Dwellingup, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Dwellingup is a small timber town in the jarrah forest of the Darling Range, in Western Australia's Peel region about 100 kilometres south of Perth. Its name is said to come from an Aboriginal word for a place of nearby water. The town grew up around the forest and a timber railway after it was surveyed in 1909, and was almost wiped out in the 1961 bushfires, among the worst in the state's history, which destroyed scores of houses but, remarkably, took no lives; the community rebuilt. Today Dwellingup has reinvented itself as an outdoors hub: the long Bibbulmun walking track and Munda Biddi cycle trail both pass through, and the Hotham Valley Railway runs steam tours into the surrounding forest.
Less advantaged than the national average
Dwellingup is more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 935, 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.
Dwellingup at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 524
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,343
- SEIFA score
- 935
- Coordinates
- -32.7346, 116.0888
Dwellingup demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Dwellingup 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%, 19% of homes are rented, and 18% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 89 | 17% |
| Youth (15–24) | 32 | 6% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 105 | 20% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 158 | 31% |
| Seniors (65+) | 131 | 25% |
Share of the 515 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 77 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 65 | 35% |
| Rented | 36 | 19% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 193 | 100% |
| Townhouses & semis | 0 | 0% |
| Flats & apartments | 0 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 193 occupied private dwellings in Dwellingup.
- Median weekly rent
- $274
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,733
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,833
- Median weekly personal income
- $632
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 84 (18%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 17 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 18 (3%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 165 (40%)
- Labour-force participation
- 57.7%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.4%
- Employed full-time
- 128
- Employed part-time
- 80
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.
Common questions about Dwellingup
Where is Dwellingup?
Dwellingup is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Dwellingup?
At the 2021 Census, Dwellingup had a population of about 524.
Is Dwellingup an advantaged area?
Dwellingup has an ABS SEIFA score of 935, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 23 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 23% of Australian suburbs.
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