Yass, NSW
By Lauren McCaleb · Reviewed by Dylan Duncan ·
Yass is a historic town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, about 280 kilometres south-west of Sydney and only some 60 kilometres north-west of Canberra, on the banks of the Yass River. The Ngunawal people are the traditional custodians, and the name is generally said to come from an Aboriginal word, yarrh, meaning running water, later misheard and spelled with a double letter. Europeans first passed through during Hamilton Hume's expedition of 1821, and the town was gazetted in 1837. Hume later lived nearby at Cooma Cottage, one of the oldest rural homesteads in the state. Yass grew rich on fine merino wool, and its main street still keeps a string of verandahed nineteenth-century pubs and shopfronts.
Around the national middle
Yass is more socio-economically advantaged than about 53% of the 14,462 Australian suburbs we score, based on the ABS SEIFA index (raw score 992, 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.
Yass at a glance
- Population (2021)
- 6,763
- Median age
- 42
- Median weekly household income
- $1,739
- SEIFA score
- 992
- Coordinates
- -34.8229, 148.9083
Yass demographics (2021 Census)
The figures below profile Yass 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 25%, 23% of homes are rented, and 10% of residents were born overseas.
Age profile
| Age group | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Children (0–14) | 1,313 | 19% |
| Youth (15–24) | 707 | 10% |
| Young adults (25–44) | 1,587 | 23% |
| Mid-life (45–64) | 1,691 | 25% |
| Seniors (65+) | 1,471 | 22% |
Share of the 6,769 people counted by age.
Housing and households
| Tenure | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Owned outright | 836 | 33% |
| Owned with a mortgage | 1,006 | 40% |
| Rented | 593 | 23% |
| Dwelling type | Dwellings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Houses | 2,233 | 89% |
| Townhouses & semis | 193 | 8% |
| Flats & apartments | 79 | 3% |
Tenure and dwelling shares are of the roughly 2,522 occupied private dwellings in Yass.
- Median weekly rent
- $340
- Median monthly mortgage
- $1,773
- Average household size
- 2.5 people
- Median weekly family income
- $2,185
- Median weekly personal income
- $867
Community and culture
- Born overseas
- 627 (10%)
- Speaks a language other than English at home
- 279 (4%)
- Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander
- 347 (5%)
Work and education
- Completed Year 12
- 2,659 (51%)
- Labour-force participation
- 60.9%
- Unemployment rate
- 3.1%
- Employed full-time
- 1,994
- Employed part-time
- 1,022
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 Yass
Where is Yass?
Yass is a suburb of New South Wales, Australia.
What is the population of Yass?
At the 2021 Census, Yass had a population of about 6,763.
Is Yass an advantaged area?
Yass has an ABS SEIFA score of 992, where about 1000 is the national average — higher scores indicate greater relative socio-economic advantage. That gives it a Suburb Score of 53 out of 100 — more socio-economically advantaged than about 53% of Australian suburbs.
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