Newman, WA
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Newman is an iron-ore town deep in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, roughly 1,190 kilometres north of Perth and just north of the Tropic of Capricorn. The surrounding country is associated with the Nyiyaparli and Martu peoples. The town was built from 1966 as a company town by Mount Newman Mining, a BHP venture, to house workers for the nearby Mount Whaleback iron-ore mine, and was named after the government surveyor Aubrey Woodward Newman, who died of typhoid in 1896. Iron ore dominates the local economy; ore from Mount Whaleback travels by the long Mount Newman railway to the coast at Port Hedland for export. Newman also serves as a service centre for the wider mining district.
Around the national middle
Newman 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.
Newman at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 6,456
- Median age
- 33
- Median weekly household income
- $2,972
- SEIFA score
- 998
- Coordinates
- -22.8815, 120.0183
Newman demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Newman 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 44%, 76% of homes are rented, and 31% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,251 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 626 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 2,815 | 44% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,600 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 156 | 2% |
Share of the 6,448 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 81 | 6% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 75 | 6% |
| Rented | 1,009 | 76% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 1,221 | 93% |
| Townhouses & semis | 52 | 4% |
| Flats & apartments | 28 | 2% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 1,315 occupied private dwellings in Newman.
- Median weekly rent
- $110
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,083
- Average household size
- 2.7 people
- Median weekly family income
- $3,342
- Median weekly personal income
- $1,774
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 1,585 (31%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 919 (18%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 646 (10%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 2,241 (44%)
- Labour-force participation
- 68.4%
- Unemployment rate
- 2.4%
- Employed full-time
- 2,690
- Employed part-time
- 480
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 Newman
Where is Newman?
Newman is a suburb of Western Australia, Australia.
What is the population of Newman?
At the 2021 Census, Newman had a population of about 6,456.
Is Newman an advantaged area?
Newman 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 Newman have high household incomes?
Newman has one of the highest median weekly household incomes in Western Australia — the 19th-highest among suburbs with at least 1,000 residents at the 2021 Census ($2,972 per week).
Where Newman ranks
Newman appears in these data-driven guides — each a transparent sort on a single ABS figure shown on this page.
Nearby suburbs in Western Australia
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Other hand-written, cited guides — browse all guides.