Lightning Ridge, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Lightning Ridge is an outback town in far northern New South Wales, about 720 kilometres north-west of Sydney and 74 kilometres north of Walgett, near the Queensland border. It lies on the traditional lands of the Yuwaalaraay people. The unusual name is said to date from the 1870s, after a story of a stockman and his flock caught in a lightning strike on the ridge, though the account is traditional rather than verified. Opal mining began in 1905, and the town became famous as a centre of black opal, the rare dark gemstone. Today visitors come for the hot artesian bore baths fed by the Great Artesian Basin, the annual Opal and Gem Festival, and fossil fields that have yielded opalised dinosaur remains.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Lightning Ridge is more socio-economically advantaged than about 3% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 834, 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.
Lightning Ridge at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 1,946
- Median age
- 53
- Median weekly household income
- $792
- SEIFA score
- 834
- Coordinates
- -29.3314, 147.9263
Lightning Ridge demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Lightning Ridge 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 30%, 29% of homes are rented, and 19% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 282 | 15% |
| Youth (15–24) | 152 | 8% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 365 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 576 | 30% |
| Seniors (65+) | 568 | 29% |
Share of the 1,943 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 356 | 49% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 94 | 13% |
| Rented | 212 | 29% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 449 | 62% |
| Townhouses & semis | 33 | 5% |
| Flats & apartments | 13 | 2% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 726 occupied private dwellings in Lightning Ridge.
- Median weekly rent
- $200
- Median monthly mortgage
- $867
- Average household size
- 2 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,186
- Median weekly personal income
- $476
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 296 (19%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 177 (12%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 395 (20%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 452 (28%)
- Labour-force participation
- 37.3%
- Unemployment rate
- 10.8%
- Employed full-time
- 291
- Employed part-time
- 215
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 Lightning Ridge
Where is Lightning Ridge?
Lightning Ridge is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia.
What is the population of Lightning Ridge?
At the 2021 Census, Lightning Ridge had a population of about 1,946.
Is Lightning Ridge an advantaged area?
Lightning Ridge has an ABS SEIFA score of 834, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 3 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 3% of Australian suburbs.
Nearby suburbs in New South Wales
More suburb guides in New South Wales
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.