Blackbutt NSW 2529

Blackbutt is a suburb in New South Wales, 110 km from Sydney CBD, around 1 hour 40 minutes by car. Population is 3,291; the median age is 43 and the median household income is $83,408 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the middle range nationally. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $420 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $2,000. The area shows no recorded bushfire exposure. Walkability is high.

Is Blackbutt a good suburb?

Blackbutt scores a B (66/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on transit and safety.

Transit

Very walkable

Walkability 86/100 · 110.5 km · 98 min drive to Sydney

Prices

Around the state median

Median $1.02M

Safety

Low all-round risk

Fire 0/100 · Crime 34/100

Community

Mid-range socio-economic

SEIFA decile 5/10 · median age 43 · 3,291 residents

B

Liveability Rating

66 / 100 · Ranked #379 in NSW

Each bar is Blackbutt's rank among NSW suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.

Schools quality no data
no schools mapped
Safety
89
Bushfire None · Crime Low

No flood data is published for New South Wales — a blank here means we hold no data, not that there is no risk.

Socio-economic
38
Mid-range
Walkability
85
Very walkable
CBD access
48
110.5 km · 98 min drive to Sydney
How it's calculated: Safety rank 89 × 25% + Socio-economic rank 38 × 25% + Walkability rank 85 × 15% + CBD access rank 48 × 10% = 66 / 100. Missing components rebalance the remaining weights.

How do you rate the liveability in Blackbutt?

Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.

Our score

66 / 100

From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.

Residents say

…

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One rating per person. You can change yours at any time.

Median House Price

Public listings data

Blackbutt's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $1.02 million, about 5% above where it sat a year earlier.

Houses

$1,025,000

last 7 quarters

4% above its 5 neighbours (median $988,500)

↑ +5.5% year-on-year

Based on 65 recorded sales in the last 24 months.

Typically sold in 29 days — median across 27 sales that recorded a listing period

By bedrooms

  • 3 bed 25 sales $905K
  • 4 bed 27 sales $1.22M
  • 5 bed 7 sales $1.29M

Units

$720,000

last 2 quarters

7% below its 3 neighbours (median $775,000)

↓ −5.3% year-on-year

Based on 14 recorded sales in the last 24 months.

Typically sold in 34 days — median across 4 sales that recorded a listing period

By bedrooms

  • 2 bed 7 sales $685K
  • 3 bed 6 sales $815K

Currently for Sale

Last 6 months

Houses in Blackbutt are currently listed at around $860,000 on average. Based on 9 houses listed in the past six months.

$860K

last 2 months
↓ −25.2% vs previous 6 months from $1.15M

9 houses listed in the last 6 months.

9 of the suburb's 1,218 dwellings (0.7%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.

Rental Market

Advertised rents · last 6 months

Houses in Blackbutt rent for around $788 a week on average, based on 10 houses listed for rent in the past six months.

$788/wk

last 2 months

9% above its 4 neighbours (median $725/wk)

Since 2021: $528/wk → $712/wk (+35%)

10 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.

10 rentals advertised against an estimated 363 rented homes (2.8%) in the last 6 months.

Rent agreed on new leases

Jul–Sep 2026
3-bed houses
$780/wk
66 bonds
+35% since 2021
2-bed units
$680/wk
25 bonds
+40% since 2021

Median weekly rent on bonds lodged for new tenancies across postcode 2529 (NSW publishes bonds by postcode, which can cover several suburbs). Change since 2021 compares the median of the first four quarters with the last four. Asking rents above come from advertised listings.

Rental affordability

June quarter 2025

73 Severely unaffordable · the average rental household in this region would pay about 41% of its income on the median rent in postcode 2529.

SGS Rental Affordability Index: a score of 100 means rent takes 30% of income, the usual housing-stress line; lower scores are less affordable. "Region" is the capital city or the rest of the state.

Gross rental yield

Indicative
House
4.8% above the typical range
Top 6% in NSW

$788/week ($41,000 a year) on a $860,000 median

Gross yield — before strata, rates, management, insurance and vacancy. Calculated from median advertised rents and median asking prices over the last 6 months. How we calculate.

Is Blackbutt safe? Crime statistics

2025

Crime in Blackbutt sits in the low band, with 77 incidents recorded in 2025 — down roughly 18% on the prior year.

77 offences

18.1% since 2024
Theft 23 (29.9%)
Harassment & Stalking 19 (24.7%)
Assault 17 (22.1%)
Drug Offences 7 (9.1%)
Property Damage 5 (6.5%)
Disorderly Conduct 3 (3.9%)
Arson 1 (1.3%)
Weapons Offences 1 (1.3%)
Sexual Offences 1 (1.3%)

Crime Trend

Serious Road Crashes

2021–2025

7 crashes

where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal

Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the suburb carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. Roads are listed with 3 or more serious crashes.

Council Flood Studies

Shellharbour City Council has published 9 flood studies on the NSW Flood Data Portal. The mapped flood areas are in those studies; SuburbScan does not hold them.

All 9 on the portal

Schools

No schools in this suburb boundary.

Walkability

Blackbutt is very walkable on foot — at 86/100, most daily errands can be done on foot.

86
out of 100
Very Walkable
Top 6% in NSW
Public Transport within 1 km 67
Schools within 1.5 km 100
Parks within 800 m 100
Supermarkets within 1 km 100
GPs within 1 km 80
Pharmacies within 1 km 80
Childcare within 1 km 100
Hospitals within 5 km 80

Public transport

Weekday and weekend service frequency across every stop inside Blackbutt.

79
out of 100
Bus
Peak (7-9am + 5-7pm)
30.0 arrivals/hr
Off-peak weekday
20.1 arrivals/hr
Saturday
10.4 arrivals/hr
Median peak wait
1 min
Span of service
18.1 hours

Scheduled service only, based on the 21 October 2026 timetable. Reliability (delays, cancellations) not measured.

NBN connectivity

The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Blackbutt.

73
connectivity score / 100
Top 21% in NSW
Most common
Fibre to the premises
Full-fibre (FTTP) share
51%
Premises covered
1,373
Technology mix
Fibre to the premises (FTTP) 51%
Fibre to the node (FTTN) 49%

NBN Co fixed-line and fixed-wireless premises, as at 30 December 2025. Higher-quality technologies (full fibre) score above copper, wireless, and satellite. Actual speeds depend on your plan.

Amenities

Supermarkets
None
Shopping Centres
None
Cafes & Restaurants
None
Parks & Reserves
10 in suburb
Sport & Recreation
None
Beaches
None
Waterways
None
Childcare
6 in suburb
GPs
None
Pharmacies
None
Hospitals
None
Police Stations
None
Banks & Bank@Post
None
Fuel Stations
None
EV Chargers
None
Pubs & Bars
None
Arts & Culture
None
Places of Worship
None

Shellharbour: council population

The whole council area, not just Blackbutt · estimated residents
at 30 June 2025
Residents
83,228
+1.9% in a year
Change
+1,559
people since 2024
Density
565
people per km² across the council area
What drove the change
Natural increase
+403
births minus deaths
Net internal migration
+938
moves within Australia
Net overseas migration
+218
arrivals minus departures

The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this suburb alone — this suburb's own population is in the census section above.

Socio-economic profile

ABS SEIFA · ranked against every suburb in Australia, and within the state
2021 census
Advantage and disadvantage
5/10
4/10 within NSW
income, education, jobs and housing together
Economic resources
4/10
4/10 within NSW
income against housing cost and household size
Education and occupation
4/10
3/10 within NSW
qualifications and job type, income excluded
How evenly that is spread

The ABS scores 9 small areas inside this suburb and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 6 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this suburb rank well above the average and parts well below it.

Blackbutt is home to about 3,300 residents, with a median age of 43, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $83,000 a year, with unemployment at 4.8%.

2021 Census · change since 2016

Population

3,291

0.3% since 2016

Median Age

43

7.5% since 2016

Median Household Income

$83,408/yr

16.8% since 2016

Census Median Rent

$420/wk

13.5% since 2016

Census Median Mortgage

$2,000/mo

2.6% since 2016

Avg Household Size

2.6

3.7% since 2016

Median Personal Income

$36,764/yr

18.0% since 2016

Unemployment Rate

4.8%

28.4% since 2016

Unoccupied Dwellings

3.7%

14.0% since 2016

Total Dwellings

1,218

3.7% since 2016

Owner-Occupier Rate

70.2%

0.1% since 2016

Houses

70.0%

1.6% since 2016

Rental Stress

26.2%

2.6% since 2016

Mortgage Stress

28.8%

12.2% since 2016

Work From Home

23.5%

634.4% since 2016

Dwelling Types

Houses 853 (70.0%)
Townhouses 346 (28.4%)
Flats / Apartments 19 (1.6%)

Property Ownership

Owned Outright 494 (41.2%)
Renting 358 (29.8%)
Mortgage 348 (29.0%)
Of those rentals, social housing 97 (27.1%)

87 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 10 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 358 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.

Demographics

Born in Australia
73.3%
English Spoken at Home
75.0%
Employment Rate
55.3%
4.0% since 2016
Completed Year 12
37.1%

Occupations

Professionals 278 (18.2%)
Technicians & Trades 249 (16.3%)
Clerical & Administrative 206 (13.5%)
Community & Personal Service 182 (11.9%)
Managers 168 (11.0%)
Sales 158 (10.3%)
Labourers 146 (9.5%)
Machinery Operators & Drivers 116 (7.6%)

Religion

Christianity 1,985 (60.3%)
No Religion 960 (29.2%)
Islam 88 (2.7%)
Buddhism 38 (1.2%)
Other Religions 14 (0.4%)
Hinduism 13 (0.4%)
Judaism 6 (0.2%)

Country of Birth (overseas)

Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.

England 108 (3.3%)
Italy 25 (0.8%)
Germany 24 (0.7%)
Philippines 23 (0.7%)
China 17 (0.5%)
New Zealand 17 (0.5%)
Pakistan 17 (0.5%)
Vietnam 16 (0.5%)

When They Arrived

Share of all residents by the year they arrived in Australia. Periods cover different numbers of years, so compare the shape rather than the bar widths.

2016-2021 25 (0.8%)
2011-2015 40 (1.2%)
2001-2010 77 (2.3%)
1991-2000 55 (1.7%)
1981-1990 101 (3.1%)
Before 1981 468 (14.2%)

25 residents (0.8%) arrived since 2016. Australia’s borders were closed to most arrivals from March 2020, so the last two years of that period are much smaller than the ones before them — nationally 260,799 people arrived in 2019 against 28,521 in 2021.

Where New Residents Came From

Where residents aged five and over lived five years before the 2021 Census, for those who lived somewhere else.

5.1% of residents (160) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Sydney (139).

Sydney - Outer South West 33 (1.1%)
Overseas 32 (1.0%)
Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven 28 (0.9%)

Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 3,132 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.

Languages Spoken at Home

Top languages other than English, as a share of all residents.

Spanish 21 (0.6%)
Arabic 16 (0.5%)
Italian 16 (0.5%)
Greek 15 (0.5%)
Vietnamese 13 (0.4%)
Croatian 13 (0.4%)
Mandarin 12 (0.4%)
Cantonese 11 (0.3%)

Age Distribution

0-4 159 (4.8%)
5-14 373 (11.3%)
15-19 216 (6.6%)
20-24 222 (6.7%)
25-34 370 (11.2%)
35-44 352 (10.7%)
45-54 507 (15.4%)
55-64 451 (13.7%)
65-74 404 (12.3%)
75-84 173 (5.3%)
85+ 58 (1.8%)

Family & Household Composition

Couple Families 425 (48.0%)
Lone Person 258 (29.2%)
One Parent Families 160 (18.1%)
Group Household 31 (3.5%)
Other Families 11 (1.2%)

Commute to Work

Car (driver) 835 (68.6%)
Worked from Home 286 (23.5%)
Car (passenger) 57 (4.7%)
Walked Only 20 (1.6%)
Train 15 (1.2%)
Bus 5 (0.4%)

2% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (25 of 1,531).

City centre: the ABS area around each capital's CBD, such as Sydney Inner City or Perth City (which takes in Subiaco and Leederville). 2021 Census place of work.

Education

Certificate III & IV 574 (17.4%)
Bachelor Degree 291 (8.8%)
Advanced Diploma / Diploma 276 (8.4%)
Postgraduate Degree 83 (2.5%)
Graduate Diploma / Certificate 45 (1.4%)

Cars per Dwelling

0 cars 63 (5.2%)
1 car 378 (31.4%)
2 cars 459 (38.1%)
3 cars 188 (15.6%)
4+ cars 121 (10.0%)

Council Rates

Shellharbour
FY 2024-25

Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,788 a year through Shellharbour based on 2024 figures.

Avg residential rate
$1,788/yr
45% above the NSW average of $1,230 · median of 128 councils
Valuation basis
Unimproved Value
land only

How this land is zoned

Share of Blackbutt's area by planning zone
2026-09
  • Parks and recreation 51%
  • Residential 43%
  • Infrastructure and transport 5%
  • Commercial 2%

Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the suburb around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.

Building Approvals: Shellharbour

The whole council area, not just Blackbutt · new residential dwellings
to 2026-08

In the year to August 2026, 883 new dwellings were approved across Shellharbour. That mix is 479 houses and 404 units. Approvals are up 25.2% on the same period a year earlier.

Trailing 12 months
883dwellings
+25.2% YoY
Houses
479
detached dwellings
Units
404
townhouses + apartments

Aboriginal Land Council

Aboriginal land in this area is administered by the Illawarra Local Aboriginal Land Council.

Local Aboriginal Land Councils are statutory bodies under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, responsible for land claims and land management for their members. Their boundaries are administrative and are not a statement of whose Country this is. NSW does not publish a register of Aboriginal parties by area — they are registered for each project.

Air Quality

MODERATE

PM2.5 averaged 5.1 µg/m³ in 2025 — below Australia's NEPM annual standard (8 µg/m³), slightly above the stricter WHO guideline (5 µg/m³).

PM10 averaged 14.3 µg/m³ · NO₂ averaged 0.37 pphm. Days over the limit in 2025: PM10 1 · NO₂ 0 · ozone 0.

From the Albion Park South monitoring station, 5.3 km away.

Climate & Setting

from Mittagong (Alfred Street), 37.7 km

High rainfall.

Elevation
71 m
above sea level, at the suburb centre
Distance to the ocean
2.6 km
2.6 km to a named beach
Annual rainfall
974 mm
97 rainy days
Summer max (Jan)
—
Winter min (Jul)
—

Elevation is the ground at the suburb centre, from Geoscience Australia's National Digital Elevation Model. Approximate — it reads high in dense built-up areas. It is a measure of height above sea level and not an indicator of flood risk, which depends on height above nearby waterways.

Industrial Emissions Nearby

8 facilities within 5 km

EV adoption

0.9%
of light vehicles are electric
Up from 0.05% in 2021
+0.3 points this year
Top 22% in NSW

In postcode 2529, 214 of 23,363 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 3.3% (782 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 4.3%.

Electric share, year by year
2021
0.05%
2022
0.09%
2023
0.24%
2024
0.58%
2025
0.92%

Rooftop solar

45
systems per 100 dwellings
Averaging 6.8 kW each

In postcode 2529, 4,892 rooftop-solar systems totalling 33.1 MW have been installed since 2001, against 10,788 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 334 went up in the last year.

Counts every system certified since 2001, so a roof re-fitted with a newer system is counted twice, and small commercial systems are included alongside houses — useful for comparing postcodes, not an estimate of how many homes have working panels today.

Systems installed, year by year
2019
355
2020
528
2021
551
2022
408
2023
420
2024
425
2025
275
2026
199

2026 covers part of the year only, to 2026-07.

First Home Owner Grant

FY2026-27

$10,000 for new homes priced up to $600,000.

Off-the-plan or contracted-build value cap is $750,000 (vs $600,000 for completed new homes). Stamp duty concessions are a separate scheme (First Home Buyers Assistance).

Verify eligibility with Revenue NSW

Mortgage repayments

I'm looking for
Deposit
$
%
Monthly repayment
$5,346
Loan amount
$820,000
Total interest over 30 years
$1,104,483

4 mortgage brokers are registered in this suburb, 12 across postcode 2529.

Deposit
$205,000
Stamp duty
$40,312
Cash needed at settlement
$245,312

Transfer duty at the owner-occupier rate, and it excludes first home buyer concessions — those can cut it substantially or remove it entirely. Excludes legal, inspection and lender fees. Check with Revenue NSW

The First Home Owner Grant applies to newly built homes only, so it isn't available on an established purchase. A first home buyer building or buying new under $600,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with Revenue NSW.

Principal and interest over 30 years, fixed rate. Excludes fees, offset, redraw and LMI. Default rate is the median comparison rate across 1788 advertised products as at 2026-10-27 — indicative only, and not an offer. Your rate depends on the lender, your deposit and your circumstances. Not financial advice.

Federal Electorate

Division of Whitlam

Currently held by Carol Berry Australian Labor Party

Year Winner 2PP ALP 2PP LNP Swing
2025 Carol Berry 56.2% 43.8% -2.1
2022 Stephen Jones 60.1% 39.9% +0.8
2019 Stephen Jones 60.9% 39.1% +39.1

Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact suburb's voters across time.

State Electorate

Shellharbour District

Currently held by Anna Watson Labor

Next state election: 13 March 2027.

Year Winner Won with
2023 Anna Watson ALP 67.1%
2019 Anna Watson ALP 68.3%
2015 Anna Watson ALP 67.0%

Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2021, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this suburb's voters. Results: © State of New South Wales through the NSW Electoral Commission, CC BY 4.0, adapted.

Looking at a specific address in Blackbutt?

Every figure above is a suburb average, and an average smooths over the difference between a street of family homes and a block of flats. Look up one address and you get the census for the few hundred people around it, its own nearest schools and stops, and what the state has mapped for that block.

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Common questions about Blackbutt

Is Blackbutt a safe place to live?

Recorded crime in Blackbutt is low (34/100, ranked against other NSW suburbs on offences per resident).

What natural hazards affect Blackbutt?

Blackbutt has no recorded bushfire history. These are suburb-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.

Is Blackbutt a good place to live?

Blackbutt has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of B (66/100), ranked against other NSW suburbs on school quality (25%), safety (25%), SEIFA socio-economic advantage (25%), walkability (15%) and CBD access (10%). Whether it suits you depends on what you weigh — each of those is on this page.

What is the population of Blackbutt?

Blackbutt, NSW had a population of 3,291 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.

What is the postcode for Blackbutt, NSW?

The postcode for Blackbutt, NSW is 2529.

How far is Blackbutt from Sydney?

Blackbutt is 110 km from Sydney CBD by road, about 98 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.

What is the median household income in Blackbutt?

At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Blackbutt was $83,408 a year. It is the most recent suburb-level income figure until 2026 Census results are released in 2027.

What is the median weekly rent in Blackbutt?

The median advertised rent in Blackbutt is $788 a week for houses (10 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.

What is the median age in Blackbutt?

The median age of residents in Blackbutt was 43 at the 2021 ABS Census.

Is Blackbutt walkable?

Blackbutt scores 86/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it very walkable. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.

What is the air quality in Blackbutt?

The nearest government air-quality monitoring station to Blackbutt (Albion Park South) recorded a 2025 annual mean PM2.5 of 5.1 µg/m³ and PM10 of 14.3 µg/m³. That puts Blackbutt below the Australian NEPM annual standard of 8 µg/m³ but above the stricter WHO guideline of 5 µg/m³.

What is the weather like in Blackbutt?

At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Blackbutt, Mittagong (Alfred Street) (37.7 km away), 974 mm of rain a year over 97 rainy days over 2006-2026.

Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Blackbutt?

First-home buyers in NSW may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $600,000. The grant is administered by Revenue NSW; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.

What council does Blackbutt belong to?

Blackbutt sits within the Shellharbour local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.

How much are council rates in Blackbutt?

The average residential rates bill through Shellharbour is $1,788 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.

How much is being built near Blackbutt?

Across Shellharbour, 883 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 25.2% on the same period a year earlier. These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.

Which federal electorate is Blackbutt in?

Blackbutt sits within the federal Division of Whitlam, currently held by Carol Berry (Australian Labor Party).

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Data freshness

Vintages show when each source's data is from. See all data sources.

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Information shown is provided as-is from Australian government and commercial data sources.
Always verify with the relevant authority before making property decisions.
See Data Sources and How We Calculate for details.

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