Cleve SA 5640
Cleve is a rural locality in South Australia, 531 km from Adelaide CBD, around 5 hours 55 minutes by car. Population is 953; the median age is 49 and the median household income is $56,732 per year. On socioeconomic measures it sits in the bottom 20% nationally. Population grew 1.3% from 2016 to 2021. The 2021 Census recorded a median rent of $165 per week and a median monthly mortgage of $925. 1 school sits within the locality boundary, and walkability is moderate.
Is Cleve a good place to live?
Cleve scores a C (48/100) on SuburbScan's Liveability grade — strong on safety, weaker on community.
Mixed results
1 school
Some car dependence
Walkability 54/100 · 531.4 km · 354 min drive to Adelaide
Median available
Median $250K
Low all-round risk
Fire 12/100 · Crime 27/100
Highly disadvantaged
SEIFA decile 2/10 · median age 49 · 953 residents
Liveability Rating
48 / 100 · Ranked #286 in SAEach bar is Cleve's rank among SA 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 Cleve?
Local knowledge beats any dataset. Rate it and see what other residents think.
Our score
48 / 100
From schools, safety and socio-economic data — not opinion.
Residents say
…
Median House Price
Public listings dataCleve's house market is moving higher: the median sale price reached $250,000, roughly 32% above where it sat a year earlier.
Houses
$250,000
Based on 46 recorded sales in the last 24 months.
Typically sold in 202 days — median across 6 sales that recorded a listing period
By bedrooms
- 3 bed 33 sales $250K
- 4 bed 6 sales $308K
Land
$125,000
Based on only 3 sales — small sample, take as indicative.
Is Cleve safe? Crime statistics
2026Crime in Cleve sits in the low band, with 12 incidents recorded in 2026 — up roughly 33% on the prior year.
12 offences
33.3% since 2025Crime Trend
Serious Road Crashes
2021–20251 crash
where someone was killed or admitted to hospital, 1 of them fatal
Crashes are counted where they happened, so a main road through the locality carries people passing through; this is not a measure of risk to residents. This state’s crash data does not name the road.
Schools
One school serve Cleve, and performance is broadly on par with peer-suburb schools.
- • 324 students in one school (avg 324)
Combined
Walkability
Cleve is somewhat walkable on foot — at 54/100, a short cluster of errands work on foot but most trips still benefit from a car.
NBN connectivity
The internet access technology available across NBN premises in Cleve.
- Full-fibre (FTTP) share
- 0%
- Premises covered
- 555
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
Cleve: council population
The three add up to the change above. These are council-wide figures from the ABS, not figures for this locality alone — this locality's own population is in the census section above.
Socio-economic profile
Cleve is home to 953 residents, with a median age of 49, a touch above the national 38. Median household income runs at $57,000 a year, with unemployment at 1.1%.
2021 Census · change since 2016
Population
953
Median Age
49
Median Household Income
$56,732/yr
Census Median Rent
$165/wk
Census Median Mortgage
$925/mo
Avg Household Size
2.2
Median Personal Income
$36,036/yr
Unemployment Rate
1.1%
Unoccupied Dwellings
9.3%
Total Dwellings
388
Owner-Occupier Rate
80.2%
Houses
98.2%
Rental Stress
15.1%
Mortgage Stress
19.6%
Work From Home
12.7%
Dwelling Types
Property Ownership
9 rented from a state or territory housing authority and 10 from a community housing provider, as a share of the 72 rented dwellings above — not of all dwellings.
Demographics
- Born in Australia
- 86.8%
- English Spoken at Home
- 91.1%
- Employment Rate
- 55.2%
- Completed Year 12
- 31.0%
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.
0 residents (0.0%) 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.
3.4% of residents (30) lived in a capital city five years earlier, most of them in Adelaide (27).
Top places newcomers came from, as a share of the 890 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
Education
Cars per Dwelling
Council Rates
Households face an average residential rates bill of $1,474 a year through Cleve based on 2024 figures.
How this land is zoned
- Rural and farming 93%
- Environmental 6%
- Zones under 1% 1%
Zoning sets what may be built, not what is there today. A single address can sit in a different zone to the locality around it — the property page shows the zone for one address.
Building Approvals: Cleve
In the year to August 2026, 13 new dwellings were approved across Cleve. Almost all of the pipeline is detached houses.
Climate & Setting
from Cleve, 0.2 kmDry climate — hot summers, mild winters.
- Elevation
- 198 m
- above sea level, at the locality centre
- Distance to the ocean
- 23.7 km
- Annual rainfall
- 390 mm
- 75 rainy days
- Summer max (Jan)
- 28.0°C
- 22 days ≥ 35°C
- Winter min (Jul)
- 7.8°C
- 0 frost days ≤ 0°C
Elevation is the ground at the locality 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.
EV adoption
In postcode 5640, 0 of 1,240 registered light vehicles are battery-electric on 31 January 2025. A further 0.5% (6 vehicles) are hybrid or plug-in hybrid, taking the non-petrol, non-diesel share to 0.5%.
Rooftop solar
In postcode 5640, 361 rooftop-solar systems totalling 2.4 MW have been installed since 2001, against 470 dwellings recorded in the 2021 Census. 14 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$15,000 for new homes.
No purchase-price cap. Stamp duty is fully exempted for eligible first-home buyers as a separate concession.
Mortgage repayments
Conveyance 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 RevenueSA
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 Tom Venning Liberal
| Year | Winner | 2PP ALP | 2PP LNP | Swing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Tom Venning | 45.4% | 54.6% | +5.4 |
| 2022 | Rowan Ramsey | 39.9% | 60.1% | -3.2 |
| 2019 | Rowan Ramsey | 36.7% | 63.3% | +5.6 |
Results are per division — federal electoral boundaries are redrawn periodically, so the history reflects this division's past, not necessarily the exact locality's voters across time.
State Electorate
Currently held by Sam Telfer Liberal Party
Next state election: 16 March 2030.
| Year | Winner | Won with |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sam Telfer LP | 59.6% |
| 2022 | Sam Telfer LP | 53.0% |
Results are per district. Districts were last redrawn in 2024, so results from before then describe the district of that name, not necessarily this locality's voters. Results: Electoral Commission of South Australia.
Looking at a specific address in Cleve?
Every figure above is a locality 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 953 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
Cowell SA 5602
Arno Bay SA 5603
Verran SA 5603
Rudall SA 5642
Miltalie SA 5602
Mangalo SA 5602
Compare Cleve to another suburb
Side-by-side stats for any other SA suburb — type a name and pick one.
Or jump straight to a nearby comparison:
Common questions about Cleve
Is Cleve a safe place to live?
Recorded crime in Cleve is low (27/100, ranked against other SA suburbs on offences per resident).
What natural hazards affect Cleve?
Cleve has a low recorded bushfire history (12/100, ranked against every Australian suburb with any fire history). These are locality-wide figures; check the address, as flood and bushfire exposure change street by street.
Is Cleve a good place to live?
Cleve has a SuburbScan Liveability grade of C (48/100), ranked against other SA 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 Cleve?
Cleve, SA had a population of 953 at the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics census.
What is the postcode for Cleve, SA?
The postcode for Cleve, SA is 5640.
How far is Cleve from Adelaide?
Cleve is 531 km from Adelaide CBD by road, about 354 minutes by car in normal traffic. Distance is the most-direct driving route, not straight-line.
What is the median household income in Cleve?
At the 2021 ABS Census, median household income in Cleve was $56,732 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 Cleve?
There are too few current rental listings in Cleve for a reliable median. At the 2021 ABS Census the median weekly rent was $165, across all dwelling types.
What is the median age in Cleve?
The median age of residents in Cleve was 49 at the 2021 ABS Census.
Is Cleve at risk of bushfire?
Cleve has a low recorded bushfire history (12/100). The score comes from Geoscience Australia's historical bushfire boundaries, with planned burns excluded: the area of recorded fires touching the locality 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 Cleve?
There is 1 school inside the Cleve boundary: 1 at similar schools on NAPLAN, compared with same-state, same-type schools of similar socio-educational advantage (ICSEA).
Is Cleve walkable?
Cleve scores 54/100 on the SuburbScan Walkability Score, making it somewhat walkable. 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 Cleve?
At the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station to Cleve, Cleve (0.2 km away), summer days average 28°C, winter nights 7.8°C, 390 mm of rain a year over 75 rainy days, and 22 days a year above 35°C over 2006-2026.
Is the First Home Owner Grant available in Cleve?
First-home buyers in SA may be eligible for $15,000 towards new homes. The grant is administered by RevenueSA; confirm current eligibility before signing a contract — state rules and amounts can change.
What council does Cleve belong to?
Cleve sits within the Cleve local government area. Council rates, planning approvals, and waste collection fall under this LGA.
How much are council rates in Cleve?
The average residential rates bill through Cleve is $1,474 a year (2024). Every suburb in this LGA shares the same schedule — individual bills vary with land value.
How much is being built near Cleve?
Across Cleve, 13 new residential dwellings were approved in the year to August 2026 (source: ABS Building Approvals). These are LGA-level totals — every suburb in the council shares the same figure.
Which federal electorate is Cleve in?
Cleve sits within the federal Division of Grey, currently held by Tom Venning (Liberal).
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Data freshness
- Census · 2021
- Median sale prices · Oct 2026
- For-sale & rental market · Oct 2026
- Council rates · FY 2024–25
- Building approvals · Aug 2026
- Schools · 2025
- NBN connectivity · Dec 2025
- Crime · 2026
- Road crashes · 2021–2025
- Climate · 2006–2026
- Socio-economic (SEIFA) · 2021
- EV adoption · Jan 2025
- First Home Owner Grant · Sep 2026
- Federal electorate · 2025
- State electorate · 2026
- 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.