Mount Barker (WA), WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Mount Barker is a town in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, about 360 kilometres south-east of Perth and 50 kilometres north of Albany, and the seat of the Shire of Plantagenet. It lies in Noongar country, and the hill it is named for was known to Aboriginal people as Pwakkenbak. The European name was given in 1829 by the explorer Thomas Braidwood Wilson, who called the peak after Captain Collet Barker, then commandant at the Albany settlement. The town developed as a farming centre after the Great Southern Railway reached it in 1889. Mount Barker is now one of the five subregions of the Great Southern wine district and a base for visitors to the nearby Stirling Range and Porongurup national parks.
Among Australia's less advantaged suburbs
Mount Barker (WA) is more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 909, 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.
Mount Barker (WA) at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 2,855
- Median age
- 48
- Median weekly household income
- $1,104
- SEIFA score
- 909
- Coordinates
- -34.6231, 117.6550
Mount Barker (WA) demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Mount Barker (WA) 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 29%, 24% of homes are rented, and 22% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 499 | 18% |
| Youth (15–24) | 284 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 538 | 19% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 822 | 29% |
| Seniors (65+) | 703 | 25% |
Share of the 2,846 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 427 | 41% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 312 | 30% |
| Rented | 253 | 24% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 992 | 96% |
| Townhouses & semis | 26 | 3% |
| Flats & apartments | 3 | 0% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,037 occupied private dwellings in Mount Barker (WA).
- Median weekly rent
- $225
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,226
- Average household size
- 2.4 people
- Median weekly family income
- $1,446
- Median weekly personal income
- $602
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 538 (22%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 228 (9%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 124 (4%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 874 (39%)
- Labour-force participation
- 51.1%
- Unemployment rate
- 4.2%
- Employed full-time
- 623
- Employed part-time
- 419
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 Mount Barker (WA)
Where is Mount Barker (WA)?
Mount Barker (WA) is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Mount Barker (WA)?
At the 2021 Census, Mount Barker (WA) had a population of about 2,855.
Is Mount Barker (WA) an advantaged area?
Mount Barker (WA) has an ABS SEIFA score of 909, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 14 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 14% of Australian suburbs.
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