Capel sits 200 km from Perth CBD in Western Australia, around 2 hours 15 minutes by car. Census data records 2,606 residents with a median age of 42 and a median household income of $74,100 per year. By household income, education, and employment patterns, it ranks in the bottom 20% nationally. The town grew 3.9% between 2016 and 2021. At the 2021 Census, households here paid a median rent of $320 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $1,498. 2 schools sit within the town boundary, and walkability is low.
Is Capel a good town?
Capel scores a D (26/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — weaker on community.
Mixed results
2 schools
Some car dependence
Walkability 32/100 · 200 km · 134 min drive to Perth
Median available
Median $660K
Moderate bushfire risk
Fire 53/100 · Crime 58/100 · Flood 26/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 2/10 · median age 42 · 2,606 residents
Liveability Rating
26 / 100 · Ranked #483 in WAEach bar is Capel's rank among WA suburbs, from 0 to 100 (higher is better). Scored on 4 of 5 factors: no school data, so the other factors carry its weight.
How do you rate the liveability in Capel?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
26 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataCapel's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $660,000, roughly 18% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$660,000
Based on 53 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 23 days — median across 23 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 23 sales $620K
- 4 bed 26 sales $725K
Land
$902,500
Based on only 8 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Typically sold in 23 days — median across 5 sales that recorded a listing period
Currently for Sale
Last 6 monthsHouses in Capel are currently listed at around $850,000 on average. Based on 20 houses listed in the past six months.
$850K
20 houses listed in the last 6 months.
20 of the suburb's 974 dwellings (2.1%) were listed for sale in the last 6 months.
Rental Market
Advertised rents · last 6 monthsHouses in Capel rent for around $720 a week on average, based on 6 houses listed for rent in the past six months.
$720/wk
6 houses advertised for rent in the last 6 months.
6 rentals advertised against an estimated 189 rented homes (3.2%) in the last 6 months.
Gross rental yield
Indicative$720/week ($37,000 a year) on a $850,000 median
Based on a small sample (6 listings) — indicative only.
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.
Short-Stay Rentals
5 active Airbnb listings: 5 whole homes and 0 rooms. Whole homes are about 0.5% of the town's homes.
Airbnb only, as at Jun 2026; other platforms are not included. Active means reviewed in the past 12 months. The share is against private dwellings at the 2021 Census.
Schools
Two schools serve Capel, and the cohort is trailing peer-suburb performance.
- • 385 students across 2 schools (avg 192)
- • Sectors: 1 Government, 1 Independent
- • ICSEA 979-1051, median 1015 (around the national baseline of 1000)
- • Largest: Capel Primary School (320 students)
Primary
Combined
Walkability
Capel is car-dependent on foot — at 32/100, most errands require a car.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Capel.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 25%
- Premises covered
- 1,295
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
Capel: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this town alone — this town's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
The ABS scores 7 small areas inside this town and averages them into the single decile above. They fall into 4 different deciles — a wide range, so parts of this town rank well above the average and parts well below it.
Capel is home to about 2,600 residents, with a median age of 42, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $74,000 a year, with unemployment at 3.4%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
2,606
Median Age
42
Median Household Income
$74,100/yr
Census Median Rent
$320/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$1,498/mo
Avg Household Size
2.5
Median Personal Income
$36,556/yr
Unemployment Rate
3.4%
Unoccupied Dwellings
8.9%
Total Dwellings
974
Owner-Occupier Rate
80.6%
Houses
94.3%
Rental Stress
22.5%
Mortgage Stress
24.3%
Work From Home
6.7%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
34 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 4 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 183 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 80.3%
- English Spoken at Home
- 91.3%
- Employment Rate
- 56.8%
- Completed Year 12
- 28.9%
Occupations
Religion
Country of Birth (overseas)
Largest overseas birthplaces, as a share of all residents.
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.
26 residents (1.0%) 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.
5.6% of residents (138) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Perth (125).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 2,475 residents aged five and over. Areas are ABS statistical regions. Small counts are approximate: the ABS adjusts every figure slightly to protect privacy.
Age Distribution
Family & Household Composition
Commute to Work
1% of employed residents work in a capital's city centre (12 of 1,182).
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
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $2,343 a year through Capel based on 2023 figures.
Building Approvals: Capel
In the year to August 2026, 226 new dwellings were approved across Capel. That mix is 174 houses and 52 units. Approvals are up 51.9% on the same period a year earlier.
Climate & Setting
from Donnybrook, 23.7 kmModerate rainfall — hot summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 21 m
- above sea level, at the town centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 6.9 km
- Annual rainfall
- 851 mm
- 90 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 30.9°C
- 21 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 6.7°C
- 1 frost days ≤ 0°C
Elevation is the ground at the town 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
1 facility within 5 km- 4.9 km
EV adoption
In postcode 6271, 13 of 3,702 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 1.3% (49 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 1.7%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 6271, 1,071 rooftop-solar systems totalling 5.7 MW have been installed since 2001, against 1,551 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 46 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.
2026 covers part of the year only, to 2026-07.
First Home Owner Grant
FY2026-27$10,000 for new homes priced up to $800,000.
Cap is $800,000 SOUTH of the 26th parallel (which includes all of metropolitan Perth) and $1,000,000 NORTH of it. We store the southern figure because that is where almost every buyer is; the northern cap is higher, so the stored value never overstates eligibility. The southern cap rose from $750,000 on 7 May 2026 in the 2026-27 Housing Taxation Package. The same package moved the first home owner RATE OF DUTY thresholds, which is a different scheme and lives in the web repo's app/stamp_duty.py.
Mortgage repayments
1 mortgage broker is registered in this town.
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 RevenueWA
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 $800,000 may qualify for $10,000 — see what qualifies with Department of Finance WA.
At $660,000 this is under the $800,000 First Home Owner Grant cap. A first home buyer may qualify for $10,000 on a newly built home — check eligibility with Department of Finance WA.
A deposit under 20% usually attracts Lenders Mortgage Insurance, which this doesn't include.
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
Currently held by Ben Small Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Ben Small | 47.8% | 52.2% | +1.9 |
| 2022 | Nola Marino | 45.7% | 54.3% | -10.3 |
| 2019 | Nola Marino | 35.4% | 64.6% | +2.0 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact town's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Jodie Hanns WA Labor
Next state election: 10 March 2029.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Jodie Hanns ALP | 54.3% |
| 2021 | Jodie Hanns ALP | 73.4% |
| 2017 | Mick Murray ALP | 64.7% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2023, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this town's voters. Results: Western Australian Electoral Commission.
Looking at a specific address in Capel?
Every figure above is a town 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.
- The census for a few hundred neighbours, not all 2,606 residents
- Nearest and zoned schools, with the walk from that door
- Flood, bushfire and noise mapping, where the state publishes it
Free to look up. Subscribers see every section in full — $29/month.
Nearby suburbs
Compare Capel to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other WA suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Capel
Is Capel a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Capel is moderate (58/100, ranked against other WA suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Capel?
Capel has a moderate recorded bushfire history (53/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). Flood overlays cover a low share of it (26/100). These are town-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Capel a good place to live?
Capel has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of D (26/100), ranked against other WA 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 Capel?
Capel, WA had a population of 2,606 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Capel, WA?
The postcode for Capel, WA is 6271.
How far is Capel from Perth?
Capel is 200 km from Perth CBD by road, about 134 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Capel?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Capel was $74,100 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 Capel?
The median advertised rent in Capel is $720 a week for houses (6 listings), from rental listings over the last six months.
What is the median age in Capel?
The median age of residents in Capel was 42 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Capel at risk of bushfire?
Capel has a moderate recorded bushfire history (53/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the town relative to its size, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history. It records where fire has burned, not a bushfire-prone land designation, which your council's planning scheme sets.
How are the schools in Capel?
There are 2 schools inside the Capel boundary: 1 at and 1 below similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Capel walkable?
Capel scores 32/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it car-dependent. The score is a weighted average of public transport, schools, parks, supermarkets, GPs, pharmacies, childcare, and hospitals within walking distance.
What is the weather like in Capel?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Capel, Donnybrook (23.7 km away), summer days average 30.9°C, winter nights 6.7°C, 851 mm of rain a year over 90 rainy days, and 21 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Capel?
First-home buyers in WA may be eligible for $10,000 towards new homes with a purchase price up to $800,000. The grant is administered by Department of Finance WA; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Capel belong to?
Capel sits within the Capel local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Capel?
The average residential rates bill through Capel is $2,343 a year (2023). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Capel?
Across Capel, 226 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). That's up 51.9% 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 Capel in?
Capel sits within the federal Division of Forrest, currently held by Ben Small (Liberal).
Search another suburb or address
Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Oct 2026
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2023–24
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- Short-stay rentals · Jun 2026
- State electorate · 2025
- Amenities · Sep 2026
- Health & emergency facilities · Sep 2026
- Industrial emissions (NPI) · 2024/2025
- Coastal erosion · 1988–2025
- Aircraft noise · 2024
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.