Moranbah, QLD
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Moranbah is a planned mining town in the Bowen Basin of central Queensland, in the Isaac Region about 195 kilometres south-west of the coastal city of Mackay. It was established in 1969 and built up rapidly through the 1970s by the Utah Development Company to house workers for the surrounding coalfields, with its first state school opening in 1971. Today Moranbah is one of the country's most important coal towns, serving a cluster of large open-cut and underground mines — among them Peak Downs, Goonyella Riverside and Grosvenor — that ship metallurgical coal to the coast for export. Around 9,400 people live in the town, many connected to the mining industry.
Around the national middle
Moranbah is more socio-economically advantaged than about 56% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 998, 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.
Moranbah at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 9,425
- Median age
- 31
- Median weekly household income
- $3,079
- SEIFA score
- 998
- Coordinates
- -21.9154, 147.8809
Moranbah demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Moranbah 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 young adults (25–44) at 38%, 68% of homes are rented, and 15% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 2,307 | 24% |
| Youth (15–24) | 1,158 | 12% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 3,608 | 38% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 2,083 | 22% |
| Seniors (65+) | 268 | 3% |
Share of the 9,424 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 221 | 8% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 497 | 19% |
| Rented | 1,789 | 68% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,156 | 82% |
| Townhouses & semis | 437 | 17% |
| Flats & apartments | 37 | 1% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,638 occupied private dwellings in Moranbah.
- Median weekly rent
- $111
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,300
- Average household size
- 2.8 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,327
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,553
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,133 (15%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 607 (8%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 536 (6%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 3,279 (48%)
- Labour-force participation
- 68.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.4%
- Employed full-time
- 3,411
- Employed part-time
- 976
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 Moranbah
Where is Moranbah?
Moranbah is a suburb of Queensland, Australia.
What is the population of Moranbah?
At the 2021 Census, Moranbah had a population of about 9,425.
Is Moranbah an advantaged area?
Moranbah has an ABS SEIFA score of 998, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 56 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 56% of Australian suburbs.
Does Moranbah have high household incomes?
Moranbah has one of the highest median weekly household incomes in Queensland — the 14th-highest among suburbs with at least 1,000 residents at the 2021 Census ($3,079 per week).
Where Moranbah ranks
Moranbah appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
- Highest-income suburbs in Queensland#14 of 25
Nearby suburbs in Queensland
More suburb guides in Queensland
Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.