Kadina, SA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Kadina is the largest town on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula, about 144 kilometres north-north-west of Adelaide. It stands on the traditional country of the Narungga people, and its name is thought to come from the Narungga word Kadiyinya, said to mean lizard plain. After copper was discovered at the nearby Wallaroo Mines in 1859, the town was surveyed in 1861 to house the miners, and with Moonta and Wallaroo it formed the Copper Triangle, an area so heavily settled by Cornish migrants that it became known as Little Cornwall. That heritage is still celebrated at the biennial Kernewek Lowender festival. Mining ended in 1938, and the district now lives by grain farming, its copper-era buildings preserved around the town centre.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Kadina is more socio-economically advantaged than about 12% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 901, 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.
Kadina at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,944
- Median age
- 49
- Median weekly household income
- $1,081
- SEIFA score
- 901
- Coordinates
- -33.9578, 137.7402
Kadina demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Kadina 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 seniors (65+) at 30%, 28% of homes are rented, and 8% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 470 | 16% |
| Youth (15–24) | 286 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 605 | 21% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 712 | 24% |
| Seniors (65+) | 878 | 30% |
Share of the 2,951 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 508 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 326 | 27% |
| Rented | 341 | 28% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,116 | 90% |
| Townhouses & semis | 92 | 7% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,238 occupied private dwellings in Kadina.
- Median weekly rent
- $250
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,083
- Average household size
- 2.2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,450
- Median weekly personal income
- $598
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 211 (8%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 56 (2%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 106 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 844 (35%)
- Labour-force participation
- 48.6%
- Unemployment rate
- 6.1%
- Employed full-time
- 603
- Employed part-time
- 460
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 Kadina
Where is Kadina?
Kadina is a suburb of South Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Kadina?
At the 2021 Census, Kadina had a population of about 2,944.
Is Kadina an advantaged area?
Kadina has an ABS SEIFA score of 901, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 12 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 12% of Australian suburbs.
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