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 Yass?
At the 2021 Census, the median weekly rent in Yass was $340, and the median monthly mortgage repayment was $1,773. These are official ABS Census figures — StreetScout publishes housing data only, with no property valuations or agent referrals.
Where is Yass?
Yass is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia, in the Yass Valley local government area.
What is the population of Yass?
At the 2021 Census, Yass had a population of about 6,763.
Is Yass an advantaged area?
Yass has an ABS SEIFA score of 992, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 53 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 53% of Australian suburbs.
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